Were struck while riding your bike? Has someone you love been hurt in a bicycle accident? Bicycling has become so popular for a variety of reasons: it’s great exercise, it’s a great way to get where you’re going while basking in the fresh air, and it’s better for the environment than driving your car to boot. However, when you’re on a bicycle, you’re particularly vulnerable to an accident. If someone else’s negligence and/or recklessness causes an accident, Belal Hamideh and his bike accident injury lawyers in Torrance may be able to help. Se Habla Español.
Bike accidents can be particularly challenging for many reasons. The injuries that a person may sustain in a bike accident can be significant, on account of being unable to protect themselves. In the event that you were hurt while riding a bicycle, contact us for a free case evaluation. We may be able to help you to receive maximum compensation.
What You Should Do Immediately if You’re in a Bike Accident
Stay calm. Everything in your body may be trying to make you panic, overreact, and so forth. If you can stay calm, you have the best chance for the most positive outcome. Control your breathing to the extent that you can, and, by doing so, you may find that you can maintain calmness.
Get out of harm’s way to the best of your ability. You don’t want to do anything that could put you at further risk of injury, but, if you can, get out of the flow of traffic, away from the road, away from the edge of a cliff, and so forth.
Assess injuries. Check your own as well as others who may have been harmed.
Next, call 911. Even if it seems as if you suffered no injuries of any kind, you’re going to want to contact the authorities. A police report can help your case significantly. Besides, you’re going to want to get medical attention even if it seems as if you’re fine. Internal injuries may not manifest in the immediate wake of the crash. You could be in shock and unaware of how badly you’ve been hurt. Medical attention can help you to recover both faster and more completely in the long run.
Get information from other parties involved. If you were struck by a driver, for example, you’re going to want their name, contact information, license number, and insurance – just as if you were in a fender bender with them. This conversation should be cordial and quick. Never say something that could be construed as admitting fault, no matter how innocuous.
If you can, without being hurt worse, collect evidence. For example, if possible, use your phone to take pics, video, etc. One point of focus: damage, particularly that which may be fixed quickly. That could be injuries to your body, injuries to others, or damage to the environment (trees, roads, buildings, vehicles, and so forth).
Once you’ve done everything mentioned above, contact us. Once we’ve conducted a free case evaluation, we may be able to help you to receive maximum compensation.
The Compensation You Can Receive for a Bike Accident
You can claim two separate kinds of damages for being injured in a bike accident: economic and non-economic. During your free case evaluation, we will let you know definitively which we believe that you can claim. Then, if we’ve taken your case, we will work tirelessly towards helping you to recover all the compensation you should receive.
If you were hurt in a bike accident, you may have accrued medical bills. You could have had to visit a doctor, gone to therapy, gone to rehab, been prescribed medication, had surgeries, and many other forms of medical treatment that accrue bills. Economic compensation can pay for all of this. We will fight for you to receive the medical compensation to pay for all of your bills that came about as a direct result of your accident.
Depending on the type and severity of your bike accident injury, you may have to miss time from work, thus being unable to receive the wages you would have received for working. It’s entirely possible that, due to your injuries, you are unable to return to your job in the same capacity or to working that job at all. We can help you to receive compensation here, too. Specifically, you can receive compensation for lost wages as well as compensation for wages that you would have made in the future had you not been in a bicycle accident.
The time after a bike accident can take a toll not just on your body but on your mind, your emotions as well. You may very well experience pain, suffering, emotional trauma, a loss of enjoyment in the activities you had loved, a loss of consortium, and more. We can help you here, too. You can claim non-economic damages, which can provide you compensation for all that you have had to go through as a result of this bicycle accident.
As you can see, there are many kinds as well as degrees of compensation that you can receive for having been in a bicycle accident. Always, we represent our clients as aggressively as possible so that they receive everything that they should.
How Can the Right Bike Accident Injury Lawyers in Torrance Help?
Belal and the team here can help in a variety of ways. When you sit down with us for a free case evaluation, we can answer all of your questions. We’ll let you know how we think your case is going to go, specific details on what we plan to do for your representation, what we believe your case is worth, and more.
From the moment you sign with us, our investigative team will conduct a thorough, comprehensive evaluation. This will determine exactly what happened and why. Armed with the truth, we’ll be able to put together the best, most compelling case on your behalf.
In a bike accident case, it’s incumbent upon the side of the plaintiff (you) to prove that the other party (the person who hit you) was negligent and/or reckless and that led directly to the accident. They owed a duty to you (such as not hitting your bike with their car), that duty was breached by their own recklessness and/or negligence, and your injuries were a direct result of that.
There are many, many different kinds of reckless and negligent behavior that can lead to bicycle accidents. The driver who hit you may have been drunk, they could have been high, perhaps they were texting, maybe they were speeding, they could have run through a red light, not turned on their headlights, or any number of other behaviors. If those behaviors or any like them resulted in your injuries, we very well may be able to help.
Now, in many of these cases, the other side will try to argue that’s not what happened. They may try to turn this, hard as it may be to believe, back upon you. We’ve had cases where the other side tried to argue that the victim, the person on the bicycle, disobeyed the rules of the road, they weren’t wearing a helmet, they didn’t make themselves visible – and much more. The other side even tried to argue this when it was clearly, demonstrably false.
As your attorneys, we do everything in our power to represent you properly. That means negotiating aggressively on your behalf so that you receive maximum compensation. Yes, the other side knows it’s in their best interest to negotiate fairly with us, and a strong majority of our cases are settled outside of court. That said, if they take it to court, we’re more than happy to argue on your behalf in court, all in service of helping you to receive maximum compensation.
Who’s Liable for Your Bike Accident?
More often than not, the party liable for your bike accident is those who struck you. The driver of the car that hit you, the driver of the truck, bus, etc. In a majority of cases, they’re the ones who are liable. Modern bicycles are technological marvels, capable of going faster than those from previous years. However, they can’t outrun a car, and if they can, they can’t for long.
That said, there may be other parties that are liable for your injury in addition to the driver. Yes, they may just be partially liable, but we can still bring a suit against them. Perhaps the people in charge of road conditions failed to do their job, which led to the accident which injured you. Maybe there were multiple drivers whose recklessness and/or negligence contributed to your accident. There are many parties who could be liable.
When we take your case and conduct our investigation, we’ll find all who are responsible. Then, we’ll bring a suit against each of them, so that you can receive the compensation that you should.
What are Common Bike Accident Injuries?
Bicycle accidents are, unfortunately, more common than ever. As more and more people take up bicycle riding, for its physical health as well as environmental health benefits, there are more accidents as more drivers are unable to properly share the road.
Over the years, we’ve helped clients to receive maximum compensation who were injured in many, many different ways. Optimistically, in a best-case scenario, your injuries are as minor as can be. Injuries that don’t break the skin, that manifest as bruises, or even scrapes and strains – often, that’s what injuries end up as. Just because those are minor, however, you can still receive compensation for them.
All too often, however, bike accident injuries are more severe. Clients have suffered dislocations, injuries to their teeth/mouth, fractured bones, and so forth. “Road rash” may sound like it isn’t much, but it can be devastating. Some of the worst injuries aren’t visible to the naked eye, such as TBI (traumatic brain injury) whiplash, and more.
If you were injured in a bike accident, we can help you to receive the compensation you deserve for your injuries.
When Should I Contact Bike Accident Attorneys?
To put it simply, now. There’s no benefit to waiting, procrastinating, to putting it off. If you reach out to us sooner, if nothing else, we can help you to receive the compensation that you deserve that much faster. Beyond that, you have up to two years from the date of the injury to file a bicycle accident claim in the state of California.
That may not be as much time as it sounds. That’s particularly true if you’re recovering from an accident. If you believe that you may have been injured in a bicycle accident, reach out to us sooner versus later.
Belal Hamideh: Bike Accident Lawyer Who Wins
Belal and the rest of our team work on contingency. That means we don’t get paid by our clients out of pocket, out of their bank account, or anything like that. Instead, we get paid out of your eventual settlement. That means we don’t get paid unless we win. We win 99% of the time, so, if you sign with us, you won’t have to pay till after we win your case.
To see how we can help you through this difficult time, we encourage you to reach out to us for a free case evaluation. You can do so by calling us or messaging us through this site.
