McKinney Bicycle Accident Lawyer

Bicycles and motorcycles can be a great source of fun, exercise, and transportation for McKinney residents. Unfortunately, bicycles can also be dangerous, and some motorists do not know how to drive safely in the presence of cyclists. If you were injured in a bicycle accident, call an experienced McKinney bicycle accident lawyer. A skilled attorney could help you fight for compensation.

Dangers of Bicycles

Bicycles are potentially dangerous for several reasons:

  • They can go at very high speeds, especially since so many people in the McKinney area are health-conscious and use bicycles as a form of exercise
  • They do not have the same stability with speed that a heavier vehicle has
  • They do not have the electronic braking controls motorcyclists often have
  • They are thin and light, so they are highly susceptible to accidents when they hit potholes
  • The movement needed to power a bicycle adds additional instability
  • Cars and trucks can have a hard time seeing bicycles because of their size

Bicycle accidents in McKinney can result in serious injuries in the event of catastrophic failure, collision, or suddenly appearing obstacles. Bicycles are not necessarily more dangerous than other vehicles, but they can be.

Differences in Bicycle and Motorcycle Accident Cases

Bicycles and motorcycles are radically different in several ways. Because bicycles are powered by foot, they take longer to get started. They also take longer to stop, since braking systems are also not electronic. Another distinction is the method of giving signals. At dawn, dusk, or night, it is hard for people to see the bicyclist’s signals and know their intentions. For those reasons, it is important that bicyclists make sure that surrounding traffic can seen them and what they are trying to do.

Insurance Requirements

There are also no insurance requirements for bicycles in McKinney. One can drive a bicycle without insurance or any safety gear. Because of the lack of regulation of bicycles, McKinney sees very serious injuries for which recovery is not available. Motorcycles have the same insurance requirements as cars, so a bicyclist injured in an accident with a motorcycle will be covered. For a bicyclist who is harmed in an accident not involving motor vehicles, there is often no insurance coverage for them.

A McKinney bicycle accident lawyer might use different strategies than they would with a motorcycle accident case in terms of the types of experts they use. Sometimes with a bicycle accident, there are issues with the visibility of the bicycle that are not present with a motorcycle, so the liability experts can be different. If they are looking at a motorcycle accident, product liability claims may be brought whenever a motorcycle does not operate the way it is supposed to. That is much less likely to happen with a bicycle because a bicycle does not have the same electronic computerized controls. There also can be product liability claims from bicyclists, but they are less common than with a motorcycle.

How a McKinney Bicycle Accident Lawyer Could Help

A bicycle accident attorney in McKinney could help someone involved in a bicycle accident by making sure to tap any sources of potential funds. They could try to hold the at-fault party responsible, and they could work to make sure the at-fault party’s insurance company is fully accountable for all the injuries that occurred. Additionally, when a person is struck, sometimes the injured bicyclist’s own underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage could come into play because they were impacted by another motorist.

Sometimes, personal-injury protection can come into play. The lawyer will often want to coordinate the health insurance to make sure benefits are being paid when they need to be.  Even though those might have to be paid back to the health insurer at the end of the case, the lawyer will still want to coordinate sources of funds to make sure the patient is getting all of the medical care needed and to ensure that the amount of recovery is maximized.

Call a McKinney bicycle accident lawyer today to see how they could help your case.