Bicycle Accident Lawyer

Often yes. Florida PIP coverage provides $10,000 in personal injury protection that follows the injured person, not the vehicle — so if you carry your own auto insurance and are hit by a car while riding a bicycle, your own PIP responds for the initial $10,000 of medical bills regardless of fault. After PIP exhausts, the at-fault driver’s bodily injury coverage applies. If the driver’s coverage is inadequate (Florida has high rates of minimum coverage and uninsured drivers), your own UM coverage applies. UM is one of the most under-purchased coverages in Florida, and the decision to skip it gets very expensive after a serious bicycle injury. We pull every applicable policy at intake — your auto policies, household member auto policies, and any UM stacking eligibility — to map the full available coverage.

If you are 16 or older, Florida law does not require helmets, and lawful no-helmet riding does NOT establish comparative negligence as a matter of law under Florida appellate decisions. Defense counsel will still argue that a helmet would have prevented or reduced your head injury, and a jury can consider that argument when assigning damages — but the absence of a helmet does not bar your case. Riders under 16 are required to wear helmets and face a stronger comparative-fault argument when they did not. We have handled both situations and can navigate the helmet defense effectively. Honest disclosure at intake about helmet use, lighting equipment, and clothing helps us build the case on realistic facts.

Yes — significantly. Drivers in Florida have an affirmative duty to maintain a proper lookout for all roadway users, including cyclists. “I never saw the bike” is functionally an admission of failed lookout, which is evidence of negligence. The same dynamic exists in motorcycle cases. Defense counsel will try to rehabilitate the witness by reframing the statement, but the original “I didn’t see them” testimony in the police report or in early statements is hard to walk back. We document this carefully and use it at deposition and trial. We have prevailed on this exact issue many times.

It depends on the situation. Florida law generally requires cyclists to use a usable bike lane when one is present, but the exceptions are broad: making a left turn, avoiding debris in the lane, passing another cyclist or pedestrian, the lane being too narrow for the cyclist plus a passing vehicle to safely share, and several others. The “she should have been in the bike lane” defense routinely overstates the legal requirement and often falls apart when the actual conditions and exceptions are examined. Even if some comparative fault is found, Florida’s modified comparative negligence allows recovery as long as you are 50% or less at fault, with damages reduced proportionally. Many of our successful bicycle cases involved cyclists riding outside the bike lane for a legally-recognized reason.

Hit-and-run bicycle crashes are tragically common, and the recovery analysis tracks pedestrian hit-and-run cases closely. If you carry UM coverage, your own auto insurer treats the unknown driver as an uninsured motorist and pays your damages up to your UM limit. Without UM, recovery becomes very difficult unless the driver is later identified and has assets or insurance. Florida’s Crime Victims’ Compensation program may provide some access for medical bills and lost wages within statutory caps. Vehicle parts left at the scene (broken side mirrors, paint transfer, license plate fragments) are critical evidence — we work with law enforcement to identify the at-fault driver wherever possible, which dramatically improves the recovery picture when it succeeds.

Nothing up front. Bicycle cases run on the standard contingency fee — we are paid only if we recover, with our fee coming from the recovery itself. Florida Bar rules cap contingency fees at 33.33% of recovery before suit and 40% after. Costs of litigation (accident reconstruction, biomechanical engineering analysis, medical experts) are advanced by the firm and reimbursed from the recovery if any. If we do not recover, you owe nothing for fees or costs. Bicycle cases often involve significant upfront expert costs because of the catastrophic injuries and the bias dynamics — the firm absorbs those costs as part of the contingency model.

Cases involving injured child cyclists have several differences from adult cases. Florida law treats children as having reduced capacity for contributory negligence — children under 6 are deemed incapable of negligence as a matter of law, and children 6-13 are evaluated against the standard of “what a child of similar age, intelligence, and experience would do” rather than the adult reasonable-person standard. This makes comparative-fault attacks against child cyclists far harder for the defense. Child cyclist cases also typically involve longer-term damages because of the developmental impact of TBI and other injuries on a still-growing brain and body. Settlement of a minor’s claim requires court approval in Florida — we coordinate with probate counsel as needed to ensure the recovery is properly structured for the child’s long-term benefit, often through a structured settlement that protects the funds until the child reaches majority.