What Do You Need To Prove For Cycling Injury Claims?

This guide will provide you with more information about cycling injury claims. We will explain when you could receive cycling injury compensation and answer questions such as, “how much compensation will I get for a bike accident?”

cycling injury claims

A guide to cycling injury claims

Our advisors are available at any time that suits you. You can contact them for free to see if you’re able to claim and to be provided with a compensation estimate. Furthermore, you can be connected to our panel of personal injury solicitors who could help you receive compensation. They can work your case on using a No Win No Fee agreement.

Please remember that you’re under no obligation to make a personal injury claim by calling us. We’ll be happy to answer any claims query you have. Use the below details to contact us.

Additionally, please read on to know more about cycling claim examples and the amount of compensation you may receive.

Select A Section

  1. Eligibility To Make Cycling Injury Claims
  2. Proving The Other Party Was Liable For The Accident
  3. Medical Evidence
  4. Physical Evidence
  5. Cycling Injury Claims Calculator
  6. Contact Cycling Injury Claims Experts

Eligibility To Make Cycling Injury Claims

Making successful cycling injury claims involves proving that another party’s negligence caused your injury. Certain parties, such as road users, have a duty of care. In the UK, this is outlined in the Highway Code. You can look on the Government website to view the eight recent changes that were effective from 29th January 2022.

This duty of care effectively means that you need to conduct yourself on the road safely and securely, not putting yourself or others at risk of injury. Therefore, if you’ve suffered a road traffic accident due to another road user breaking this duty of care, you may be able to claim because they were negligent.

This guide will explain the key aspects of making a cycling injury compensation claim. If you’re hit by a car, the claim would be dealt with through their insurer. However, you could, for instance, be the victim of a hit and run. You could claim if you’ve suffered an injury from an uninsured or untraceable driver through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB).

To learn more about making cycling injury claims, please contact our team of advisors for legal advice that is completely free. They’re available 24/7 and can put you through to a personal injury solicitor from our panel who could help you receive compensation. Contact them using the above details.

Proving The Other Party Was Liable For The Accident

To receive compensation, you need to prove that you are not at fault for the road traffic accident and that another person’s negligence caused your injury. Every road user has a duty of care, including cyclists. Some of the acts that cyclists should do include:

  • Having white front and red rear lights lit to ensure other people and vehicles can see you at night.
  • Using cycle paths correctly. This involves making sure you use the correct lane intended for cyclists.
  • Not cycling on pavements.
  • Not carrying a passenger unless the bike is built or adapted sufficiently.
  • Obeying traffic light signals and traffic signs.

Other actions include not riding too close to another vehicle in case they brake suddenly and giving a clear indication showing what you intend to do. For example, this could involve putting your arm out to indicate when you’re turning.

Some of these actions are a requirement, and others are recommended. However, if it’s deemed that a contributory factor to the accident was not following necessary actions on the road, it can affect the amount of compensation you receive.

A dooring accident is when you, a cyclist, get hit by a car door. Say, for example, you suffered an injury through this incident, but during this, you were cycling through red lights. If you did, the compensation you receive could be reduced because you could be partially responsible for the incident.

Medical Evidence

Cycling injury claims involve different types of evidence, including medical and physical. The next few sections will outline how these different types of evidence can be crucial to proving your injury.

Treatment records can highlight how the incident has negatively impacted you. It can validate your claim by showing the pain and suffering caused. Furthermore, reports from medical experts can show whether your injury is consistent with those that could be caused by the accident. They can provide credence to your claim regarding how you’ve been impacted by it.

Injuries you could sustain from a cycling accident include:

  • A traumatic brain injury.
  • A broken bone or fracture.
  • Road rash. This is when you skid across the road after the impact.
  • Multiple forms of facial injury, which can include a broken nose and fractured cheekbone.

Medical Assessments

You may want to know more about the importance of medical reports when claiming. As previously mentioned, reports from medical experts can be vital in cycling injury claims because they can highlight how the accident was not your fault.

The medical professionals who write these assessments have years of experience in their relevant field, meaning that they are considered a reliable source of information when depicting the extent of your injuries.

You or your solicitor would send a letter of instruction to the medical expert. You’d then attend the medical assessment. This would involve them meeting with you and writing a report outlining your injuries. The medical experts are impartial and, partly because of this, it is considered a vital step of making cycling injury claims.

Physical Evidence

The physical evidence provided can also affect cycling injury claims. This includes:

  • CCTV footage
  • Photographic evidence of your injury and the site of the accident
  • Witness statements
  • Police reports

Another important aspect of claiming for a road traffic accident is the time limit that you have to claim within. With most cycling injury claims, you generally have three years to claim from the date of the incident or from the date you became aware that your injury was caused by negligence.

The Limitation Act 1980 establishes this in England and Wales. However, there are exceptions. If you’re claiming for an accident you had as a child, you have three years from the date you turn eighteen to claim. You could only do this if nobody had claimed on your behalf before this.

Alternatively, you could use a litigation friend if:

  • You’re under eighteen, and you want to claim for an injury before your eighteenth birthday.
  • You don’t have the mental capacity to claim as an adult and need someone to claim on your behalf. In this instance, there would be no time limit to claim. However, if you recover the mental capacity to claim, you’d have three years to do so from the date of recovery.

A litigation friend is someone who is eligible and you trust to claim on your behalf. It can be a guardian, parent, friend or family member, for example. To learn more about this and to see if you can claim, contact our team of advisors for legal advice that is completely free. You can do that at any time using the above details.

Cycling Injury Claims Calculator

You may be wondering, “how much for a bike accident could I receive?” In cycling injury claims, there are two potential heads of claim. Any physical and psychological injuries, as well as the general decline to your quality of life, are accommodated for in general damages. Meanwhile, financial losses caused by the injury are made through special damages.

The Judicial College analyse previous payouts for general damages, comparing them to the extent of the injury suffered. This could range from a traumatic brain injury to an arm or leg break. Through doing this, they’ve created compensation brackets which you can see below. However, please remember that these brackets only indicate what you could receive, as every case is evaluated individually.

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Injury Type Severity Compensation Amount Description
Brain Moderate (iii) £40,410 to £85,150 This bracket is for brain injuries that cause memory and concentration difficulties with the ability to work being reduced. This injury would also lead to a small risk of epilepsy.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Moderately Severe £21,730 to £56,180 Injuries in this bracket lead to a better prognosis than more serious PTSD injuries. However, the effects would cause significant disability for the foreseeable future.
Neck Severe (ii) £61,710 to £122,860 This bracket is for neck injuries like disc damage to the cervical spine and serious fractures that could cause symptoms such as substantial movement loss in the neck.
Back Severe (iii) £36,390 to £65,440 Cases in this bracket include disc fractures or soft tissue injuries that lead to conditions of a chronic nature, including agility impairment and personality change.
Shoulder Serious £11,980 to £18,020 Injuries in this bracket include shoulder dislocation leading to shoulder and neck pain or a fractured humerus that restricts movement of the shoulder.
Injuries to Pelvis and Hips Moderate (ii) £11,820 to £24,950 Injuries in this bracket could lead to a hip replacement or other types of surgery being required.
Arm Simple £6,190 to £18,020 This bracket is for simple forearm fractures.
Elbow Moderate or Minor Up to £11,820 Many elbow injuries fall into this category. Injuries include tennis elbow syndrome, lacerations and simple fractures.
Thumb Serious £11,820 to £15,740 Injuries in this bracket include ones that could cause an amputation to the thumb tip or nerve damage leading to the insertion of wires causing issues such as impaired grip and manual dexterity loss.
Severe Leg Injuries Moderate £26,050 to £36,790 This bracket is for injuries such as multiple fractures or crush injuries of a severe nature, usually to a single limb.

Special damages can also affect the amount of compensation you could receive.

Financial losses you may be able to claim for include:

  • Loss of earnings
  • Loss of future earnings
  • Travel costs (to and from medical appointments, for example)
  • Private healthcare costs where the NHS couldn’t cover them

You would need evidence such as bank statements, invoices and receipts to prove the value of the losses. Furthermore, you would only receive this compensation if you also receive general damages. If you don’t receive general damages, the third party may have been deemed not liable for your injuries.

Contact Cycling Injury Claims Experts

The benefits of making cycling personal injury claims through our panel of No Win No Fee personal injury solicitors include:

  • No hidden fees or costs. Your solicitor will inform you of all potential fees before you agree to use their services through a Conditional Fee Agreement. (That’s the formal term for a No Win No Fee agreement.)
  • Not paying the solicitor’s fee during the claim.
  • Only paying the solicitor’s fee once a settlement has been reached. Your lawyer or solicitor would take a small portion of your compensation to cover their costs. This success fee is legally capped.

If you have further queries about cycling injury claims, please contact our advisors for no fee whatsoever. They can confirm the necessary aspects of cycling accident claims in the UK and tell you quickly and easily if you’re able to claim. Additionally, they can connect you to a personal injury lawyer or solicitor from our panel who could help you receive compensation. Contact us at a time that suits you using the details below.

Find Out More About Cycling Injury Claims

To learn more about cycling accident claims in the UK, use the below links.

The Department for Transport provides road traffic accident statistics for Great Britain.

Would you like to know more about cycling in the UK? If so, find out more information on Cycling UK.

Read more about compensation for victims of uninsured.

Would you like to know the difference between careless driving and dangerous driving? If so, read this article on our website.

Read our guide on making a road traffic accident claim.

Have you suffered a fractured or injured jaw due to another person’s negligence? If so, read here to learn more about claiming.

Contact our team of advisors to learn more about cycling injury claims. You can contact them at any time using the above details.