Many people in Florida and across the United States use their bike to get to work. In addition, there are many children and teenagers who ride their bikes to school. Unfortunately, these bicyclists are often overlooked by motorists and others on the road. If you or someone close to you has suffered harm in a bicycle accident caused by someone else’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation for your harm. At our Law Offices, our Miami bike accident attorneys can help you understand your legal rights and options.
The number of people commuting to work on a bike has significantly increased over the last decade. People are choosing to bike to work due to a number of reasons: it is a good way to exercise, it is cost-effective, and it is an environmentally friendly mode of transportation. Despite the fact that commuters have surged more than 60 percent from 2000 to 2013, nationally, less than one percent of commuters bike to work at least once a week. By comparison, 86 percent of commuters drive to work. According to data from the 2014 American Community Survey, approximately 4.4 percent of people in Gainesville, Florida use their bicycles to commute to work, making it one of the cities in the country with the most bicycle commuters.
Bicyclists are extremely vulnerable to injuries when struck by a car. Many times, bicycle crashes are caused by a motorist’s negligence or inattentiveness while operating his or her vehicle. This at-fault driver – the driver who caused the accident – is likely responsible for compensating you for your injuries. You will be able to recover compensation for your harm if you establish negligence. Negligence occurs when a person’s failure to use reasonable care causes injuries to someone else. Reasonable care refers to the level of care that a prudent person would use in the same or similar circumstances. In order to establish negligence, you must show that the defendant failed to use reasonable care and that the defendant’s failure was a direct cause of the bicycle accident and your resulting harm.
Once liability is established in bicycle accident cases, the injured party may be able to recover both economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages are tangible losses that can be easily documented, such as medical expenses, out-of-pocket expenses, property damage, lost wages, and rehabilitation costs. Non-economic damages, on the other hand, are intangible losses that are harder to quantify, such as pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment, and other losses that are subjective to the plaintiff.
Bicycle accidents can lead to devastating injuries. If you have been involved in a bicycle accident on your way to or from work that was not your fault, you need to reach out to a skilled Miami bicycle accident attorney who can help. At our Law Offices, we have years of experience handling Florida personal injury cases and can apply our knowledge to your bicycle accident claim. We are here to serve you throughout the entire legal process. For a free case evaluation, call us at 1-877-499-HURT (4878) or reach out to us online.
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