Articles & Resources

Most bicycle accident settlements in Pennsylvania fall between $20,000 and $200,000 for car accident cases. Severe injuries push past $250,000, and catastrophic harm starts around $500,000. Philadelphia accounts for roughly a third of the state’s cycling crash reports. What you keep depends on the circumstances, the other motorist’s insurance coverage, your...

There is no verified average settlement for California bicycle accidents, but the published ranges overlap tightly. If you were hit while riding, the bills are arriving before anyone has told you what the case is worth. Minor injuries from bicycle crashes mostly resolve in the low five figures. The moderate-injury claims that make up most bicycle accident cases land between...

If the police report from your bicycle accident says something not true, that one line can do real damage. You will not get the narrative rewritten, but you can often get a wrong coded field corrected and your own account added to the file, for an injured cyclist, those two moves are where the personal injury claim is won or lost. Almost every guide is written for drivers...

Yes, in most states you can face charges for riding a bike under the influence. Statutes covering “any vehicle” include bicycles; those saying “motor vehicle” usually do not. That can bring fines, potential jail time, a criminal record, and in some states the loss of your license. Many people assume biking home is the responsible choice, but DUI...

A bicycle accident claim is a coverage dispute long before it is ever a lawsuit. The first question is not how much you can get, but whose coverage pays. That depends on whether your state runs on no-fault or tort-based rules, which is why so much advice about bicycle accident claims online is confidently wrong for the person reading it. This guide covers every step of...

New York City allows three categories of e-bike on public streets, in bike lanes, on park drives and greenways, and across bridges in the cycling lane. All are capped at 15 mph on any NYC street, effective October 24, 2025. You must be at least 16 years of age, and every device and battery sold in NYC must carry an accredited safety certification. E-bikes are not motor...

Two years from the accident date is the deadline that decides your money. Arizona gives you that long to file a personal injury lawsuit under ARS § 12-542, and it runs whether or not police identify the driver. Four other time limits start the same day, two of them the prosecutor’s. Waiting on an investigation that goes nowhere is the most common reason a strong...

A pothole crash is a lonely one: no driver, no insurance card, just you, a bent rim, and a medical bill. You can still make a pothole claim against whoever owns that strip of pavement, usually a city, county, or state DOT, but the case is won or lost on proof of prior awareness. You must prove the pothole was a dangerous condition and that the entity knew about it, or...

Every cyclist should know three essential bike hand signals. To go left, extend your left arm straight out to the side. For a right turn, point your right arm straight out, or raise the left one upward at a 90-degree angle. To signal a stop, lower it downward with your palm open and facing behind you. These universal gestures are recognized across all 50 states and should...

Bruckner Boulevard and Longwood Avenue in the Bronx tops our safety ranking of New York City intersections: 93 individuals injured at a single corner from 2023 through 2025, according to NYC Crash Mapper records. Brooklyn fills 8 of the remaining 11 rows. In December 2025, Transportation Alternatives identified 116 particularly dangerous locations citywide where 5 or more...

No federal law governs audio devices on a bicycle. Across most of the United States, riding with earbuds or earphones in both ears is entirely legal at the state level, and the headphone laws that do exist are set entirely by individual state codes. Where restrictions do exist, statutes generally focus on ear coverage rather than the device itself: Key Takeaways You...

You can legally ride a bicycle on most highways in the United States, but not on all of them. No federal laws prohibit bicycle use on the interstate highway system or other expressways, according to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Each state sets its own bike laws and regulations. Controlled-access highways and freeways typically ban bicycles with posted signage,...

After a bicycle accident, check yourself for head or spinal symptoms before you move, call 911, and refuse to say you’re fine. Then photograph the scene before it clears. Only 7 to 46 percent of hospital-treated bicycle collisions have a matching police report, per a Berkeley SafeTREC study, so most injured riders have no official account of what happened. That...

Break a bicycle rule in New York City and your fault share goes up. Since 26 May 2026, CPLR 1411(b) bars your recovery outright where that share exceeds the motor vehicle driver’s, so a broken rule that used to trim a settlement can now end one. The city capped e-bikes and pedal-assist commercial bicycles at 15 mph on 24 October 2025. Each rule below comes with...

A bike ticket in NYC costs between $50 and $190. It adds no points to your driver license and carries no extra fees. On March 27, 2026, the NYPD stopped writing criminal summonses for minor cycling offenses. Police now issue civil citations instead, which means an OATH hearing, not Criminal Court. There is no arrest and no criminal record. Cyclists follow the same traffic...

No federal rule governs how you ride. Federal regulations reach the machine itself and stop there. In nearly every locale a cycle is classified alongside cars under the legal framework, handing you the same protections and obligations as any operator. Each state, jurisdiction and municipality layers its own rules on top, which is why Texas cycling rules and California...

The most common cause of serious bicycle accidents is a broadside crash at an intersection, where an automobile and a rider cross paths, accounting for about 35% of fatal and serious crashes. The top factors are unsafe velocity (16.5%), failing to yield (16.3%), and improper turning (15%). In 82% of fatal crashes, the front of the automobile struck the cyclist, meaning...

According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 1 in 5 cyclists injured in a US traffic accident in 2023 was struck by someone who left the scene, and more than 70% of everyone killed in a hit-and-run that year was on foot or biking (AAA Foundation, 2026). The National Safety Council estimates that bicyclist fatalities from hit-and-run accidents are among the fastest-growing...

Bike accidents cause harm ranging from minor skin scrapes to life-changing head injuries. The most common include soft-tissue damage, broken bones (especially the collarbone), and head wounds. Head injuries alone cause more than 60% of fatal cycling outcomes. In 2023, US hospitals treated 341,774 nonfatal cases. Of those, roughly 50,000 involved motor vehicles, and 1,166...

In 2023, 1,155 bicyclists were killed in traffic crashes in the United States, the highest recorded number and an 86% increase from the 2010 low point. Cyclists account for just 1% of all trips, yet they represent 2–3% of all motor-vehicle-related deaths. Most fatal bicycle crashes occur in urban areas, at non-intersection locations, and increasingly involve light trucks...