Bicycle Accident Claims in Los Angeles: Your Rights

By Sam Schmuel, Founder & Managing Attorney

Hit while riding in LA? How California's 3-foot law and vehicle-code rights apply, who pays, shared fault, and the 2-year filing deadline.

2026-09-02

If you were hit while riding a bicycle in Los Angeles, the claim usually runs through the driver's auto liability insurance — the same way a car crash claim would. Get medical care, make sure a police report exists, photograph the bike before it is repaired, and file within California's two-year injury deadline. A bicycle is treated as a vehicle on California roads, which means you had road rights, and it also means the insurer will look hard at whether you followed the rules of the road.

Bicycles Have the Rights of a Vehicle in California

Vehicle Code section 21200 gives a person riding a bicycle on a roadway the same rights and duties as the driver of a vehicle. That single sentence does most of the work in a bike claim. It means a driver who turns across your path, opens a door into the bike lane, or passes too closely can be at fault in the same way they would be if you had been in a car.

Two other rules come up constantly in Los Angeles cases. Vehicle Code section 21760, the Three Feet for Safety Act, requires a driver overtaking a bicycle to leave at least three feet of clearance, or to slow down and pass only when safe. Vehicle Code section 22517 makes it unlawful to open a car door into traffic when it is not reasonably safe — the rule behind every "dooring" claim on a street with curbside parking.

What to Do in the First Days

Be seen by a doctor even if you walked away. Riders routinely underreport symptoms at the scene because adrenaline is masking them, and a gap between the crash date and the first medical visit is the first thing an adjuster points to. Head impact deserves particular attention; our overview of traumatic brain injury claims explains why symptoms can surface days later.

Ask for a traffic collision report. LAPD or CHP will usually respond to a collision involving injury. The report captures the driver's insurance information, the responding officer's diagram, and witness names you will not be able to reconstruct later.

Do not repair or discard the bicycle. A bent fork, a sheared derailleur, or paint transfer on the frame is physical evidence of impact direction and force. Photograph it from several angles, along with your helmet, torn clothing, and any road markings or debris field. Photograph the intersection itself, including sight lines and signage.

Who Pays

In most cases the at-fault driver's bodily injury liability coverage is the primary source of recovery. California's minimum liability limits are low relative to what a serious orthopedic or head injury costs, so a second question follows quickly: is there other coverage? Your own auto policy can matter even though you were not driving. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage typically follows the insured person, not the car, which can bring your own policy into play after a hit-and-run or a driver with thin limits. We cover how that works in uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage in California.

Where a road defect contributed — a sunken utility trench, a missing grate cover, a pothole a public agency knew about — a claim against the responsible public entity may exist alongside the claim against the driver. Those claims carry a much shorter deadline, discussed below.

Shared Fault Does Not End the Claim

California uses pure comparative fault. If a rider is found partly responsible — riding without lights after dark, rolling a stop sign, riding against traffic — the recovery is reduced by that percentage rather than eliminated. Adjusters know this and will often open by assigning a rider a large share of fault on thin evidence. That assignment is an argument, not a finding, and it is contested with the police report, witness statements, video, and the physical damage to the bike.

Los Angeles has a large volume of camera coverage that disappears quickly. Businesses, apartment buildings, and Metro platforms often overwrite footage in a week or two. Identifying and requesting that footage early is one of the few steps that cannot be done late. Our guide to the most dangerous intersections in Los Angeles describes the kind of location data that also supports a claim.

Deadlines

Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 gives an injured person two years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit in California. If a city, county, the state, or a transit agency is a defendant, Government Code section 911.2 requires a written claim to the public entity within six months of the incident before a lawsuit can proceed. Six months passes quickly while treatment is still ongoing. Our article on the California statute of limitations walks through the exceptions and how they are counted.

What a Bicycle Claim Includes

Recoverable losses generally include medical treatment already received and reasonably expected in the future, lost income and lost earning capacity, the property damage to the bicycle and gear, and general damages for pain and inconvenience. Documentation drives all of it: bills, records, employer wage statements, and a plain record of what you cannot do now that you could do before.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to have been in a bike lane to have a claim?

No. A bicycle has the rights of a vehicle on the roadway under Vehicle Code section 21200. Riding outside a bike lane does not remove those rights, though where you were riding may be part of the fault analysis.

The driver left the scene. Do I have any options?

Possibly. Report the hit-and-run to police promptly and check whether you or a household member has uninsured motorist coverage on an auto policy, which can apply to a bicyclist struck by an unidentified driver.

I was not wearing a helmet. Does that bar my claim?

California requires helmets only for riders under 18. For adults, not wearing one does not bar a claim, though an insurer may raise it as to head injuries under comparative fault.

How long do I have to file?

Generally two years from the date of injury under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1, and six months to present a written claim if a public entity is involved under Government Code section 911.2.

What if a pothole or road defect caused the crash?

A dangerous-condition claim against the public entity that controlled the roadway may exist, but the six-month government claim deadline applies and the notice requirements are strict.

Will my own health insurance want to be repaid?

Often yes. Health plans and medical providers frequently assert reimbursement rights or liens against a settlement, which is why the net figure and the gross figure are different numbers.

Common Bicycle Crash Patterns and How Fault Is Assessed

Most Los Angeles bicycle collisions fall into a handful of recognizable patterns, and each turns on a specific rule of the road. In a "right hook," a driver passes a cyclist and then turns right across the bike's path; because the cyclist generally had the right of way while proceeding straight, the turning driver is frequently at fault. A "left cross," where an oncoming driver turns left into a cyclist going straight, is analyzed much like a left-turn car collision, in which the turning driver must yield. Dooring cases turn on Vehicle Code section 22517, which makes it unlawful to open a car door into traffic when it is not reasonably safe.

Where the cyclist was riding also matters. California leaves sidewalk riding to local rule; in the City of Los Angeles, Municipal Code section 56.15 prohibits riding on a sidewalk with a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property, so careful, lawful sidewalk riding is treated differently from reckless riding. Riding against the flow of traffic, without the lamp required after dark under Vehicle Code section 21201, or through a controlled intersection can each support a comparative-fault argument. None of these facts automatically ends a claim, but each shapes how fault is divided.