A bicycle is a great way to get around Tallahassee while enjoying the fresh air and getting exercise. The city has taken recent steps to make cycling safer and provide guidelines for people looking to get out on a bike. National programs like Vision Zero have set their sights on reducing bicycle deaths to zero, but until this is a reality, there will always be the risk of a severe or fatal accident as you pedal around Tallahassee and beyond. Paying attention to rights of way, marked bike lanes, and traffic patterns are all great ways to reduce your risk of being involved in a crash, but unfortunately, we have no control over what other drivers or cyclists do on the road.
If you have been injured in a bicycle accident that someone else caused, consider hiring a Tallahassee personal injury lawyer from Fasig | Brooks. You may be entitled to compensation for a range of damages beyond the repair or replacement costs of your personal property and basic impacts like medical bills. Working with a personal injury lawyer is a great idea to get the most out of your bike accident insurance claim. Your lawyer will focus on handling your claim and building a solid case for the damages you are owed while you are able to stay focused on your recovery and getting your life back on track.
Contact Fasig | Brooks For a Free Consultation With an Experienced Bike Accident Attorney
Our law firm offers a free consultation for victims of cycling accidents or their loved ones so we can discuss the specifics of their accident and provide specific legal advice on how best to move forward. After an accident, especially one that causes severe or catastrophic injuries, a victim and their family has a lot on their mind, and trying to take on a legal battle alone can be overwhelming or even impossible. Insurance companies know this and work aggressively to settle claims quickly and inexpensively as claimants struggle to decide how to move forward.
Contact our law firm as soon as possible to discuss all of the details of your accident, such as how and where it happened, the injuries you have suffered, and the steps you have already taken. We can help you get a better sense of how working with an attorney can help. At the end of our consultation, you will have the information necessary to decide whether or not you want to partner with our award-winning team of attorneys to get the money you deserve.
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Insurance Claims After a Bicycle Accident in Tallahassee
As medical bills start rolling in, lost wages add up, and the inconvenience of your injuries keeps taking away from your ability to live your life, accepting a one-time payment from the insurance company starts to seem like your best option; the reality, though, is much different. Insurance companies leverage a claimant’s financial discomfort and inexperience with personal injury law to reach a settlement and waive their legal obligations as soon as they are able. Once this waiver is signed, a victim has no legal recourse for future damages, even if new information arises.
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When a victim approaches the insurance company with legal representation from the state, the insurance adjuster knows that these tactics will not work — and you won’t need to worry about dealing with the adjuster either way. You will be able to stay focused on getting the medical care you need to make a recovery, get your life back on track, and moving forward from this significant disruption without the added stress of endless legal documents and back-and-forth with the insurer.
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Proving Fault After a Bicycle Accident in Tallahassee
In a perfect world, the people who cause accidents would admit their fault without hesitation. While plenty of drivers do so, others may make it more difficult to prove that you are the victim, whether by refusing to cooperate with the insurance company or declining to admit that they were wrong. In these situations, it can be highly frustrating as you try to move forward with your case and get the settlement compensation you deserve, but there are several ways that you and your attorney may move forward.
Call 911 Immediately
After an accident, sometimes a victim wants to be polite or not make a scene and therefore doesn’t call 911. Other times, the at-fault driver may try to convince the victim to handle things directly, so the police don’t get involved. The reality is that calling 911 as soon as you are in an accident is the best way to ensure that you get the medical care you need while also establishing a body of evidence that will play an essential role in your insurance claim process.
If you do not call 911, you may find that the driver’s story has changed, but if there is an accident report compiled by the attending officer at the scene of the crash, you won’t need to worry about details changing.
Gather Eyewitness Contact Information
If eyewitnesses stop after the accident, gather their contact information (the police officer at the scene of the accident will also be able to do this) to provide corroborating stories about how the accident happened and who was at fault. In some instances, an eyewitness may see the at-fault driver engaging in dangerous behavior before they caused the accident that can provide additional perspective and further support your claims of being the victim.
Encourage eyewitnesses to remain on the scene until the Tallahassee police arrive so that their statements can go into the official accident report. The accident report is not the final word. Sometimes, information will need to be amended or adjusted after the fact, but compiling as much information in this official document is very helpful for your upcoming legal process.
Record The Scene of the Accident
If possible, take a video of the accident scene and provide a narrative while doing so. No matter how clear and vivid the accident may seem in your mind at the time, memory is unreliable and fades faster than we think. A video with commentary is one of the best ways to provide an accurate and comprehensive explanation to your attorney (and the other insurance company) of what happened.
Try to record all of the elements that contributed to the accident, such as the direction and height of the sun, the merging intersections or type of bike lane you were riding on, whether or not there were signal lights and anything else that seems relevant. The more information you gather in the moments after your accident, the less you will need to rely on your memory to recount the details of your crash.
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Contact Fasig | Brooks To Get Answers To Your Questions After a Bicycle Crash in Tallahassee
The sooner you contact us to request a free consultation, the sooner you will be able to fight for a fair settlement without taking on the stress and emotional burden of an insurance claim. We will be happy to go over a variety of previous cases similar to yours to give you a sense of how your process may go, but remember that no two accidents are alike: we build unique cases for each of our clients to ensure that they get the justice they deserve.
Working with a law firm like Fasig | Brooks will provide you with peace of mind and confidence in your future after suffering from an accident that someone else caused. You do not deserve to take on the financial burdens of someone else’s dangerous driving, and you do not need to go through this process alone. We look forward to speaking with you as soon as possible and providing you with the legal support you deserve through this challenging time.
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