Cycling Accident Lawyers to Help with the Healing

One minute, you’re gliding downhill; the next, it’s a bike accident as you come into contact with a driver who wasn’t yielding the right of way. We understand what kind of stress bike accidents have on your life and your bank account — and it wasn’t your fault. Partner with a bicycle accident lawyer who wants to see you back on two wheels.

Why Hiring a Bike Crash Attorney Makes Sense

The Colorado Springs cycling accident attorneys at Schofield & Green Law are dedicated to helping injured riders seek the fair compensation they need to get their lives back to normal. You won’t want to face the aftermath of a bicycle accident alone. Partner with someone who can guide you and take some stress off your plate. Here’s who needs to hire a personal injury attorney soon after a bike crash:

Understand What Damages You Can Recover from Your Biking Accident

When you’re in a bike crash that’s not your fault, there’s a chance you could be entitled to damages or payment that you can recover. There’s no set value for how much your damages could be because every case our bicycle accident law firm has worked on has been different. It helps to understand that damages can either be “economic” and have a price or monetary value or be “non-economic.” These are the most common examples of what our accident attorneys see:

Medical Expenses

This includes the cost of immediate treatment following the accident and future medical expenses related to your injuries, such as physical therapy, surgeries, and medication. It is important to document all of your hospital visits and treatments for your case.

Lost Wages

If your injuries force you to miss work, you may be able to recover the wages you’ve lost. If your injuries impact your ability to earn a living in the future, you may also be entitled to compensation for loss of future earning capacity.

Property Damage

This covers the cost to repair or replace your bicycle and any other property damaged in the accident. We understand that your bicycle is an essential piece of property and your livelihood that can be fixed due to you filing a claim for your bike accident.

Pain and Suffering

These are non-economic damages meant to compensate you for the physical pain and emotional distress you’ve experienced as a result of the accident. Has your accident left you with headaches or immobility in your body? That’s considered pain and suffering.

Loss of Enjoyment of Life

If your injuries prevent you from enjoying activities and hobbies you once enjoyed, you may be compensated for this loss. Our personal injury attorneys help you turn a bike accident’s negative impact on a person or even an entire family into something positive.

Permanent Disability or Disfigurement

Did your bicycle accident result in a permanent disability like an arm or back injury? Are you facing disfigurement that’s impacting your self-esteem? Know that there’s additional compensation potentially available following a bike wreck.

How Long Do I Have to File a Lawsuit for a Bike Accident?

You and your bike got messed up badly in an accident. The time you have to file a lawsuit with assistance from a personal injury lawyer is determined by the Colorado statute of limitations or legal deadline with two timelines:

< Three Years

If you’ve been injured in a bicycle accident, you typically have three years from the crash date to file a personal injury lawsuit against the responsible party or parties.

> Three Years

However, there are exceptions to this rule. If your injury wasn’t caused by a collision with a vehicle, your statute of limitations could only be two years.

Why Do Bad Bicycle Accidents Happen to Good Cyclists?

You do everything right, following the traffic laws and always wearing your helmet, but somehow, you still find yourself and your bike in bad shape. See if you or someone you know has fallen victim to one of these common causes of biking crashes:
This includes activities like texting, eating a meal, using a GPS, or any other action that takes a driver’s attention off the road.
Dooring accidents happen when a parked car’s door suddenly opens into a cyclist’s path, leaving them no time to avoid a collision.
Many bicycle accidents occur at busy Colorado intersections where drivers fail to yield the right-of-way to cyclists.
Alcohol or drug use can severely impair a driver’s ability to react and make safe driving decisions, resulting in drunk or impaired driving.
Drivers who exceed speed limits are more likely to lose control of their vehicles and have less time to react to cyclists on the road.
This is a big issue! Some drivers fail to respect designated bike lanes, encroaching on these spaces and putting cyclists at risk.
Drivers have a bad habit of not signaling or checking blind spots before changing lanes or turning before colliding with cyclists.
The Colorado weather can create poor road conditions, which can lead to a nasty spill on your bicycle, causing pain and injuries.

Bicycle Accident Injuries Can Make You Weak (But Our Bike Attorneys Are Strong)

Bicyclists are far more susceptible to severe injuries than car drivers. After all, bikes offer no protection from injuries, even when cyclists wear helmets. Bicycle accidents can lead to a variety of injuries, many of which can be severe due to the lack of physical protection a bike provides, including:

Head and Brain Injuries

These can range from minor concussions to serious traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). Helmets can help protect against such injuries but don’t eliminate the risk entirely.

Spinal Cord Injuries

Injuries to the spine can lead to significant pain, limited mobility, and even paralysis. This can include fractures, disc injuries, or more severe damage to the spinal cord itself.

Bone Fractures

Cyclists are prone to fractures in a collision, particularly in the arms, legs, collarbone, and wrists, due to the instinct to break a fall with their hands or because of direct impact during an accident.

Soft Tissue Injuries

This can include damage to muscles, tendons, and ligaments, leading to sprains or strains. Road rash, a severe form of skin abrasion, is common in cycling accidents if a rider slides across pavement.

Facial and Dental Injuries

These can range from minor cuts and bruises to severe fractures, broken teeth, and serious eye injuries. Don’t let a facial or dental injury from your bike accident hold you back personally or professionally.

Internal Injuries

A heavy impact during a bike collision can easily cause internal bleeding or damage to your organs, which can be life-threatening. Internal injuries can also be expensive to treat, so let us fight for your compensation.

Bicyclists Have Rights Too and We’ve Got a Few Tips

Cyclists unite! At Schofield & Green Law, we’re one with the cyclists on the roads, committed to helping you ride and explore Colorado Springs safely without worrying about injury. Bicyclists are considered vehicles under the law. This means cyclists have the same rights and responsibilities as motor vehicle drivers.

 

It’s important to know these rights that all bicyclists have, but everyone quickly forgets.

Traffic Laws

Bicyclists must obey all traffic signs and signals, just like motor vehicle drivers. This rule applies to everyone, at all times, on all types of roadways.

Riding on the Right

Cyclists are required to ride as far to the right as deemed safe by the cyclist, except when passing another vehicle, preparing for a left turn, or avoiding hazards.

Riding Two Abreast

Bicyclists are allowed to ride two abreast (side by side) in some circumstances, but they cannot impede the normal flow of traffic. This means no weaving in and out of the bike lane or road line.

Use of Bike Lanes

When a bike lane is present, cyclists should use it, except when making turns, passing another bicyclist, or avoiding an obstacle in their way.

Helmet Laws

There is no statewide law requiring cyclists to wear helmets in Colorado. However, some local jurisdictions may have their own helmet requirements, especially for minors.

Safety Equipment

Bicycles must be equipped with a white front light visible from at least 500 feet away and a red rear reflector visible from at least 600 feet when directly in front of lower beam headlights.

Bicycles are Vehicles

Under Colorado law, bicycles are considered vehicles, which means cyclists have the same rights and responsibilities on the road as motor vehicle drivers.

Signaling

Just like motor vehicle drivers, bicyclists must signal their turns. They usually use hand signals when they approach an intersection or upcoming traffic stop.

Lighting

Bicycles ridden between sunset and sunrise must have a white front light that can be seen for 500 feet and a red rear reflector visible for 600 feet when in low-beam headlights.

Overtaking and Passing

 A driver of a motor vehicle is required to allow at least a three-foot separation between the right side of the driver’s vehicle and the cyclist at all times while overtaking a cyclist.

Don’t Handle Navigating Your Bicycle Accident Alone

The number one mistake clients make is that they can fight insurance companies independently. Having a personal injury attorney on your side will give you the fighting chance you need to succeed in moving forward with fair compensation. Partnering with Schofield & Green Law for help with your bicycle accident claim entitles you to:

Fair Treatment Like You’re Not a Number

Come to Schofield & Green Law, where you can share your story about the bicycle accident that changed your life — for free. We’re a small accident law firm that takes on fewer cases for fairer representation for our clients. We treat you like a member of the family, not a number.

Having Decades of Experience on Your Side

Our attorneys and team have provided legal advice and valued representation for decades to assist clients of all ages involved in bicycle accidents. We’ve helped hundreds of satisfied clients win their cases and take care of you and your family.

A Settlement for Your Biking Injuries

Hiring a bike crash lawyer helps you save valuable compensation. Working with an accident attorney minimizes any liabilities in the case of personal fault, so you don’t have to miss out on money you need for your medical bills and recovery costs.

Five-Star Reviews from Satisfied Schofield & Green Clients

Read what our clients say about their experience working with the personal injury lawyers for bike accidents at Schofield & Green Law.

What Questions Do You Have About Bicycle Accidents?

If you have questions, you’re not alone. This is what our clients most commonly ask about bicycle accidents:

Intersections continue to be dangerous for bicyclists. According to recent statistics, 35 percent of all fatal bicycle accidents occurred when the cyclist was trying to cross a roadway. Drivers may not see the cyclist or simply ignore the right-of-way laws.

 

Another dangerous scenario for cyclists is the so-called “multiple threat.” This happens when one vehicle stops for a pedestrian on a multi-lane road, but the motorist in the next lane does not.

 

Distracted drivers account for a large portion of bicycle accidents. When drivers talk or text on a phone, they are less likely to recognize a bicyclist in their lane. They may veer off the road into a biker or rear-end a bicyclist at an intersection. Even though more states enact anti-texting laws, most drivers still engage in risky, distracted driving behaviors.

The more you’re on your bike, the greater the chances you could have some type of crash or fall. Here are some statistics about bicycle accidents that are good to know:

 

  • Statistics show a cyclist is killed every six hours in the United States.
  • About 130,000 people are hurt in bike-related accidents every year.
  •  One-third of these accidents involved automobiles, and 75 percent caused serious and traumatic brain injuries.

 

If you’ve been injured, contact the Colorado Springs personal injury attorneys at Schofield & Green Law right away.

The most important step you can take to ensure the strength of your case later on begins immediately after your bicycle accident. Make sure to call 911 or local authorities. Wait for the police to arrive and be grateful for the information they collect, as it can benefit your case in the future. 

 

Tell your story so the police can create an accurate report. Your side of the story will be included, along with necessary information from the other drivers or witnesses to your bike accident. Always have names, phone numbers, and insurance information from everyone. 

 

Photos are key, too. They can make or break your bike accident case. If you can take pictures using your phone at the accident scene, that is extremely helpful. Document any bodily injuries, as best you can, and damage done to your bike. This will be beneficial when you’re proving your case to insurance adjusters.

 

The most important thing you can do to boost your chances is contact our personal injury attorneys for a free case evaluation so we can hear your side of the story.

As much as we would love to partner with you, there are a few ways you can reduce your chance of having a bike accident. Some of the best ways that cyclists can help themselves (and others) by avoiding accidents is to:

  • Wear light-colored or reflective clothing and equip your bicycle with reflectors and lights to maximize your visibility.
  • Always wear a properly fitted bicycle helmet when riding. A helmet drastically decreases the severity of any head injury.
  • Stay attentive when approaching an intersection.
  • As you approach an intersection, move your lane position to the left. This will make you more visible to drivers.
  • Never ride against traffic. Not only is it illegal for bicycles to do this, but it is also hazardous and accounts for many bicycle accidents.

Call Schofield & Green Law Today for Your Free Consultation

Our seasoned Colorado Springs bicycle accident lawyers are ready to stand by your side and fight for your rights. We understand the physical, emotional, and financial impact of a bicycle accident on your life. That’s why we’re committed to providing you with comprehensive, compassionate, and effective legal representation to ensure you receive the maximum compensation you’re entitled to. Don’t face this challenging time alone – we’re here to guide you every step of the way.