You're in a bicycle crash--what next?
Lawyer Alvin Wolff of Clayton writes with this advice for cyclists who are injured or in a crash:
Many times a person is involved in a bike wreck that is not their fault. The bicyclist is taken away in an ambulance. The police show up. The police take a statement from the driver. The police may be inexperienced or untrained in crash reconstruction. The police report is written. The police report is wrong. No one ever asked the bicyclist what happened. If this happens to you, what should you do?
Write a supplemental insert. Get on a website that lets you make a drawing such as http://www.accidentsketch.com/. Make the drawing. Send a letter to the police department asking that your supplement and drawing be attached to the report since you were never contacted when the original report was written.
I suggest that in all instances of a bike / vehicle wreck, even if you don't want to hire a lawyer, that you consult with an attorney for advice. This is what we do. With most insurance plans now, there are liens and other traps for the unwary. This is why I don't recommend handling a claim yourself. There are just too many ways to screw it up. I see young lawyers make mistakes that sink claims due to inexperience. What makes you think you are any better than a young untrained lawyer? You probably wouldn't write your own will so why would you want to handle your own bicycle wreck claim?
Other suggestions are, never give the insurance company a recorded statement. The insurance company is not your friend. It is not there to help you. It is there to pay as little money as possible. Remember that going in.
Make sure you get your emergency room record and check for details of what the report says you said. Sometimes the medical history is wrong. Sometimes, statements attributed to the patient really came from an ambulance driver that heard something from some other unreliable person. Forewarned is forearmed.
Lawyer Alvin Wolff often handles bicycle injury case in his practice. Alvin was recently named Plaintiff's Lawyer of the Year In Medical Malpractice by Best Lawyers In America. He is an avid cycling advocate and cyclist. He has published a free book entitled The Total Guide for Motorcycle and Bicycle Accident Victims in Missouri--and he is a member of MoBikeFed's Yellow Jersey Club.
Further suggestions about what to do in a bike-car collision here.
Photo credit: Collision by Jari Schroderus on FlickR. Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license.
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