Cycle accident compensation claims

When a cyclist claims compensation from a driver whose negligence caused their injury, the driver (or their insurer) will only be ordered to pay compensation for the injury that their negligence caused. If the cyclist’s own behaviour caused or contributed to their injury, the defendant’s insurer may try to reduce the amount of compensation to reflect the cyclist’s contributory negligence. Common examples of a cyclist’s contributory negligence include not wearing a  helmet, not wearing high visibility clothing if cycling at night, or the cyclist’s dangerous overtaking or other behaviour.

Cycle helmets are recommended by RoSPA, Headway and Cycle Smart because they can help reduce serious injury from skull fractures in an accident, but they are not compulsory under English law. The fact that a cyclist wasn’t wearing a helmet at the time of their accident rarely prevents them from making a claim.

Many injuries, including brain injury, spinal injuries, amputations or major trauma, are not avoided by wearing a helmet. Where an injury was not made worse by the cyclist’s failure to wear a helmet, the amount of compensation for the injury should not be affected. Where an injury would have been avoided or less serious if the cyclist had been wearing a helmet, there may be a ‘discount’ or reduction in the amount of compensation that they receive.

Contributory negligence is sometimes used by defendant insurers as a negotiating or stalling device. It is important that the injured person’s solicitor has the necessary level of experience and understanding of these serious injury claims to ensure that the injured claimant receives their full entitlement to compensation. Boyes Turner’s personal injury team are experienced in overcoming insurers’ unjustified attempts to reduce their liability on the basis of the cyclist’s contributory negligence.

A sudden, severe injury can affect every aspect of the injured person’s life. Serious brain injuries, in particular, cause physical, cognitive (mental or intellectual), neurological, sensory and psychological disability. These injuries are not simple to evaluate or to adjust to.

The injured person may need a lengthy period of specialist, multidisciplinary rehabilitation, ongoing therapies, and help with psychological adjustment to their disability, reduced independence and mobility. They may not ever be able to return to former activities, walk, drive or return to work. This causes financial hardship and stress within the family.

Chronic pain, PTSD and psychological reactions can affect the injured person’s ability to respond to treatment, which is often misunderstood in the context of a compensation claim.

A staged, skillfully managed approach to the client’s recovery, rehabilitation and their claim is needed in these complex cases. Our personal injury lawyers are experts in securing rehab, maximum recovery and full compensation for our severely injured clients. Our team’s supportive relationships with these client families often continue long after the conclusion of the claim.

At Boyes Turner, we believe that our severely injured clients deserve the best chance of recovery. We help them achieve this with rehabilitation.

Where our client is seriously injured in a road accident, we can often secure immediate funding from the negligent driver’s insurer to get our client’s rehab underway. For many clients, this maximises their recovery by allowing a seamless continuation of treatment from acute hospital care to rehabilitation. The earlier the rehab, the better the recovery.

Every small gain in the client’s recovery gives them more benefit from their compensation. This might come from being able to use assistive technology to communicate, learn, access education, entertainment or work. It might improve their independence through the use of prosthetics, specialist wheelchairs or adapted vehicles. It might be the difference that allows them to live independently, with support, in adapted accommodation.  Following rehab, a client’s ongoing needs and abilities will determine how every aspect of their lives can be improved with the help that can be provided by compensation.

Rehabilitation is not a substitute for compensation. Clients who have not recovered to a level where they can make use of available help do not achieve the highest levels of compensation. Serious disability will affect the client for the rest of their life. Their quality of life, and their ability to participate and live a meaningful life, will come from achieving their maximum recovery, assisted by compensation.  Any solicitor or injury claims handler who fears the effect that a client’s recovery from rehabilitation might have on their claim is not acting in their client’s best interests.

Just as children need extra care on the road, they need extra care from their solicitor in handling their claim.

Boyes Turner are specialists in acting for children and their families in serious injury claims. We understand how deeply, and the many ways that a child’s severe injury affects the child and their family.  Parents often suffer from conflicting feelings of anger and (misplaced) guilt depending on the circumstances of the child’s accident. These feelings sometimes make it very hard for them to claim their child’s entitlement to compensation. Our lawyers understand these concerns and work sensitively with the child’s parents throughout the claim, whilst complying with our duty to act in the best interests of the child.

Claims for children are subject to different time limits and must meet additional court requirements, for example, in the way that their settlements are agreed and their money is managed. These requirements are for the protection of the child and are often reassuring to parents, particularly when the child’s injury gives rise to a substantial compensation claim.

Boyes Turner’s claims solicitors are experts in achieving maximum settlements for severely injured children.  We act for the child, whilst supporting their parents throughout and often long after the conclusion of their claim.

When a cyclist dies from injuries caused by somebody else’s negligence, their dependent family members may be entitled to claim compensation. We provide support and representation for the families of deceased accident victims at inquests, protecting their interests and guiding them through the process by which the coroner establishes the facts surrounding the accident and the cause of the deceased’s death.

The sudden loss of a family member is always hard to come to terms with but is often made worse by the financial hardship which follows the death of a parent or partner. Where the family relied on the deceased’s income or their responsibilities within the home, such as childcare or domestic tasks, we can provide some relief from the financial worry by securing interim payments and making a ‘loss of dependency’ claim.

Depending on the circumstances of the case, eligible family members may also be able to claim compensation for the deceased’s pain and suffering leading up to their death, a statutory bereavement payment, and reasonable funeral costs and other expenses arising from the death.  

Injured cyclists may be entitled to claim compensation for their injury if the accident was caused by another road user:

• Tailgating or driving too close to the bike in front
• Overtaking too close or in a dangerous location
• Failing to see the cyclist on the road and colliding with them
• Failing to stop or slow down at a road junction, roundabout or traffic lights (where the cyclist had right of way)
• Speeding
• Losing control of their vehicle
• Failing to keep to their own side of the road or lane
• Failing to look when changing lane
• Failing to keep to the highway code
• Driving a car which was unroadworthy, such as defective lights, mirrors, indicators, tyres or brakes
• Driving whilst on a mobile phone (or was otherwise distracted within the car)

An injured cyclist may also have a claim against the highway authority, police, or other agencies responsible for safety on the road, if their injury was caused by their negligence. These claims often follow an injury caused by:

• a defective road surface,
• unmarked ramps,
• unlit skips or road works.

We have helped recover compensation for clients after cycling accident injuries left them with:

• Head injury, brain injury, skull fracture
• Spinal injury and paralysis
• Amputation
• Major trauma and multiple injuries
• Serious orthopaedic injuries (broken bones)
• Fatal injury (death)
• PTSD and psychological injury
• CRPS, chronic pain

• Rehabilitation costs, including:
  • Brain injury rehabilitation
  • Physical rehabilitation
  • Vocational rehabilitation
  • Educational rehabilitation
• Costs of care
• Costs of case management
• Costs of specialist equipment
• Costs of assistive technology
• Adapted vehicles and transport costs
• Loss of earnings and pension
• Medical costs
• Prosthetics after amputation
• Special educational support
• Cost of therapies such as:
  • occupational therapy (OT)
  • physiotherapy,
  • speech and language therapy
  • psychological counselling
• Costs of adapted accommodation
• Costs of domestic assistance
• Court of Protection and deputyship costs
• Loss of dependency – replacing the cost of the deceased’s income and services eg DIY, housework,  childcare for eligible dependents (fatal cases)
• Statutory bereavement award (fatal cases)
• Reasonable funeral costs (fatal cases)