Bicycle Accident Attorney In New Haven, CT
New Haven is a beautiful area of Connecticut, widely considered a great place to live, thanks to a welcoming blend of suburban and city life. Situated along Long Island Sound, there is a great deal of natural beauty to enjoy while bicycling. Many people in the area not only ride bikes for pleasure but also as easy local transportation. However, if you are hurt in an accident, you will need to speak with a New Haven bicycle accident lawyer as soon as possible.
Common Types Of Injuries From Bicycle Accidents
Our experience with these cases has given us a keen insight into the types of injuries that can occur and the kind of treatment that is typically needed to facilitate your recovery. Armed with this knowledge, we are able to be much more proactive in the process of securing the right compensation to accommodate your short- and long-term needs.
We have successfully represented clients dealing with all types of bike accident injuries, including:
- Broken bones
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Neck injuries
- Back injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
- Permanent scarring or disfigurement
- Wrongful death
Common Causes of Bicycle Accidents
Bicyclists have a right to ride on public roadways. Motorists need to give bicyclists the same right of way that they would give to other vehicles. Motorists contribute to crashes when they:
- Turn left in front of bicyclists
- Turn right in front of bicyclists
- Fail to yield at stop or yield signs
- Open car doors into paths of bicyclists
- Fail to yield when entering roadways from driveways
- Fail to allow three feet of separation when passing bicyclists
- Fail to see a bicyclist due to drunk or distracted driving
Experienced Legal Counsel for Bicycle Accident Victims in New Haven, CT
The attorneys at Williams, Walsh & O’Connor, LLC, offer more than 150 combined years of experience to injured clients in the New Haven area and throughout Connecticut. Our firm has successfully represented many past clients in a wide range of cases, helping them gather the evidence they need to prove fault for their accidents and hold defendants accountable for the harm they have done.
The Connecticut Crash Data Repository recorded 47 total bicycle accidents in New Haven during 2024. It’s possible for these accidents to happen on busy roads, including some that do not have bike lanes, as well as on quiet residential streets and in the busy town center. Many bicycle accidents also involve backup accidents in which drivers reverse into bicyclists they did not see behind them.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation recorded just five bicycle accident fatalities in the state in 2022, and while less than 2% of all crashes in the past five years involved pedestrians and bicyclists, these groups represented 20% to 25% of all accident fatalities. When a motor vehicle driver hits a bicyclist or a pedestrian, the victim is likely to suffer catastrophic or fatal injuries. If this happens to you, you need an experienced New Haven bicycle accident attorney.
Our team can meet with you to listen to your story and determine your most viable legal path to recovering the compensation you deserve. The aftermath of any serious accident can be very difficult to navigate without legal counsel you can trust on your side, and our goal in every case is to help our client approach the recovery process with peace of mind. You can trust our team to do everything we can to help you prove liability and recover compensation for your injuries.
Proving Fault for a Bicycle Accident in New Haven
Bicyclists in Connecticut have many of the same rights and responsibilities as motor vehicle drivers. They are required to stay in bike lanes where available and may “take a lane” so long as they do not impede the flow of traffic, and other drivers are expected to lend them the same courtesy they would to other drivers. Unfortunately, bicycle accidents can happen unexpectedly in various ways.
Most vehicle accidents in New Haven happen because of negligence, such as speeding, distracted driving, or moving violations, such as running stop signs, failure to yield the right-of-way, or improper lane changes. Accidents can also occur due to aggressive or intoxicated driving. No matter how your bicycle accident happened, the right attorney can be an invaluable asset for proving liability and helping you recover compensation for your injuries.
Many types of evidence could come into play in a bicycle accident case. Your attorney may try to obtain the driver’s cell phone records, vehicle GPS and other computer data, traffic camera footage, if available, and the police report from the accident. If any witnesses saw the accident happen, their testimony could also be useful to your case.
Liability could be contested in various ways in a bicycle accident case. For example, the driver may claim that the bicyclist was negligent in a way that contributed to the accident. Connecticut enforces a modified comparative negligence law that can come into play if a plaintiff is determined to share fault with the defendant. If this applies in a bicycle accident case, the plaintiff can still recover compensation as long as they are found less at fault than the defendant.
Filing an Auto Insurance Claim for a Bicycle Accident in New Haven
Every driver in Connecticut is required to have auto insurance that includes bodily injury liability coverage and property damage liability coverage. When a driver causes an accident, their insurance policy can pay for the resulting damages up to the coverage limits of the policy, but most insurance companies will push back on claims as much as possible to minimize settlement payouts.
If you intend to file an auto insurance claim after your bicycle accident in New Haven, it’s important to have an experienced attorney help you with this. They can gather all of the materials you will need to send to the insurance company so they can process your claim, and your attorney will be ready to handle any disputes that the insurer may raise against you.
Building a Personal Injury Case for Your Bicycle Accident
You may need to file a personal injury suit against the at-fault driver to recover your damages. If so, you must prove how the defendant caused the accident and show the full scope of the damages they caused. It’s possible for a personal injury plaintiff in New Haven to claim various economic damages from the defendant who caused their accident, including:
- Property damage. The plaintiff can seek compensation for the cost of repairing or replacing their bicycle as well as any other personal property lost in the accident.
- Medical expenses. The plaintiff can claim compensation for the cost of all the medical treatment they need to recover from their injuries. This includes future medical care if the accident caused a serious injury that requires ongoing treatment.
- Lost wages. The plaintiff has the right to seek compensation for any income they are unable to earn because of their injuries.
- Lost future earning capacity. Many bicycle accidents result in permanent disabilities. If this applies to your case, your attorney can help you claim compensation for future income you are no longer able to earn.
Beyond these economic damages, the plaintiff also has the right to claim compensation for the pain and suffering the defendant caused. In Connecticut, a personal injury plaintiff may seek an amount they believe reasonably reflects the severity of their injury and the scope of long-term or permanent harm it has caused. Your New Haven bicycle accident lawyer at Williams, Walsh & O’Connor, LLC, can help you determine a suitable amount to seek with your claim.
Connecticut does not impose caps on non-economic damages in most personal injury cases. Attorneys use various methods to calculate appropriate pain and suffering compensation to seek on behalf of their injured clients. For example, the multiplier method uses the total of the plaintiff’s economic damages as a benchmark and multiplies this amount by a factor that reflects the severity of their condition, while the “per diem” method focuses on recovery time.
Bicycle accidents often result in broken bones, facial and dental injuries, damage to internal organs, spinal injuries, and traumatic brain injuries. A bicyclist can not only suffer injuries from the initial impact of the other vehicle but also the secondary impact of hitting the ground. Many of these victims experience life-changing harm, and if you have experienced this level of injury, you need an attorney you can trust to maximize your recovery.
Your attorney can gather the medical records and other documentation you may need to prove the full extent of the losses you suffered. Once you have proven the severity of your injuries, you will be able to collect compensation for the damages the at-fault driver caused. It is crucial that you start building your case as soon as possible after your accident to ensure the greatest chance of success.
Resolving Your Bicycle Accident Case in New Haven
The attorneys at Williams, Walsh & O’Connor, LLC, have successfully helped many past clients navigate difficult accident cases, including those pertaining to bicycle crashes. We can listen to your story and help you determine your most viable path to recovering your losses. Our goal for every client is maximum compensation as efficiently as possible.
If you are concerned about the cost of hiring a lawyer to help with your case, our firm offers contingency fee billing for personal injury cases in New Haven. Under our contingency fee agreement, you pay nothing upfront and will not pay any fees at all unless and until we recover compensation on your behalf. If we win your case, we charge a percentage of the total compensation we recover. If there is no recovery, you pay no fee.
You have limited time to file your bicycle accident case in New Haven. The evidence you may need to prove fault will only be obtainable for a short time, and you could encounter various unexpected challenges as your case unfolds. The sooner you connect with an experienced New Haven bicycle accident lawyer, the better your chances of succeeding with your case and maximizing your recovery.
Contact Williams, Walsh & O’Connor, LLC, today and schedule a free initial consultation with our team. We can listen to your story and explain the legal services we offer that can help with your case. We look forward to assisting you with your recovery.
