Attorney Eric Hageman is an avid cyclist and former racer. He represents bike accident victims nationwide.
Our bike accident legal team recently won $2,469,339 against a trucking company in a wrongful death lawsuit involving a semi truck-bike accident. Contact Eric for a free consultation.
If you or a family member has been hit by a car, semi truck or other vehicle, you need to protect your legal rights. Below are 6 things you should do (and should not do) after your bike is hit by a car or semi truck.
The minutes and days after a serious bicycle crash can affect medical recovery and the evidence available later. Focus first on emergency care and safety. Then take practical steps to preserve information before a vehicle is repaired, video is overwritten, or witnesses become difficult to locate.
What to Do After a Bicycle Crash With a Car or Truck
1. Get Medical Care and Report New Symptoms
Call 911 after any significant impact, head strike, loss of consciousness, confusion, severe pain, weakness, numbness, breathing difficulty, or suspected fracture. Some brain, internal, and orthopedic injuries are not obvious at the scene. Follow discharge instructions and return for care if symptoms worsen or new symptoms appear.
2. Make Sure the Crash Is Reported
Ask law enforcement to document the collision. Obtain the incident or case number and the agency’s record-request instructions. If the crash involves a death or life-threatening injury, ask whether a specialized crash-investigation unit is involved and how the family can provide information.
3. Preserve the Bicycle and Equipment
Do not repair, clean, discard, test ride, or release the bicycle, helmet, clothing, lights, bags, shoes, or damaged electronics. Photograph them from multiple angles and store them securely. Product markings, impact damage, transferred paint, and deformation may help reconstruct the collision.
4. Find Video and Witnesses Immediately
Look for homes, businesses, buses, traffic cameras, doorbell cameras, parked vehicles, and dash cameras that may have captured the approach, impact, or aftermath. Ask that footage be preserved. Record witness names, phone numbers, email addresses, vantage points, and what they remember.
5. Save Electronic and Location Data
Preserve data from the rider’s phone, bicycle computer, fitness application, smartwatch, GPS device, camera, and cloud account. Do not edit the original files. Export copies when possible and document the account and device used.
6. Be Careful With Insurance Requests
You may need to notify insurers promptly, but you do not have to give an unprepared recorded statement to the other party’s insurer or sign a broad medical authorization, property release, or settlement document before understanding it. A quick property payment can include language that affects larger claims. Ask a lawyer to review proposed statements and releases.
7. Document Every Loss
Keep medical bills, explanations of benefits, wage and tax records, travel expenses, home-care time, equipment costs, photographs, symptom notes, and communications with insurers. In a fatal case, preserve evidence of the person’s work, household services, caregiving, guidance, relationships, and community role.
8. Get Legal Advice Before Evidence Disappears
A serious bicycle case may require scene measurements, vehicle and bicycle inspections, public-record requests, expert analysis, insurance investigation, and formal preservation notices. Contacting a lawyer does not require you to file a lawsuit, but it can prevent evidence from being lost.
| Free Bicycle Crash Consultation Pritzker Hageman represents people with catastrophic bicycle injuries and families after fatal crashes. Contact us online or call 1-888-377-8900 or text 612-261-0856. You never pay anything unless unless we recover money for you. |