While which provides many exciting routes including landscape road, commercial streets and comparatively rare bike lanes Long Island presents potential risks of traffic accidents. Bicycle mishaps and crashes particularly attract severe physical and psychological injuries and thus riders require legal assistance. Indeed, Long Island Bicycle Accident Attorneys are crucial legal representatives and helpful pioneers to ensure their clients get the compensation they deserve.
Bicycle Accidents on Long Island
There has been a shocking increase in Bicycle Accidents in the recent past in New York and many of the Accidents occurred in Long Island. Statistics reveal that:
New York State: Injured cyclists have remained on the rise and a total of over 18,000 cycling accidents have been reported in the recent past.
Long Island: Nassau and Suffolk counties are considered dangerous mostly because of high traffic density and small number of bike lanes.
Driver-Cyclist Incidents: About 70 percent of crashes include a motor vehicle and more than half of those result in either serious injury or death to the cyclist.
These rates only prove how legal safeguards are needed, and how it is crucial that those who have been victimized while cycling should be conned by experienced lawyers.
Legal Difficulties In Bicycle Accident Litigation
In some ways, bicycle accidents are distinctive in the legal arena. Here’s why having an attorney experienced in these cases is critical:
Establishing Fault: This is because cyclist accidents involve recreating the scene and efforts to know about the drivers, pedestrians and infrastructural factors. As people attempt to determine who is at fault, factors make it difficult because there is usually more than one culprit.
Attorneys Insurance Complications: Bicycle accidents are not necessarily easy to settle because while cars have insurance for physical injuries, bikes can lead to medical payment issues, property damage issues, and or pain, suffering, and loss issues if the driver’s insurance company is in denial or seeks to downplay the case.
Possible Categories of Award in Bicycle Accident Cases
Special treatment in bicycle accident claims is offered because the kind of injuries incurred frequently requires a lot of compensation. Victims may be eligible for:
Medical Expenses: Includes outpatient, inpatient, surgeries, hospitalization and physiotherapy both for the present and future.
Lost Wages and Earning Capacity: For those people who cannot work while they are trying to get better, compensation can also be for wages lost, and if necessary, the loss of future earnings.
Pain and Suffering: Explains physical suffering, post traumatic stress, and compromised lifestyle, all of which are usually considerable in the aftermath of severe bike crashes.
Property Damage: With regard to the cost of the major or minor repairs of the bicycle or other things belonging to the person who gets damaged in the accident.
Punitive Damages: When the driver was at fault by negligence the amount awarded as damages by the court would be adequate to cover for the loss when the negligence was blameworthy in extreme form such as driving under influence of alcohol and or drugs, the court would award penalty for the same with intention of discouraging such behaviors in future.
Five questions Long Island bicycle accident victims often ask
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions to help victims and families understand what to expect:
When should I go to an attorney?
The best thing to do is it is advisable to seek advice from an attorney as soon as possible. People forget the evidence and witnesses become forgetful; New York law limits a personal injury action to three years from the incident and accordingly, immediate action is required.
If I was not wearing that helmet at the time of the accident what could have been the consequence?
If you do not wear a helmet in the process you will not be locked out from accessing compensation. However, it may affect your claim where the defense will come up with a defense that would mean that you could have less serious injuries.
Can I sue and get damages even if I am partially liable?
Yes. Plaintiffs are permitted in New York to seek recovery in spite of being in a significant degree of fault owing to the comparative negligence fresh into the state. They can offset your damages according to the degree of fault which an attorney works to lessen.
When do bicycle accident victims start receiving compensation; in hours, days, weeks, or even months?
It is expressed in terms of hours which in its turn depends on the concrete case and its difficulty. These basic cases can take several months to be settled, though when the case reaches the courts, it can take over one year.
Will my case go to trial?
The majority of bicycle accident claims are resolved out of court. Nevertheless, if a reasonable and satisfactory compensation cannot be reached, a good lawyer will set out for trial.
Conclusion
Hiring a bicycle accident attorney on Long Island is much more than just hiring a lawyer; they are a safety net to the cyclists after the accident. Such attorneys know the laws applicable in the jurisdiction, are in a better place to engage insurance firms and love their job and the justice system ensures cyclists receive the help they require once they are in the hospital. It is also imperative the deserving compensation is received with the assistance of a competent lawyer and at the same time mitigate risks of losing those dear to us through car accidents.
