Gainesville Bike Accident Attorney

UF Personal Injury Attorney

I was recently retained by a UF student who needed a personal injury attorney due to a bike accident.  Here’s the twist:  The UF student had been run off the road by a delivery truck that drove across his path while making a right-hand turn.  The truck was emblazoned with the purple and orange logo of a well known courier.  However, the injured student did not make contact with the truck, but rather lost control of his bicycle when the truck cut him off.  The driver saw the student, shouted at him, and drove off. 

As a result the injured student had no incident report, or eyewitnesses.  I took the case and filed a claim against the courier.  As expected, the first line of defense offered by the company that owned the truck was that the incident never happened.  I thereafter provided maps with overlaid images and facts, along with medical records that confirmed the dates and times of the treatment for the student’s injuries.  Still, the truck company denied the claim-indicating that no drivers in the area admitted the incident.

I thereafter subpoenaed the records for all deliveries made at or near the location of the truck v. bike accident, and the names of all of the drivers.  This narrowed the list of drivers to two.  The injured student provided a description of the driver which matched closely one of the two and I took his testimony.  Under oath, the driver of the truck that struck the student’s bicycle conceded that he “kind of remembered” a bike flying past him on the date of the accident, but had no knowledge of whether the student lost control of the bike. 

Naturally, this testimony was far the complete denial that the truck company had conveyed in the months before.  As a result, the truck company’s shell of invulnerability began to crack and yet again, serious settlement discussions began shortly thereafter. 

The “pearls” to be culled from this brief post are few, but they are relatively important:

1.  If you’ve been injured while riding your bike and the other driver does not stop, you should still call law enforcement.  They will investigate, talk to witnesses, and possibly find the driver.  They will also prepare a report, which will help establish your claim.

2.  If the other driver is driving a corporate vehicle, you should expect your claim to be denied.  Here, the driver did not want to admit the incident because bike accidents such as this reflect negatively on his work record and may result in him being pulled form his route, or taken off delivery altogether.  So do not wait to contact a personal injury attorney. 

3.  Use due care, pay attention to your surroundings, and understand that when a bike and a car or truck are involved in an accident, the bicyclist always loses, even if they win.