What to do After a Bicycle Accident

As a cyclist, you’re among one of the most vulnerable road users in the UK; if you’ve been injured in an accident, you may have experienced severe physical and mental injuries along with extensive damage to your bike.

If you’ve been involved in a cycling incident that wasn’t your fault, you might want to seek legal advice to claim compensation for your injuries, bike and damage to personal property. In this guide, we offer practical advice on what to do after a bicycle accident to better prepare you if you’re considering consulting a solicitor.

Ensure your safety

The recommended steps following an accident depend entirely on the circumstances, including where you are and what else is happening around you. You could be more hurt than you initially realise.

If you can, try to get off the road to a safe location. However, if you feel lightheaded or suspect a serious injury, it might be best to remain still and signal for help from a safe position.

Ensure the safety of others

If you’re not suffering from serious injury but someone else is injured, ensuring their safety is paramount, performing first aid or moving them to safety.

If no one is seriously injured, you should prioritise making the scene of the accident safe if there are no risks preventing you from doing so. If your bike is on the road, you should move it onto the pavement so as not to obstruct the road or cause further accidents.

Take the other party’s details

If a driver was involved in the incident, take note of their vehicle registration, along with colour, make and model, either on a pen and paper or your phone. If the driver stops and cooperates, ask for their name, address and insurance details. If someone’s animal caused the incident and knocked you from our bicycle, try to obtain the owner’s name and address.

Get witness details

If anyone saw the incident and is willing to give an account of what they saw, take their names and numbers so you can contact them later. Having witness testimonies can be crucial, especially if a case goes to court.

Directly following an incident, you might be too distressed to take any witness names. Some cyclists carry cards detailing their name, number, address and email address to give to potential witnesses in case of an accident; this enables people to make contact afterwards if they wish to support the case.

Photograph the scene

Photos can provide crucial evidence further down the line should you make a claim. Use your phone to take pictures from various angles. A digital photo’s metadata will also list the time and date taken. If you need to take pictures of a pothole, photograph its position in the road and, if possible, put another item beside it to indicate the depth and size. If a driver was involved and won’t exchange details, a photograph of their number plate will enable a solicitor to locate their insurance company later.

Go to A&E or your GP

Go to A&E immediately if you feel you need urgent medical attention. If you discover an injury in the days following the incident, visit your GP. Seeing a medical professional will not only ensure untreated injuries don’t get worse, but it will also provide evidence of when the incident happened and that you sustained injuries as a result of the accident.

Report the incident

If another vehicle was involved in the accident, report the incident to the police in person as soon as possible; this can either be to an officer at the scene or the police station. Ensure you get the police incident number and the name of the officer you spoke to.

If a pothole caused your accident, or if there was another problem with the road, you should report the incident to your local council; they deal with obstructions on the road, and this guarantees the safety of other road users in future.

Make contact with only your own insurer

As a cyclist, you may not consider exchanging insurance details following an accident if you do not have insurance yourself. The driver of the vehicle, however, does.

It might be that you sustained no serious injuries in the accident. However, your bike might have been damaged through no fault of your own. In this case, you can claim from the driver’s insurance.

If you’ve been injured in the accident, having the driver’s insurance details can help you in obtaining financial support to get you back to health.

It is important to know that you can get accident cover and third-party liability through some household and cycle insurance policies or a cycling organisation.

If you are insured, pass any correspondence from a third party on to your solicitor and your own insurer—do not deal directly with anyone else’s insurer, even if they make an immediate offer.

Keep receipts

If your bicycle or any parts were damaged in the accident, you’ll probably want to get them fixed. Rather than paying to fix or replace them immediately, take your bicycle to a local bike shop and get a quote for repairs in writing. If the bike is a write-off, get a quote for a like-for-like replacement. If you incur costs due to the accident, including transport costs, replacement parts, medical treatment, or loss of earnings due to your inability to cycle, keep all your receipts so you can submit them along with your claim later.

Our cycling injury compensation calculator may be beneficial in helping you understand what you’re entitled to. However, if you plan to consult a solicitor following a bicycle accident, you’ll need a specialist bicycle accident lawyer to assist you in your case. Many law firms work on a no win no fee basis, which means no financial risk to you if your claim is unsuccessful. A No Win No Fee Solicitor can provide beneficial legal advice and pursue a civil claim for damages to your or your property on your behalf, so it’s worth seeking legal guidance to understand your rights and any compensation you may be entitled to.