Who is at fault when a Car and Bike Crash?

As bicyclists, it’s not uncommon to hear motorists blame us for the way “all of you bikers” ride recklessly on the roads. Motorists often don’t respect cyclists because they claim cyclists are the ones to consistently “break the law”, slow other traffic, and ignore the rules of the roads. At Shocklee Paolino, we have found that motorists overwhelmingly blame the bicyclists for being the cause of accidents when a car and bike crash. But is that really the case?

Recent research dispels the notion that disobedient cyclists cause the majority of these crashes. The Florida DOT has published a report called “Naturalistic Bicycling Behavior Pilot Study”. This report has decisively concluded that motorists and cyclists adhere to traffic laws at basically the same rate. However, it is the bicyclists have have suffered an inordinate percentage of injuries and fatalities compared to other users of roads. The study concluded, which probably won’t come as a shock, that it was cyclists who were age 18 to 25 that took significantly more risk than others.

A Hawaii study, it was found 83.5% of accidents between motorists and cyclists were caused by the motorists. Leaving a mere 16.5% of these crashes to be caused by cyclists or outside forces. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety published a report on contributing factors in bike-car crashes and found that automobile motorists were much less likely to yield the right-of-way. They were also 4x more likely than a bicyclist to drive inattentively or while distracted. Of 985 accidents between cyclists and motorists, 56% were the fault of the motorist.

What makes these studies so interesting is that some law enforcement agents simly don’t understand the laws applicable to cyclists. At Shocklee Paolino, we have handled cases of accidents between motorists and cyclists where law enforcement agents have grossly misapplied the law. This misinterpretation and misapplication can lead to an inaccurate conclusion that a cyclist caused a crash, when the crash was truly caused by the motorist.

As committed activists for cyclists, our team wholeheartedly supports the enforcement of laws going in both directions. Cyclists should be cited for violating traffic laws to the same extent that a motorist should. These studies we’ve referenced above must be understood by law enforcement.

For a few examples:

• Cyclists in Florida are allowed to ride in the middle of a road lane under a variety of circumstances.
• Cyclists are even legally allowed to ride on a sidewalk in both directions.
• Cyclists in Florida are never resigned to the shoulder.

We have handled cases where cyclists have been erroneously cited as disobeying the law in these situations when a car and bike crash.  Just because there is a crash does not mean the cyclist is most likely at fault.

If you have a question about who was at fault for a crash involving a cyclist, please don’t hesitate to contact Shocklee Paolino.