Bicycle Accident Lawyer in New York

Who pays after a bicycle accident in New York?

Medical bills come first through no fault. Under New York's no fault system a cyclist struck by a motor vehicle is covered by the no fault benefits on the vehicle that hit them, even though the cyclist was never inside it, or by the cyclist's own auto policy if there is one. Those benefits pay medical treatment and a portion of lost wages regardless of fault, up to the 50,000 dollar basic economic loss limit set by Insurance Law 5102. The application is generally due within 30 days of the crash, and a late application is the single most common way cyclists lose benefits they were owed.

No fault pays bills and part of your wages. It does not pay for pain, scarring, the bike, or wages above its cap. Those come from the driver's liability insurer, and to recover pain and suffering you must have a serious injury as defined in Insurance Law 5102(d) and required by Insurance Law 5104: a fracture, significant disfigurement, or a permanent or significant limitation. For lawsuits filed on or after May 26, 2026, the older 90 of 180 day category no longer applies. A broken collarbone or wrist, the most common cycling fracture, clears the threshold on its own.

Your own household auto coverage responds even though you were on a bike. Uninsured and supplementary underinsured motorist coverage on your policy, or on a policy belonging to a relative you live with, fills the gap when the driver carried a minimum policy or none at all. We review every policy in the household before we value the claim, because that coverage is often larger than what the driver bought. Insurance Law 5106 requires no fault benefits to be paid within 30 days of proof of claim, and we hold the insurer to that clock.

When the driver fled, as happens to cyclists in every borough, or had no insurance, and there is no household auto policy, the Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation, MVAIC, provides both no fault benefits and a path to recover for a serious injury. MVAIC requires a police report within 24 hours of a hit and run and a notice of intention within 90 days, and leaving the scene of an injury crash is a crime under VTL 600, so we work with the police to identify the driver while the MVAIC claim proceeds.

How much is a New York bicycle accident claim worth?

A cyclist absorbs the impact with their body, so the injuries repeat: a fractured collarbone, scaphoid or wrist from the fall, a broken hip, femur or pelvis from the strike, facial and dental injuries, a head injury, and road rash deep enough to need debridement or a graft. The claim is built from medical costs above the no fault cap, future treatment, wages above the no fault benefit, reduced earning capacity, the bicycle and everything on it, and pain and suffering once the serious injury threshold is met.

Severity and permanence set the range. A collarbone that heals in a sling is valued differently from one plated in surgery, and a concussion that clears in weeks sits far below a brain injury with deficits confirmed by neuropsychological testing. Venue matters too, since a Kings County or Bronx County case is evaluated differently from one in Richmond County. Insurance limits set the ceiling, so we pursue every policy: the driver's, the vehicle owner's, an employer's if the driver was working, the household coverage in your family, and MVAIC when nothing else responds. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

The bike is often worth more than the adjuster's first offer by a wide margin. A carbon frame, a wheelset, a power meter, a computer, a helmet that must be replaced after any impact, and clothing can total thousands of dollars. We document value with purchase records and a written shop estimate and insist on replacement cost rather than a depreciated guess. Property damage is not subject to the serious injury threshold.

A pre existing condition does not defeat the claim. A rider with an old shoulder injury who now has a labral tear, or one with prior back complaints who now has a herniated disc, recovers for the aggravation New York law recognizes, and we work with treating physicians to separate what was there before from what the crash added. A spouse's loss of consortium claim is evaluated in every serious case.

What if the insurer blames you or lowballs your New York bicycle claim?

The adjuster starts with fault. Expect to hear that you ran the light on Second Avenue, rode outside the lane on Queens Boulevard, had no lights on the Greenway at night, wore headphones or came off the Manhattan Bridge path too fast. Under CPLR 1411 every one of those arguments reduces the recovery by the percentage of fault a jury would actually assign, and for lawsuits filed on or after May 26, 2026 the goal is to keep your share at or below the driver's so the claim is not barred. We push the driver's share up with speed evidence, phone records where distraction is suspected, and the driver's own duty to look before turning or opening a door.

The helmet argument follows. Whether or not you wore one, the insurer may argue a helmet would have changed the outcome. That argument is confined to injuries a helmet would actually have prevented, so it has nothing to say about a broken wrist, a shattered hip, a torn knee or road rash, and we answer it with medical evidence tied to the exact mechanism of your injury.

We answer both with evidence gathered early: preserved footage, the ride file from your bike computer or phone app, the damage on the car and the bike, the accounts of the people who stopped, and a reconstruction when the physical evidence is contested. Do not give the driver's insurer a recorded statement. A sentence about your speed or your line becomes the number the adjuster builds the fault argument around.

On the threshold, the insurer's examining doctor will report that your limitation is not significant or that your imaging shows degeneration that predates the crash. We answer with your treating physicians, objective range of motion measurements and a narrative report tying the injury to the strike. If the offer does not move once the medical picture is complete, we file suit in the Supreme Court of the county where you were hit.

How long do you have to file a bicycle accident claim in New York?

A cyclist injured by a driver has three years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit under CPLR 214. When a cyclist dies, the family's wrongful death action must be brought by the estate's personal representative within two years of the death under EPTL 5-4.1. Three years sounds like plenty, but the footage is gone in days and the bike ends up in a hallway, so the case is built in weeks even if it is filed later.

The short deadline is the one that catches cyclists. If a city bus, a New York City Transit or MTA vehicle, a sanitation truck, a police car or a defective street, bike lane or bridge path maintained by the city caused the crash, General Municipal Law 50-e requires a notice of claim within 90 days. Road defect claims are common for cyclists, because a seam or a grate that a car rolls over will throw a rider, and a late or defective notice ends the claim regardless of how strong it was.

No fault runs shortest of all, with the application generally due within 30 days of the crash. A hit and run requires a police report within 24 hours and an MVAIC notice of intention within 90 days. A delivery platform's occupational accident program has a reporting window of its own. Every one of those dates is calendared the day you retain us.

What should you do in the first 72 hours after a New York bicycle accident?

Get examined the same day even if you rode home. Cyclists land on their heads and hands, and a concussion, a scaphoid fracture or an internal injury can stay quiet for hours. Bellevue, NYU Langone, Jamaica Hospital, Kings County Hospital, Elmhurst, Lincoln Medical Center and Jacobi are the city's Level I trauma centers. Tell every provider you were struck while cycling so the mechanism is in the record.

Make sure the NYPD wrote a crash report and get the report number, the officer's name and the driver's license, plate and insurance card. In a serious crash the Collision Investigation Squad may respond, and its file is worth obtaining. Photograph the car, its damage, the bike where it landed, the lane markings, the signal, the open door if you were doored, and your injuries, and get names and numbers from everyone who stopped, including other riders.

Keep the bike and the helmet exactly as they are. Do not repair, wash or discard either one, because the bent fork, the cracked helmet shell and the scrape along the drive side are physical evidence. Save the ride file from your bike computer or phone app unedited, export it and send us a copy; it records your speed and your line at the moment of impact. If you wear an action camera, preserve the card. Then note every camera that faced the scene, the storefront, the lobby, the MTA bus that passed, the traffic camera on the pole, and tell us the location so preservation letters go out before the footage is overwritten.

Open the no fault claim by notifying the striking vehicle's insurer, or your own if you have a household policy, that a crash occurred and you were hurt, and get the application filed within 30 days. We do this the day you retain us. Do not give a recorded statement to the driver's insurer, do not sign anything from them, and stay off social media about the crash. Start a file of every bill, appointment and missed day of work.

What Your Claim Can Cover

• Medical benefits from the driver's policy where no fault applies
• Serious injury claims for fractures, head and spinal injuries
• Fault rules explained for cyclists
• Delivery rider and e-bike claims
• Claims involving dangerous road design or construction