If you’re injured in a Manhattan bicycle accident, you could have the right to financial compensation. An experienced Manhattan bicycle accident lawyer can help you recover your loss. Bicycles have the right to share the roadways of New York City. Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop Manhattan bicycle accidents from occurring.

New York Bike Accident Data

There are a lot of bike riders in the New York City area. 30% of adult New Yorkers ride a bike, approximately 1.9 million people. 880,000 New Yorkers ride a bike regularly. Unfortunately, this means bicycle accident injuries occur far too often.

In 2019, the five boroughs of NYC saw a combined 18,510 bicycle accidents. 18,494 of these accidents involved bicycle accident injuries, and 16 were fatal. Although the city was under lockdown for the majority of 2020, there were still 12,450 bike crashes, 12,422 bicycle accident injuries, and 28 fatal bike crashes.

Being involved in an accident can lead to devastating bicycle accident injuries. That’s why it could be beneficial to speak with an experienced Manhattan bicycle law attorney. These New York bicycle accident law specialists can investigate the causes of your accident to get you the maximum compensation available for injured cyclists.

Manhattan Bike Accident Causes

Many individuals ride bikes because it’s a healthier and environmentally conscious commuter option. Many Manhattan bike accidents happen on the way to school, work, delivering packages, and all throughout those bustling New York City streets. 

Your New York bicycle accident may have been preventable, but negligence has led to your bicycle accident case.

Most bicycle accidents and corresponding serious injuries are caused by:

• Aggressive driving
• Driver distraction
• Driver fatigue
• Reckless driving
• Road defects
• Speeding
• Traffic violations
• Failing to yield the right of way to a bicyclist
• Driving too closely to a bicyclist
• Lack of protected bike lanes, physical barriers, and parking
• Inexperienced riders
• Riding without proper safety gear
• Traffic congestion
• Riding at night without proper safety features
• Making unsafe or illegal turns
• Riding against the flow of traffic

Seasoned Manhattan bicycle accident case lawyers handle all types of bicycle accident cases. Your experienced bike accident attorney frequently works with individuals who have been injured in the following types of bike accidents:

• Accidents involving motor vehicles
• Accidents involving commercial vehicles
• Accidents involving city buses
• Accidents involving defective manhole covers or street hardware
• “Dooring” accidents, which are caused by someone opening a door into a bicyclist’s path

Careless, negligent, and often preventable behaviors are typically the leading cause of bike accidents. If a cyclist is involved in a motor vehicle collision, the results can be catastrophic for all those involved.

If you’ve been involved in a biking accident in Manhattan, don’t hesitate to call on experienced NYC bicycle accident lawyers for help immediately after your collision. They can answer all of your pressing questions in a no-obligation free consultation. 

Manhattan Bike Accident Injuries

Bicycle accidents often leave cyclists to deal with distressing, debilitating injuries. Manhattan personal injury attorneys are prepared to help you fight to get the money you’ll need to recover from your accident-related ailments. 

Manhattan bike accident attorneys have experience handling bicycle accident injury cases involving:

• Back and spine injuries
• Broken bones
• Burns
• Degloving
• Eye injury
• Head and brain injury
• Neck and shoulder injury
• Lost limbs
• Spinal cord damage
• Soft tissue damage
• Paralysis
• Traumatic Brain Injuries
• Wrongful death

If you’ve been injured in a bike accident in NYC, one of our attorneys can come to you. We can help you feel secure in your recovery while we work to restore what you’ve lost. If that means visiting you at the hospital while you recover, then passionate Manhattan bike attorneys can do so.

Manhattan Cycling Accident Case Value

The value of your personal injury case, which includes bicycle accident cases, will depend on several unique factors. Many of the factors that significantly influence the value of your case include:

• The severity of the injuries
• The certainty of liability
• Whether your case settles or goes to trial
• Potential litigation costs
• Publicity surrounding your case

The above factors will influence the dollar value of your claim. These factors will also affect the likelihood of settling before trial. Claims involving more intense injuries, like a brain injury, paralysis, or limb loss, usually lead to higher recoveries. 

Injury Severity

The severity of your injuries is measurable. Generally, the number of medical appointments required for treatment, hospitalizations, and whether or not your injuries require surgery will play a role in what you’re able to recover. If a specialty medical treatment is needed, like orthopedic or dermatologic reconstructive surgery, a claimant could recover more financial compensation.

Liability

Insurance companies are the ones who are ultimately responsible for compensating you after an accident. Certainty of liability plays a pivotal role in the willingness and timeline with which insurers are willing to negotiate a settlement with you.

The certainty of liability is a legal determination about whether the insurance company is legally responsible for paying a victim’s losses. If the legal responsibility is obvious, insurance companies are more likely to settle for higher values. If the responsibility is less certain, the insurance company may offer less in a settlement or outright deny your claim.

Securing legal representation can have certain advantages. Experienced representatives will be seasoned in the communities they work. They can help you understand the jurisdictions you’re under and how that can affect your bike claim. For example, in some jurisdictions, juries are more likely to award higher judgments. If you’re injured in such a jurisdiction, the insurance company may be willing to settle for a higher value. 

Manhattan Insurance Companies

Before beginning your claim, keep in mind that insurance companies are businesses. Typically, they make their business decisions to pay out in some cases based on how much it could cost them to litigate. In many cases, injured victims benefit from a settlement because it allows immediate financial relief instead of waiting for litigation to unfold in court.

In some cases, when negative publicity surrounds an incident, insurance companies can be more willing to settle matters quickly. Typically if the press negatively affects the local New York City government, a high-profile individual, or a corporation, a higher value than otherwise could be warranted.

Manhattan Bike Accident Vehicle Damages

If you file a Manhattan personal injury claim after a bicycle accident, you could recover two types of damages: economic and non-economic. Both of these kinds of damages are meant to make you as close to whole as you were before being involved in the accident.

Economic damages provide compensation for the monetary losses you suffer due to your accident. Economic damages can often include:

• Medical bills
• Lost wages
• Property damage

These medical damages can be measured using documents like medical invoices, pay stubs, tax returns, and appraisals for property damage. Non-economic damages are used to restore your losses that are not direct financial losses and impact your life in other meaningful ways.

Examples of non-economic damages include:

• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Loss of enjoyment of life

Non-economic damages are not directly financial and can be difficult to measure. Since they’re more challenging to prove and value, the assistance of a seasoned bicycle law specialist in Manhattan can be useful.

Manhattan Comparative Negligence 

New York law uses a pure comparative negligence system. This often means that under the law of comparative negligence, your financial recovery will be reduced by the percentage that you are found to be partially at fault for the accident and your injuries.

If you are found to be partially at fault for your Manhattan bike accident, a percentage of the responsibility for your injury will be assigned based on how much of the accident was your fault. That percentage is also then used to reduce your recovery by the amount by which you were at fault.

For example, let’s say you are 25% at fault for your Manhattan cycling accident, and your financial recovery award totals $100,000. After factoring in comparative negligence, your total financial award will be reduced by 25% to $75,000.

Manhattan Bicycle Accident Statute of Limitations

The time allowed to file a personal injury lawsuit in a bike crash is governed by New York’s laws on the statute of limitations. Under the statute of limitations, an injury victim must file a lawsuit within three years from the date of their injury. Claimants have only two years to file suit for wrongful death claims in fatal biking accidents.

Although it may feel like two to three years is a long time to file a lawsuit, the process usually begins with filing a claim with one or more insurance companies. That’s why it is imperative to understand that after the statute of limitations deadline passes, you could lose your right to recover compensation permanently. 

Why Choose Us?

At the Gray Injury Law, we’ve dedicated all our resources to fighting our clients’ injury cases. We aim to provide complete satisfaction through our reliability. Our team of competent Manhattan bike accident injury lawyers will hold those who have harmed you accountable. 

Any expenses you incur following your biking accident should be covered by the insurance company of the party responsible for the collision. At the Gray Injury Law, our clients are treated as people who have been victims of a traumatic incident and who deserve justice. Contact us to get excellent bike accident legal services.