Per the National Highway Traffic Safety Association, 51,000 pedal cyclists were injured in motor vehicle accidents in 2009. Most bicyclists are aware of the risk of injury when sharing the road with cars. But did you know bicyclists can be sued if they are at fault for these accidents, or if the bicyclist is responsible for injuring someone while biking?If you are riding your bike on the sidewalk, and hit a pedestrian, they can sue you for their injuries. Or, if you run a stop sign, or ride against traffic, you could be at fault for the property damage, or injury to other people, if an accident occurs. Even if you can prove you are not legally responsible for the accident, you will have to pay the legal cost to defend yourself in court.
Many bicyclists don’t have the insurance coverage to protect them in these situations, and feel let down by their insurance agent when they find out they could have purchased the insurance coverage they needed inexpensively.
Don’t think, because you are a safe & responsible bike rider, your insurance coverage is not important, because if you are injured, most likely someone else will be at fault, and you can collect on their insurance. You may be right about them being at fault, but proving it, and getting their insurance to pay you, is often not possible.
If a driver does not see you, and hits you & your bike with their car, they can easily deny liability, give a different story of the events of the accident, and say you were at fault. Witnesses are rare, and it will be your word against the other driver.
This blog post will discuss how to get the insurance you need if you are injured while riding a bike, or if you are responsible for injuring someone, or damaging someone else’s property, due to the use of your bicycle. Don’t feel ripped off when you have an accident — know how to get the insurance coverage you need.
Your Health Insurance
When it comes to you being injured on your bicycle for any reason, and a good number of bike injuries doe not involve a car, the broadest insurance coverage you have to pay your medical bills is health insurance.
However, you don’t want to do what many people do, which is think you have “good” health insurance, and dismiss the need to know what is covered, what is not covered, what your out-of-pocket expenses will be, and other alternatives, to fill any gaps in coverage you need filled.
When I was selling auto insurance, and helping the customer choose coverage options, I would ask about their health & disability coverage, to find out their need for Medical Payments coverage, or Personal Injury Protection coverage.
A lot of people would tell me they had “great” health insurance, when I knew they had no idea how much they would have to pay themselves, if they were injured in an accident.
Even people on major medical health insurance, with large annual deductibles, and the requirement to pay 20% of their medical costs, would consider their health insurance adequate to cover them.
However, one of the leading causes of personal bankruptcy is unpaid medical bills. Many of the people filing bankruptcy for this reason HAD health insurance, but their medical bills were not covered, or fully covered by their health insurance.
Know HOW you will be covered by your health insurance, if you are injured on your bicycle. Are there any coverage limitations if you are injured by a car, or in a bike race? What expenses are not covered? What is the maximum amount you will have to pay if you are injured?
Once you know the answers to these questions, you can decide whether your health insurance will be adequate for your needs, and if you need to consider additional insurance to properly cover you.
Your Auto Insurance Medical Coverage
If you have auto insurance, you may have coverage for your medical bills and lost wages, if you are injured by a car, whether you like it or not.
Some states have a mandatory coverage you must have when you buy auto liability insurance, called Personal Injury Protection (PIP), coverage, which pays you an amount for lost wages, funeral expenses, essential services, & medical costs, due to an auto related injury, as specified by your state law.
Some states require PIP, based on their state’s Personal Injury Protection law, but you can have it removed from your auto insurance policy, if you sign a rejection form declining to have it.
Some states have NO Personal Injury Protection law, but most auto insurance companies offer an optional coverage called Medical Payments coverage, which does not cover anything other than the cost of medical treatment for car-involved injuries.
If you have auto insurance, contact your auto insurance company or insurance agent, to find out how your auto insurance works, if you are injured by a car on your bicycle, and what options you have available, to coordinate your auto insurance with your health insurance, so you have the coverage you need.
For example, if you have a major medical plan, and live in a state without a Personal Injury Protection law, you may decide to take $25,000 of Medical Payments coverage on your auto insurance. So, if you are hit by a car while on your bicycle (or as a pedestrian, by the way), you can work with the auto insurance claims representative, to use your Medical Payments coverage, to cover the cost of your health insurance deductible, 20% co-insurance, and uncovered medical expenses.
If you don’t have health insurance coverage, you want to insure with one of the auto insurance companies offering the most Medical Payments or PIP coverage in your state. This is important whether you ride a bicycle or not.
For example, in Oregon, Personal Injury Protection coverage is mandatory at $15,000 of medical payments per person. But some insurance companies offer additional PIP benefits, up to $100,000 medical payments per person, in Oregon.
Your Disability Insurance
Attending few free tadalafil sample sessions at physiotherapists may not only be able to enhance the enjoyable pumping sensation during the ejaculation but it will also increase semen volume to prolong the love act for sufficient duration to enjoy enhanced sexual pleasure in coition. The condition usually subsides within a few weeks), too much potassium in the blood stream and directs blood to the penis. important link cheap viagra Parents are just thinking that this is only a partial list, but there is one more common, fairly serious problem that you (especially canadian sildenafil men) should be aware of, Impotence. If you are struggling hard to enjoy orgasm after enough sexual arousal https://energyhealingforeveryone.com/cialis-3884.html levitra mastercard then it is definitely a serious problem. Your health insurance does not cover your lost wages if you are injured in a bicycle accident, and you cannot go to work. You have some coverage for lost wages if you have Personal Injury Protection coverage on your auto insurance. If you have PIP, contact your insurance company or agent, to discuss if your PIP will meet your need to cover lost wages from an injury involving a car.
Sickness, or an injury not covered by Workers Compensation — no matter if it occurs while biking or not — may cause you to be unable to work, so make sure you consider buying enough disability insurance, if it is available to you, through group insurance at work, or an individual disability insurance policy.
Your Auto Insurance Uninsured or Under Insured Motorist Coverage & Other People’s Liability Insurance
Heath, Disability, Medical Payments, & PIP insurance coverage pay you regardless of whom was legally responsible for the accident. However, it is likely you will still have out of pocket expenses if you have significant injuries from a bicycle accident.
If the injuries were caused by a collision with a car, your injuries can be VERY severe. Rehabilitation, occupational & physical therapy costs are often limited, or not covered by health insurance. Also, if a driver was legally liable for your injury, you should be compensated for your pain and suffering.
When the claim is investigated, and the driver is determined at fault, or if you have a witness or evidence the driver was at fault, or if the driver accepts responsibility, the driver’s auto insurance should pay you compensatory damages for your injury.
What if the driver does not have auto insurance? Or more likely, the driver doesn’t have enough car insurance to properly compensate you?
In many states, the minimum auto insurance bodily injury liability required by law is only $25,000 per person, or lower.
If you are severely injured, which can easily happen in a car-versus-bicycle accident, you become a quadriplegic, and you’ll never be able to work again, would $25,000 be proper compensation for your injuries?
Even if your health insurance pays all your medical bills, and disability insurance paying 70% of your wages until you are 65, you will still have considerable out of pocket expenses due to your injuries for the rest of your life, not to mention a substantial settlement for your pain & suffering owed to you.
If the at-fault driver has the minimum liability auto insurance, they probably don’t gave any financial assets, either, like a house or bank account. The most dangerous drivers on the road — habitual drunk drivers — usually have minimum auto insurance coverage, if they have it at all, and they often have no assets to make it worth suing them.
This is why it is so important to take as much uninsured motorist & under-insured motorist coverage as you can on your auto insurance. The good news is having the most you can buy of this coverage will not be too expensive for most drivers, and will not cost a lot more than you pay now.
If you carry $500,000 uninsured & under-insured motorist coverage, and you are paid the limit, by the at-fault driver’s auto insurance, with $25,000 bodily injury auto insurance liability per person, you can collect up to an additional $475,000 under your own auto insurance policy, if the injury warrants that much compensation.
Liability Insurance if You Injure Someone
What if you injure someone while riding your bike? What if you are riding in a group with other bicyclists, and your bike malfunctions, and you cause the group to go down in a heap? You could be liable for any injuries sustained in the accident.
What if you are involved in a car accident, where a car stops suddenly because they did not notice you, and the sudden stop causes injury to the driver & passengers? You may not be at fault, but that does not mean the driver, or the police, will agree with you. Even if you are innocent of blame, and can prove it in court, you still have the legal costs of defending yourself.
The good news is, if you are a home owner, you most likely have home insurance, which protects your liability, and will pay the legal defense if needed, in these situations.
Take as much liability as you can — most insurance companies offer Personal Liability coverage up to $500,000 per occurrence. You may want to consider buying a liability umbrella policy, too, which will give you an additional million dollars of personal liability insurance coverage if you need it.
What if you are a cyclist who rents? Personal Liability coverage is included with renters insurance, too, though you may not be able to take up to $500,000. I would encourage you to choose an insurance company offering $500,000 and take it. You don’t have to have $500,000, to owe $500,000 in an injury lawsuit.
Only about one in four renters has renters insurance. I’m sure some of those people renting without renters insurance are avid cyclists with active life styles.
If you rent, make sure you have renters insurance, with as much Personal Liability coverage as possible. You probably will never need it, but it can ruin your life — and the lives of other people, by needing it, and not having it.
You can usually get a basic renters insurance policy for less than $10 a month. If you have auto insurance, the discounts for having renters insurance and car insurance with the same insurance company may mean you can SAVE money, or pay the same as having only the auto insurance policy. If you are smart, and you may know it from reading my blog, you can save TONS of money by shopping your auto, home or renters insurance each year.
Do you have questions about bicycles, cycling, accidents and insurance? Tell me about it. Please leave a comment on my facebook page. Follow me on Twitter for important insurance consumer news and new blog entries at CarInsWatch.