Bicycle accidents are becoming a norm in the present society. For instance, in 2015 alone, 467,000 recorded injuries were due to bicycle accidents. Well, these numbers are quite high considering that most people don’t use bicycles as a means of transport.
Even worse, accidents that involve bicycles aren’t reported. Even worse, very few survivors take steps to claim for compensation for their injuries. Plus, of all those who file compensation claims, only 20 percent get requisite compensations.
The treatment costs resulting from these accidents may be too high for you to meet. Since you didn’t cause the accident, someone must be held accountable. You’ll need to engage competent bicycle accident attorney in Portland to help you with a case. That’s because bicycle accidents are quite tough to prove.
But why? These reasons make it hard to prove a bicycle accident claim.
- It’s your word against the defendant’s word. Unless you have a good evidence or an eyewitness, you’ll be saying what happened and the other driver will be saying something else.
- It’s quite difficult to narrate what happened. In most cases, what you saw may not be entirely what happened. There may be too much that you didn’t see and which may affect the entire claim process.
- Expert advice plays a major role in the entire claim process. Such include behavioral experts, human factor and bicycles experts will influence the outcomes of a case.
So, there’s much that you may think is settled but may turn out to be far from settled when settled in court.
But despite this, there are different victims who end up successful in court. These are some elements that indicate you have good claims on your hands.
Elements of a Good Bicycle Accident Claim
It doesn’t matter whether you’re claiming from compensation from an insurance firm or through a lawsuit, they’re some elements of a successful lawsuit.
- Fault/Duty of Care
In most cases, someone is always the cause of an accident. It may be because they were driving above the set limit, using a mobile phone or doing something that’s prohibited. That’s an element of fault.
You’ll need to show that the other driver was at fault. It’s this element of fault that proves they’re wrong and not you. But if you were one at fault, your chances of obtaining compensation will be low.
But if the accident was caused by other factors, you’ll be looking for a duty of care. That’s the driver is required to do things that avoid or reduce the harm on you. If they don’t, they’ll have breached a duty of care they owe you as a passenger.
- Damage
Before you seek for compensation, you or your property must have suffered some elements of damage. But you’ll need to prove that you or your bicycle has suffered some damage.
- Proximity
You’ll need to prove that the actions of the defendant were the proximity of your loss or injury.
If you have all these elements in your case, then your claim has a good chance of success. But it doesn’t end here. You’ll need to do a groundwork for a successful claim.
