San Bernardino Bicycle Accident Lawyer: What Injured Cyclists Should Know
Bicycle accidents in San Bernardino can cause devastating injuries because cyclists have little physical protection when struck by a car, SUV, truck, bus, rideshare vehicle, or other motor vehicle. Riders may also suffer serious injuries in intersection crashes, bike-lane collisions, dooring accidents, hit-and-runs, and crashes involving potentially dangerous roadway conditions.
San Bernardino includes major traffic corridors, neighborhood streets, commercial areas, freeway-adjacent roads, and intersections where bicycles regularly share space with passenger vehicles, buses, delivery vehicles, and commercial trucks. The city has also identified several locations for roadway-safety improvements based on broader collision patterns and severe-injury concerns.
DAG Law Firm, APC represents cyclists injured in serious bicycle and e-bike accidents in San Bernardino and throughout California. You do not pay attorney fees unless we win your case. There are no upfront attorney fees for qualifying bicycle accident matters handled on a contingency-fee basis. Call (323) 930-2020 or contact DAG Law Firm today to discuss your San Bernardino bicycle accident.
Bicycle Accidents In San Bernardino Can Cause Serious Injuries
San Bernardino streets are shared by cyclists, passenger vehicles, buses, rideshare drivers, commercial trucks, delivery vehicles, motorcycles, pedestrians, and other road users. Cyclists may encounter higher-speed streets, busy intersections, driveways, parked vehicles, turning traffic, and changing roadway conditions throughout the city.
A cyclist can suffer significant injuries even when damage to the motor vehicle appears relatively minor. Riders may be struck directly, thrown from the bicycle, pushed into another vehicle, or hit the roadway with substantial force.
E-bike riders can face many of the same collision risks as traditional cyclists. Regardless of bicycle type, the vehicle movements, roadway configuration, injuries, insurance coverage, and available evidence can all become important when evaluating what occurred.
Intersections And San Bernardino Roadway-Safety Corridors
San Bernardino has identified several locations for roadway-safety improvements through its broader traffic-safety planning. These include Kendall Drive between University Parkway and H Street, 9th Street between Waterman Avenue and Del Rosa Avenue, 30th Street between San Gabriel Street and Cedar Street, Meridian Avenue between Etiwanda Street and Rialto Avenue, and the intersection of Highland Avenue and Eucalyptus Drive.
The city’s safety planning has considered issues such as speeding, right-of-way conflicts, unsafe turning, pedestrian collisions, and other serious crash patterns. Potential improvements include traffic signals, higher-visibility crossings, traffic calming, pedestrian refuge areas, buffered bicycle lanes, and related measures.
These locations should not automatically be characterized as bicycle-accident hotspots. Their inclusion in city safety programs instead provides useful context about places where San Bernardino has identified broader roadway-safety concerns.
For an individual bicycle accident, the relevant evidence may include intersection design, lane markings, traffic signals, visibility, vehicle positioning, bicycle travel areas, and the movements of everyone involved immediately before the collision.
Distracted Drivers And Unsafe Turns
Distracted driving can be especially dangerous for cyclists because a driver may fail to recognize a bicycle until there is very little time to react. Phones, navigation systems, rideshare applications, passengers, and other distractions may divert attention from the roadway.
A distracted-driving bicycle collision may involve a motorist drifting toward a cyclist, turning right across a rider’s path, turning left in front of an approaching bicycle, or entering or leaving a driveway without recognizing the cyclist.
Unsafe turns can also create disputes involving right-of-way, traffic lights, stop signs, visibility, vehicle speed, bicycle positioning, and exactly where each person was immediately before impact.
Surveillance footage, dashcam recordings, witness statements, bicycle and vehicle damage, photographs, and roadway evidence may help establish the sequence of events. Learn more about bicycle accidents caused by distracted drivers in California.
Dooring And Bicycle Accidents Near Parked Vehicles
Cyclists riding alongside parked or stopped vehicles can be seriously injured when a driver or passenger opens a door into their path.
A dooring crash may involve a rider striking the open door directly and being thrown from the bicycle. In other situations, a cyclist may attempt to avoid the door, lose control, or move into an adjacent traffic lane where another vehicle is approaching.
The location of parked vehicles, available riding space, bicycle-lane configuration, visibility, door position, and nearby traffic may all become relevant when reconstructing the collision.
Cyclists are not necessarily required to ride so close to parked vehicles that they expose themselves to an unsafe door zone. California bicycle rules recognize that riders may need to adjust their roadway position to avoid vehicles, surface hazards, objects, and other dangerous conditions.
Learn more about dooring bicycle accidents in California.
Hit-And-Run And Uninsured Driver Bicycle Accidents
A hit-and-run can make a San Bernardino bicycle accident investigation more difficult because the injured cyclist may initially have little information about the driver, vehicle, or available insurance.
Possible evidence can include surveillance footage, dashcam video, eyewitness descriptions, partial license plate information, photographs, vehicle debris, paint transfer, and information about the direction the driver traveled after leaving the scene.
Businesses, homes, apartment communities, parking areas, intersections, and other properties near the crash may have cameras that recorded the collision or the vehicle afterward. Some recordings are retained only for limited periods, making the identification of potential video sources important.
When a driver cannot be identified or does not carry sufficient insurance, other insurance coverage may become relevant depending on the facts and applicable policies. Learn more about hit-and-run bicycle accidents in California and California uninsured motorist claims.
Who May Be Liable For A San Bernardino Bicycle Accident?
The motorist whose conduct caused a collision may be responsible for a cyclist’s injuries, but some bicycle accident cases involve additional people, businesses, or government entities.
Depending on the circumstances, a case may involve a vehicle owner, driver’s employer, rideshare company, trucking company, bus operator, another motorist, or someone who opened a vehicle door into the cyclist’s path. A crash involving an allegedly dangerous public roadway condition may present separate issues involving a government entity.
California generally requires motorists overtaking a bicycle traveling in the same direction to leave at least three feet of clearance. When the cyclist and vehicle are traveling in the same lane and another same-direction lane is available, the motorist generally must move into the available lane before passing when doing so is practicable, safe, and lawful.
Those general rules do not automatically determine responsibility for a particular accident. Liability depends on the actual vehicle movements, traffic controls, bicycle position, visibility, roadway conditions, witness accounts, and other evidence.
Learn more about who may be liable in a California bicycle accident and California bicycle laws every cyclist should know.
Common Bicycle And E-Bike Accident Injuries
Cyclists can suffer injuries throughout the body when struck by a vehicle or thrown onto the roadway. Potential injuries include traumatic brain injuries, concussions, facial trauma, fractures, shoulder injuries, spinal trauma, hip and pelvic injuries, leg fractures, internal injuries, road rash, dental injuries, nerve damage, and scarring.
Some cyclists require emergency treatment, surgery, hospitalization, rehabilitation, physical therapy, or continuing medical care. Serious injuries may also affect employment, mobility, independence, family responsibilities, and the ability to return to riding.
An injured cyclist may experience both the initial impact from the vehicle and a second impact with the pavement, another vehicle, or another object. The seriousness of the injuries cannot always be determined from the appearance of the vehicle or bicycle.
Learn more about common injuries in California bicycle accident cases and DAG Law Firm’s brain injury practice.
What To Do And What Evidence May Help After A Bicycle Accident
Safety and appropriate medical attention generally come first after a serious bicycle accident. A cyclist should avoid remaining in an active traffic lane or putting themselves in additional danger simply to photograph the scene.
When circumstances make it safe, photographs of the bicycle, involved vehicles, roadway, intersection, lane markings, traffic signals, debris, visible damage, and surrounding area may help preserve information about what occurred. Witness names and contact information can also become important.
Police reports, surveillance footage, dashcam video, medical records, employment documentation, and cycling-app or GPS information may provide additional evidence depending on the circumstances.
The damaged bicycle, helmet, lights, clothing, electronics, and other equipment may also contain physical evidence. Those items should not automatically be repaired or discarded immediately after a serious crash.
Read more about what to do after a bicycle accident in California.
Compensation, Insurance And Bicycle Accident Deadlines
There is no standard settlement amount for a San Bernardino bicycle accident. Potential case value can depend on injury severity, medical treatment, future care, lost income, reduced earning ability, permanent physical limitations, scarring, responsibility, available insurance, and other circumstances.
A serious bicycle collision may result in emergency medical expenses, surgery, rehabilitation, missed work, bicycle damage, and other accident-related losses. Significant injuries can also affect everyday activities, independence, and quality of life.
Learn more about how much a California bicycle accident case may be worth, medical bills after an accident, and pain and suffering damages.
California personal-injury lawsuits generally operate under a two-year filing period, but exceptions and different circumstances can change the correct deadline. Claims involving a city, public vehicle, government agency, or allegedly dangerous public roadway can require a substantially earlier administrative claim, including a six-month period that commonly applies to personal-injury government claims.
Cyclists should not assume that one deadline applies to every collision. Learn more about California bicycle accident claim deadlines.
Resources And How DAG Law Firm Can Help
A San Bernardino bicycle accident can raise questions about how the collision happened, who may be responsible, whether surveillance video exists, what insurance applies, what happened to the bicycle, and how the cyclist’s injuries have affected work and everyday life. Intersection crashes, distracted-driver collisions, dooring accidents, hit-and-runs, commercial-vehicle accidents, and crashes involving potentially dangerous roadway conditions may each require different evidence.
DAG Law Firm provides resources about what to do after a bicycle accident, bicycle accident liability, case value, common bicycle injuries, California bicycle laws, distracted-driver bicycle crashes, dooring accidents, hit-and-run bicycle accidents, and bicycle accident deadlines.
DAG Law Firm, APC represents injured cyclists in San Bernardino and throughout California. Whether a collision occurred on Kendall Drive, 9th Street, Highland Avenue, near Downtown San Bernardino, alongside parked vehicles, at an intersection, or on another city street, the specific facts and available evidence matter.
You do not pay attorney fees unless we win your case. There are no upfront attorney fees for qualifying bicycle accident matters handled on a contingency-fee basis. Call (323) 930-2020 or contact DAG Law Firm today to discuss your San Bernardino bicycle accident.
