What to Do After a Bicycle Accident That's Not Your Fault

A bicycle crash is not a smaller car crash. It is a collision between a person and a machine, often at an intersection, in a painted lane, beside parked cars, or on a street whose design leaves almost no margin for error. The first decisions after impact matter because the evidence is fragile: a driver moves the car, a door swings closed, a bike is lifted out of the lane, an action camera keeps recording, a doorbell camera overwrites, and the police report begins to take shape before the cyclist may be well enough to speak clearly.

The risk profile is also different. NHTSA reports that 1,103 bicyclists were killed in traffic crashes in 2024, and its bicycle-safety page notes that nearly three quarters of bicyclist deaths occur in urban areas. CDC explains that bicycle trips account for about 1% of U.S. trips while bicyclists account for 2-3% of people who die in motor-vehicle crashes. Those statistics do not decide an individual claim, but they explain why a bike-versus-car incident deserves careful medical triage, careful documentation, and a different insurance audit than a routine fender-bender.

This guide is a practical, U.S.-focused roadmap for a cyclist who was not at fault. It is educational, not legal advice. Use it to protect health first, evidence second, and insurance access third.

Quick answer: After a not-at-fault bicycle accident, stay still if you may be injured, call 911, and let EMS evaluate you before removing a damaged helmet. Once safe, photograph the bike, vehicle, plate, driver documents, lane markings, door position, road defects, helmet, clothing, and injuries. Preserve helmet-cam and GPS data immediately, seek same-day medical care, and check your own auto policy for MedPay, PIP, and UM/UIM benefits that may apply even though you were riding a bike.

The first sixty seconds: medical clearance comes first

The first minute after a bicycle crash is a medical event before it is an insurance event. Riders often stand because they are embarrassed, angry, or trying to move out of traffic. That reaction is understandable, but it can hide the real condition of the body. A cyclist can have a concussion, clavicle fracture, rib injury, cervical strain, abdominal trauma, or internal bleeding and still sound coherent at the curb.

If you struck your head, lost balance violently, landed on a shoulder or hip, feel numbness, have neck or back pain, feel lightheaded, or cannot remember the sequence of events, stay still and ask someone else to call 911. Do not remove a helmet that took impact unless emergency responders direct it. A cracked shell is obvious; compressed foam or rotational-force damage may not be. Keep the helmet exactly as it is until medical personnel decide how to handle it.

The reason for this caution is not theoretical. CDC notes that mild traumatic brain injury and concussion symptoms can appear right away or emerge hours or days later. Headache, dizziness, nausea, light sensitivity, fogginess, memory trouble, irritability, and sleep changes all belong in the medical record, even if they seem mild. The same is true for wrist pain after bracing a fall, abdominal tenderness after handlebar impact, and shoulder pain after sliding on pavement.

If the scene is dangerous, move only as far as needed to avoid traffic, fire, or another immediate hazard. If a bystander is present, ask that person to stand between you and the driver conversation. You need someone neutral calling 911, taking early photos, noting witnesses, and making sure the driver does not leave with only a name and phone number exchanged.

Why a police report matters more for cyclists than drivers

A police report gives a bicycle claim a neutral anchor. Without it, the file often starts as a contest between an injured rider's memory and a driver's polished version of events. That is a hard position for any claimant, and it is especially hard for a cyclist who may have been transported from the scene before giving a full statement.

Request a police response when a motor vehicle hits a cyclist, when there is any possible injury, when the driver leaves, when a door opened into the travel path, when a bike lane or intersection dispute exists, or when the driver refuses complete identification. If dispatch treats the incident as minor, calmly explain that a vulnerable road user was struck and medical evaluation is needed. The goal is not to escalate the situation; it is to create a reliable public record before the street resets.

Before officers leave, ask for the incident number, the agency name, the officer's name or badge number, and how to request the finished report. Also ask whether your statement is included. If you were in an ambulance, at the hospital, confused, or in too much pain to explain the crash, file a supplemental statement when you are stable. Keep it factual: direction of travel, lane position, traffic signal, door movement, vehicle movement, and what you saw.

Police reports can contain errors. They may list the cyclist as a party without capturing the bike-lane context, repeat the driver's claim that the cyclist "came out of nowhere," or omit the road defect that forced a lane change. Review the report when it becomes available. If it is wrong, submit a concise correction with photos, witness names, GPS data, or video. A corrected record is easier to use than an argument made for the first time months later.

If no officer writes a full report, build your own contemporaneous record the same day. Write the date, time, location, weather, direction of travel, signal phase, lane position, and every statement you remember the driver making. Save the 911 call number if dispatch gave one. Photograph the scene again from the same approach path after medical care if you had to leave by ambulance. The value of this memo is not that it replaces a police report; it fixes your memory close to the event and gives an insurer fewer openings to recast the crash after the street has been cleaned up.

Evidence that disappears: helmet-cam, Strava, Ring, Nest

Bicycle crashes produce unusual evidence because many riders carry their own telemetry. A driver may have a dashcam, but a cyclist may have a helmet camera, bar camera, rear-facing radar camera, GPS head unit, phone activity, smartwatch fall alert, power-meter file, or Strava upload. Those files can answer the questions insurers tend to fight: where the bike was, how fast it was moving, whether braking occurred, whether a light was green, whether a door opened suddenly, and whether the driver crossed into the bike lane.

Preserve the raw file first. If a camera records on a loop, stop recording and remove the card. Do not record a new ride over the crash segment. If the device syncs to a phone, let it sync once, then export the original clip and save it somewhere outside the app. If the ride appears on Strava, Garmin Connect, Wahoo, Apple Health, or another platform, do not trim, rename, merge, or delete it. Export the activity file if the platform allows it, then screenshot the map, speed graph, time stamp, and any incident marker.

Third-party video is just as time-sensitive. Doorbell systems, storefront cameras, apartment security systems, bus cameras, municipal cameras, and parked-vehicle dashcams may have captured the approach, impact, or aftermath. Many owners will help if you ask quickly and specifically. Give the date, time window, street, direction of travel, and a short description of the bike and vehicle. Do not ask them to interpret fault; ask them to preserve and share footage.

Be methodical when canvassing. Start with the camera closest to the impact point, then move outward along the driver's approach and the cyclist's approach. A camera pointed away from the crash may still capture the sound of impact, the vehicle immediately before the turn, the driver leaving the curb, or the cyclist entering the intersection on a green light. Keep a list of addresses contacted, names if offered, phone numbers, email addresses, and whether footage exists. That list later shows diligence if an insurer claims the missing video would have helped the driver.

Write down every camera you can see within a block of the crash. A camera that did not capture the impact may still show the driver's approach, the cyclist's lane position, the signal phase, the open door, the blocked bike lane, or the moment the driver left. In an urban intersection crash, a partial angle from a cafe camera plus your GPS track can be enough to defeat a claim that you were riding unpredictably.

Physical evidence disappears too. A bike gets repaired, a helmet gets thrown away, blood is washed from clothing, and road rash changes daily. Keep the helmet, gloves, jersey, shoes, lights, pannier, child seat, phone mount, and broken components. Do not authorize repairs until the bike has been photographed from all sides and a shop has prepared a written estimate explaining impact damage.

The ten-step cyclist checklist

1. Stay still if injured. Treat the scene as a medical scene first. If you hit your head, landed hard, feel pain, feel numb, feel confused, or cannot stand normally, stay down and wait for EMS. Ask a bystander to keep traffic away and to keep your bike and gear from being moved unless safety requires it.

2. Call 911 and request both EMS and a police response. Tell dispatch that a motor vehicle hit a bicyclist. Mention injury symptoms, lane blockage, a dooring crash, a hit-and-run, a driver refusing identification, or any dangerous road condition. A police report is often the first neutral document an insurer asks for.

3. Photograph the scene before it changes. Take wide shots of the whole street, medium shots of the bike and vehicle positions, and close shots of damage, plates, lane markings, traffic lights, stop signs, debris, skid marks, paint transfer, the open door, potholes, grates, construction plates, parked cars, and sight lines. Photograph injuries and the helmet before anything is cleaned.

4. Identify the driver completely. Photograph the driver's license, current insurance card, registration, plate, vehicle make and model, and damage. If the driver says the car belongs to someone else, capture the registered owner's information. If the driver offers cash or promises to pay for the bike, still get the documents.

5. Do not admit fault or fill in gaps. Stress makes people talk too much. Avoid statements about speed, whether you "should have" been farther right, whether you saw the driver, whether you were distracted, or whether you are okay. Give officers and insurers facts you know: street, direction, lane, signal, vehicle movement, and impact point.

6. Find witnesses before they leave. A witness who saw the door open, the car turn across the bike lane, the driver pass too closely, or the blocked lane can be decisive. Get a name, phone number, and a one-sentence summary. If they are willing, ask them to text you immediately so you have a time-stamped contact.

7. Preserve digital data. Stop helmet-cam or bar-cam recording, save the SD card, export the GPS activity, preserve smartwatch alerts, and screenshot app data. If the crash involved a delivery, rideshare, bus, municipal vehicle, or commercial vehicle, screenshot any visible app, logo, route, order bag, unit number, or company marking.

8. Get same-day medical evaluation. Emergency department, urgent care, or a physician visit creates the first medical baseline. Tell the provider you were hit while cycling, describe the mechanism of impact, and list every symptom, including headache, dizziness, nausea, shoulder pain, wrist pain, hip pain, abdominal pain, numbness, sleep disruption, and emotional shock.

9. Notify every potentially relevant insurer. Open the claim with the driver's insurer, but also contact your own auto carrier and ask about MedPay, PIP, uninsured motorist, and underinsured motorist benefits for bicycle injuries. If you live with relatives, ask whether a household policy may apply. Keep health insurance informed for medical billing, but save every explanation of benefits.

10. Preserve the record before negotiating. Keep bills, discharge instructions, imaging, prescriptions, physical-therapy notes, missed-work documentation, bike-shop estimates, replacement receipts, photos, video, GPS files, police documents, and insurer letters. If liability is disputed, injuries are serious, or the insurer wants a release, consider speaking with counsel before signing. See how to choose a bicycle accident lawyer for what to look for.

Dooring: the crash type the law treats differently

Dooring is not just an awkward parking-lane incident. It is a sudden obstruction placed into a cyclist's path, often with no braking distance and no safe escape route. The rider may hit the door, swerve into moving traffic, or strike the pavement while trying to avoid both. The evidence has to show the timing, the lane geometry, and why the cyclist could not reasonably avoid the door.

State vehicle codes commonly restrict opening a vehicle door unless it can be done safely and without interfering with traffic. In a claim, the practical questions are more concrete: Was the cyclist traveling with the flow of traffic? Was the bike lane or travel lane lawful to use? Did the door open into that path? Was there a parked-car buffer, a marked bike lane, or a narrow lane? Did the driver or passenger look before opening? Did the impact damage match a door edge, mirror, handlebar, shoulder, or hip strike?

Photograph the door before it closes if you safely can. Capture the width of the lane, the parked-car line, the bicycle's final position, the vehicle plate, the inside and outside of the door, scuff marks, handlebar damage, brake-lever damage, torn clothing, and any injuries to the shoulder, hand, knee, or face. If the door was opened by a passenger, identify both passenger and driver, because the vehicle's insurance is often the first coverage source even when the passenger caused the movement.

Do not accept the argument that you were automatically at fault because you were near parked cars. Cyclists often must ride far enough from parked vehicles to avoid the door zone. The more useful question is whether your lane position was reasonable for the street you were on. The dooring-specific evidence and insurance path are covered in dooring liability and evidence guide.

Bike-lane disputes and the "you weren't where you should have been" defense

The phrase "bike lane" can hide several different realities. A protected lane, buffered lane, painted lane, shoulder-adjacent lane, shared lane marking, bus-bike lane, and intermittent lane through an intersection do not create the same duties or the same safety expectations. An insurer that treats all of them as identical is usually simplifying the case in the driver's favor.

The defense often sounds simple: the cyclist was outside the bike lane, too far left, too fast, too close to traffic, or not exactly where the driver expected. The answer is almost always factual. What did the lane look like at the crash point? Was it blocked by a parked delivery vehicle, debris, construction, standing water, a grate, a pothole, pedestrians, turning traffic, a bus stop, or the door zone? Did the lane disappear at the intersection? Was there a right-turn conflict? Was the cyclist preparing for a legal turn or avoiding a hazard?

FHWA's bicycle-lane countermeasure guidance explains that bicycle facility design should vary with vehicle speed, traffic volume, truck presence, transit, land use, and rider needs. That matters in claims because infrastructure is context, not decoration. A painted stripe beside high-speed traffic does not make every right-edge position safe. FHWA also describes separated bicycle lanes and buffered offsets as tools for reducing conflicts between bicycles and motor vehicles, which reinforces the practical point: separation exists because cyclists are physically vulnerable.

Intersections deserve special attention because the lane often becomes ambiguous exactly where the conflict occurs. A driver may turn right across a through bike lane, turn left across an oncoming cyclist, enter from a driveway, or roll out from a stop line while watching only for cars. Take photos that show where the bike lane begins, ends, bends, changes color, or crosses the vehicle turn path. If the lane continues through the intersection as dashed paint or green conflict-zone markings, capture that. If it vanishes before the cross street, capture that too. The absence of a marking can matter as much as the presence of one.

Document the lane as it actually functioned, not as it appears on a city map. Take photos looking forward from the cyclist's approach, backward from the impact point, and across the intersection. Capture signs, pavement markings, signal heads, curb cuts, loading zones, bus stops, and parked vehicles. If the crash happened where a driver turned across a bike lane, the signal sequence and turn-lane markings may matter more than the final resting position of the bike.

GPS and camera data are particularly useful in bike-lane disputes. A Strava or Garmin file can show steady speed and line of travel. A helmet camera can show that the cyclist held a predictable path. A rear camera can show an overtaking vehicle drifting into the lane. A witness can confirm that the lane was blocked before the cyclist moved left. Together, those facts turn "you were not in the bike lane" into a more precise question: whether the cyclist's position was reasonable under the street conditions.

Insurance you didn't know you had

Cyclists often look only at the driver's insurance and their own health insurance. That misses a major part of the coverage picture. If you own a car, live with someone who owns a car, or are listed on a household auto policy, you may have benefits that follow you while riding a bicycle.

MedPay and PIP are the first coverages to ask about. They are usually no-fault medical-payment benefits, meaning the question is not whether the driver has admitted fault but whether a covered person was injured in a qualifying motor-vehicle incident. Policy language and state law vary, but many policies cover the named insured and resident relatives when they are hit as pedestrians or bicyclists. The only way to know is to read the policy and ask the carrier directly: "Does my MedPay or PIP apply to injuries from a bicycle-versus-car crash?"

UM and UIM coverage can matter even more. If the at-fault driver fled, had no insurance, carried too little insurance, or the insurer denies coverage, your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage may respond. The analysis is policy-specific, but the concept is familiar from ordinary auto claims: your carrier may stand in for the missing or inadequate coverage. The uninsured motorist claim guide process is closely related, with the cyclist-specific task of proving that the policy covers you while riding.

Health insurance still matters because it often pays medical providers first. But health insurance is not the same as recovery. Co-pays, deductibles, out-of-network bills, physical therapy limits, denied imaging, and subrogation claims can all affect the net result. Keep every explanation of benefits and every bill, including bills that say "paid" or "adjusted." Those documents show what was charged, what was allowed, what was paid, and what may later be claimed as reimbursement.

Also audit property coverage. The driver's insurer may owe for the bicycle, helmet, lights, rack, panniers, clothing, phone mount, child seat, shoes, and other damaged gear. A bike-shop estimate should identify frame damage, fork damage, wheel damage, drivetrain damage, carbon inspection needs, and whether replacement is safer than repair. Do not let the property claim close the injury claim unless the release is clearly limited to property only.

When you call your own carrier, use direct coverage language. Ask: Do I have MedPay? Do I have PIP? Do those benefits apply when I am injured as a cyclist by a motor vehicle? Do resident relatives qualify? Do I have UM or UIM coverage? Is hit-and-run coverage available if the driver is not identified? What notice deadline applies? What forms are required? Write down the answer and request the policy declarations page plus the full policy form, not just a one-page summary. The declarations page tells you limits; the policy tells you who is insured and under what circumstances.

This audit is especially important for students, spouses, partners, and adult children who ride but do not own a car. A household policy may still define them as insureds, and PIP or MedPay can sometimes pay before liability is resolved. That does not mean every policy applies, and it does not remove the need to pursue the at-fault driver. It means the cyclist should not leave medical-payment benefits unused simply because the crash happened on two wheels.

What to say (and not say) to the driver's insurer

The driver's insurer may call quickly, sometimes before the police report is available and before concussion or soft-tissue symptoms have declared themselves. The adjuster may sound helpful because part of the job is gathering information efficiently. Your job is to avoid giving a recorded, incomplete, pain-influenced statement that becomes the insurer's best evidence.

You can provide basic facts: your name, contact information, date and location of the crash, the insured driver's name if known, the police report number, and where your bike is located. You can say that you were injured and are receiving medical evaluation. You do not need to estimate speed, distance, braking time, lighting, fault, prognosis, future treatment, or whether you were "okay" after the impact.

A useful sentence is: "I am not ready to give a recorded statement. I will provide written documentation when the police report, medical evaluation, and evidence are available." That is not hostile. It is accurate. A cyclist who has just been hit may not know whether symptoms will resolve in two days or become a months-long concussion, shoulder, wrist, or back problem.

Be careful with casual language. "I'm fine" can become a dispute over injury. "I didn't see them" can be framed as inattention even when the driver came from behind. "I was outside the lane" can be stripped of the reason the lane was unsafe. Write down every adjuster call, including date, time, name, company, claim number, and what was requested. Send documents by email or portal when possible so the record is clear.

Your own insurer is different because your policy requires cooperation, but caution still applies. Give prompt notice and truthful facts. Ask what coverages may apply. Save recorded statements for a moment when you can speak clearly, understand the questions, and have the evidence in front of you.

Documenting injuries: the road rash protocol

Cyclist injuries change visibly. Road rash darkens, swelling expands, bruising migrates, surgical sites heal, and scars become clearer over time. If you document only the first day and the last day, the record misses the lived injury. A simple photo protocol can preserve that timeline without exaggeration.

Use the same phone or camera, same lighting, same background, and same distance when possible. Photograph each injury within 24 hours, then daily for the first week or two, then weekly until the skin stabilizes. Include a ruler, coin, or other scale marker when appropriate. Photograph both the wide area and close detail. Do not use filters. Do not edit color. Save the originals.

CDC reports an estimated 120,000 emergency department visits for nonfatal crash-related bicyclist injuries annually, and many of those injuries are not captured by bike-repair receipts or police diagrams. Medical records show diagnosis and treatment; photographs show severity, duration, and visibility. Road rash, facial abrasions, stitches, bruises, casts, slings, braces, and scarring all benefit from consistent documentation.

Tell medical providers that the injury came from a bicycle crash and describe the mechanism. "Left shoulder struck pavement after car turned across bike lane" is more useful than "shoulder hurts." Mention every symptom at every visit, including symptoms that seem secondary: sleep disruption, headaches, light sensitivity, hand numbness, hip bruising, anxiety around traffic, and difficulty working. Medical records do not need dramatic language. They need complete language.

Save receipts for wound supplies, prescriptions, over-the-counter medication, replacement clothing, transportation to appointments, and missed work. These small records become important when reconstructing the cost of recovery months later.

The trauma layer most cyclists don't expect

A bicycle crash can change how a rider experiences ordinary streets. The same intersection may feel different. Passing traffic may sound closer. A car door opening half a block away may trigger a physical response. Some cyclists avoid riding, driving, or even walking near the crash location. Others return quickly but notice sleep problems, irritability, intrusive memories, or a constant scan for danger.

This is not weakness and it is not separate from the injury. NIH-indexed research on motor-vehicle collision injuries recognizes psychological distress after crashes, including symptoms connected to traumatic brain injury and musculoskeletal injury. The medical system may focus first on fractures, wounds, imaging, and therapy, but emotional and cognitive symptoms deserve the same documentation if they affect daily life.

Tell a medical provider if you are having nightmares, panic while riding, trouble concentrating, mood changes, or avoidance of traffic. A primary-care physician can screen, refer, and document. Therapy records, prescriptions, work restrictions, and follow-up notes all help show that the crash affected more than the bicycle and the visible wounds.

The point is not to manufacture a claim. The point is to describe the recovery accurately. Cyclists often underreport psychological symptoms because they want to get back on the bike. Underreporting may feel stoic in the moment, but it can leave both treatment and documentation incomplete.

Common mistakes that cost cyclists money

The most expensive mistakes after a bicycle crash are usually ordinary. They happen because the rider is tired, injured, and trying to return to normal before the claim has a record.

• Saying "I'm fine" at the scene before symptoms have had time to appear.
• Letting the driver leave without a license, plate, registration, and insurance photo.
• Assuming the driver's insurer is the only insurer that matters.
• Throwing away the helmet, torn clothing, damaged lights, or broken components.
• Editing a GPS ride, trimming video, or recording over helmet-cam footage.
• Waiting too long to request doorbell, storefront, bus, or building camera footage.
• Giving a recorded statement while medicated, concussed, or still missing basic facts.
• Closing the bike-damage claim with a release that also closes the injury claim.
• Posting a public recovery update that understates symptoms.
• Treating a bike-lane dispute as a legal conclusion instead of an evidence question.

The pattern behind these errors is speed. Insurers move quickly to classify the claim; riders often move quickly to minimize disruption. Slow the process down enough to gather records, understand injuries, review policies, and separate property damage from bodily injury. A careful file is not aggressive. It is accurate.

A realistic timeline of a cyclist injury claim

A simple bike-property claim can move quickly. A serious injury claim should not. The timeline depends on injury severity, liability disputes, policy limits, medical liens, and whether the driver was working, uninsured, or unidentified. Still, many cyclist cases follow a recognizable order.

Days 0-7: Emergency care, police report request, scene photos, driver identification, witness outreach, camera canvass, helmet-cam and GPS preservation, insurer notice, and bike-shop inspection. This is the evidence-preservation week. What is missed here may never be recovered.

Weeks 2-6: Follow-up care, imaging, wound care, physical therapy, specialist referrals, property-damage estimate, and insurance coverage review. Symptoms often become clearer in this period. Concussion, shoulder, wrist, back, and knee problems may require repeat evaluation.

Months 2-4: Treatment either resolves or points toward longer recovery. The record begins to show whether scarring, headaches, range-of-motion limits, work restrictions, or emotional symptoms are temporary or persistent. Medical bills and explanations of benefits start to accumulate.

Months 4-9: Many claims wait for maximum medical improvement, then move into demand preparation and negotiation. A demand package usually includes liability evidence, medical records, bills, wage loss, photographs, property estimates, and policy information. If health insurance paid bills, lien review may begin.

After month 9: Straightforward cases may settle. Cases with surgery, traumatic brain injury, permanent impairment, disputed fault, low limits, UM/UIM issues, commercial coverage, public infrastructure claims, or denied liability can take longer. The important principle is that settlement should match the known injury course. A release signed too early generally cannot be reopened because symptoms later became worse.

When legal advice meaningfully changes the math

Not every bicycle crash requires a lawyer. A minor property-only incident with a cooperative insured driver may resolve with documents, estimates, and persistence. Legal advice becomes more valuable when the claim has moving parts that a cyclist may not see from the outside.

Those moving parts include a dooring crash, a left- or right-hook at an intersection, a driver who says you were outside the bike lane, a hit-and-run, an uninsured driver, a delivery or rideshare vehicle, a public-entity road defect, a concussion, surgery, fracture, permanent scarring, significant wage loss, or an insurer asking for a broad release. They also include any case where your own MedPay, PIP, UM/UIM, health insurance, and the driver's liability coverage all overlap.

The practical value of counsel is not only courtroom leverage. It is also policy reading, evidence preservation, lien negotiation, witness follow-up, medical-record organization, and avoiding releases that close more than intended. See dooring crash legal options for dooring-specific issues, bike-lane accident fault guide for bike-lane disputes, and bicycle helmet laws by state if an adjuster raises helmet use as a fault or causation issue.

A consultation should answer concrete questions: what evidence is missing, which insurers must be notified, whether public-entity notice is possible, how medical liens will be handled, what deadlines apply, and whether settlement should wait until treatment stabilizes. You should leave with a clearer map, not a promise of outcome.

Closing note

The most important lesson after a not-at-fault bicycle accident is that the strongest claim is usually built quietly and early. Health comes first. Evidence comes next. Insurance comes after that, including coverages cyclists often overlook because the word "auto" makes them assume the policy has nothing to do with a bike ride.

Preserve the bike, helmet, clothing, digital files, medical records, police report, witness contacts, camera leads, repair estimates, and every bill. Ask specifically about MedPay, PIP, UM, and UIM. Document the street as it actually functioned: the bike lane, door zone, intersection, signal, parked vehicles, road surface, and camera coverage. Then make decisions after the injury course and coverage picture are visible, not while the scene is still being cleared.

This guide is educational and not a substitute for legal advice from an attorney licensed in your state who can apply the law to the facts of your crash.

Different Vehicle, Different Rules

The steps above apply to bicycle-versus-car crashes. If you were on a different vehicle:

• Passenger car? Different rules; no cyclist bias to overcome →
• Truck accident? Commercial trucking rules and FMCSA evidence change everything →
• Motorcycle crash? Helmet law defense and rider bias make the terrain different →