How to Determine Who Is at Fault in a Bicycle Accident

When a bicycle accident happens it can be pretty difficult to show who was at fault and who is the party that needs to win the settlement. In this article, we are going to let you know how a Woodland Hills bicycle accident attorney can help you with your case and how to determine who is at fault in a bicycle accident.

Signs and signaling

The easiest way to see who is at fault when there is a bicycle accident is to find out if there was proper signaling from all the parties involved. If the cyclist was not signaling when the accident happened and if they wanted to turn or move or cross the lane without letting the other people in traffic know, chances are they are the ones who were at fault.

On the same note, the signs that are put on the road will be able to help determine if one of the parties had way and if the other party was the one who was not allowed to cross or move before letting the other party go first. The Woodland Hills bicycle accident attorney that you hire will help you with this and they will let you know if based on the size you were the one who needed to wait for the other party or if they were at fault for not letting you go first.

Witnesses

Eyewitnesses are going to make the biggest difference and they will be able to tell the police and submit a statement about what they saw and who was at fault.

Because of this, you need to get the contact information of the people that witnessed the accident and even though the police will do this as well it is best for you to have contact with them as well. Your Woodland Hills bicycle accident attorney can help you collect this information, and they will advise you not to talk to the eyewitnesses. 

Your attorney, as well as the police, will be the ones contacting the people who saw what happened and you should never interfere with the evidence or any of the statements that were given.

Speed and location

Finally, the speed of the cyclist and the other party involved in the accident will need to be determined as well as their location. If the accident happened between a cyclist and a pedestrian then the speed at which the bicycle was going has to be proven so that it can be shown if they were speeding or not. In case there was an accident between a bicycle and a car both parties will be examined and it will be seen if one or both vessels were driving at a speed higher than the limit.

In case one or both parties were not in the location designated for them that can be proven as well. If the cyclist was in a part of the road that was designated for pedestrians or vehicles only then they will be the one at fault.

A Woodland Hills bicycle accident attorney can help you out with all of these things and they can advise you on what you need to do to prove that you were not the one at fault. Make sure you have good legal support so that you can finish the case as fast as possible.