What are my legal rights as a cyclist?

Question

Lets say I'm going down a city street when one of the parked cars opens its door in front of me and I bash my hands on it, or worse I wipe out and hurt my head. What if my bike is ruined in the process?

what are my legal rights if on my bike i'm involved in a traffic accident?

I don't have any bike insurance, not even sure it there's such a thing. Do I sue the person, can they sue me? sue everybody.

Answer 1

i'm pretty sure you can sue the person since it is their fault that you fell. cyclists have the same rights as vehicles because by law we are supposed to ride on the street. the other person shouldve been paying more attention to traffic.

Answer 2

A bike is a road vehicle and if you are on the road when you're struck by the car door, the driver is responsible for the accident. If you're involved in an accident with a car it depends on where the fault lies for the accident as to who is financially liable - exactly as it would be for two cars.

Answer 3

Been there, done that.   Most places the driver will be ticketed for opening a door into traffic.  

Depending on tort law in your state, you may be able to recover damages.  

I got all my medical costs covered by his insurance.  I didn't ask anything for my bike because it was just one of my junkers.   I could've sued, but I'm not like that.

I showed up on the driver's court date to make sure it stuck (on general principal, and because I was pissed about taking an ambulance ride).  He whined to the judge about $1500 damage to his door, and said I was speeding.  Judge asked the cop what the speed limit was at that point.  Reply: 30mph.  (I was probably doing 20)

The judge looked back at the guy, laughed, and said "Guilty".  

Bottom line: Watch out for heads in all parked cars.  Even if its their fault, taking a door off can really hurt.   Wear a helmet.  

Bottom line2: I really hate vehicles with dark tinted glass, because I can't see if anyone's inside getting ready to fling a door open.

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Edit:  The City of Chicago significantly upped the penalty for this a couple months ago.   I think its around $500 now.   Mayor Daley is a cyclist.

Answer 4

if you get hurt in that situation, of course you can sue someone.  are you likely to get back the cost of a bike in such a suit?  maybe.  if you get severely injured, are you likely to win millions in compensation from the defendant?  of course not.  the reality of bike collisions with cars is that car drivers or passengers cannot reasonably be expected to explicitly identify fast-riding bike riders who ride close to parked cars.  no jury will convict a driver for opening his car door in front of a cyclist unless it's a blatantly intentional act.  the reasonable person standard applied by juries will take into account the likelihood that a driver would not have seen the bike rider in time to avoid the injury, and will likely not convict the driver even of recklessness or negligence.

in the most likely scenario, the door-opener will get fined by his particular city, if the city has a law or laws that protect cyclists.

the reasonable person is not the reasonable cyclist, so do not interpolate your rights beyond what common sense should tell you.