Under Utah law, a bicycle is treated as the equivalent of a motor vehicle, which means cyclists must follow the same rules of the road as motor vehicles, and that other vehicles must show the same degree of respect to cyclists as they do motor vehicles.
Your Rights!
Cyclists have legal rights whether they are riding for fitness, pleasure or purposes of work.
What rights do Cyclists have on the road?
Cyclists are entitled to ride on public roads and bike lanes that are in reasonably safe condition for their use with regards to quality of the pavement, the presence of cautionary warnings of rough road conditions, the erection of traffic signals or signs at particularly dangerous intersections and the absence of preventable hazards such as road debris, chemical spills, deep potholes or washboard surfaces created by tree root encroachment. With regard to the roads and bike lanes they own or control, every town, city and county has the duty to inspect, maintain and repair those roads and bike lanes to keep them in reasonably safe condition for cycling.
Cyclists are entitled to ride free from harm caused by the negligence of trucks, cars, motorcycles and pedestrians who share the road with them.
Under Utah law, a bicycle is treated as the equivalent of a vehicle, which means cyclists must follow the same rules of the road as motor vehicles, and that other vehicles must show the same degree of respect to cyclists as they do motor vehicles. It is illegal for a driver to fail to the yield the right of way to an oncoming bicyclist before making a left hand turn. It is illegal for the driver of a vehicle to pass a bicyclist on the left and then come to a sudden stop to access a parking space or turn right across his/her oncoming bike. It is also illegal for the operator of a parked vehicle to open his/her driver’s door into the “door zone” without first looking in his/her side view mirror for oncoming cyclists. A following section provides a description of the bicyclist's right to compensation for injuries and property damage to his/her bicycle caused by the negligence of another.
If you are injured while riding a bicycle, you should immediately request a police report even before help arrives. If that is not possible, then obtain a report after you receive emergency treatment.
Your rights are not self-enforcing. To protect your legal rights, you should always get a police report when injured by someone else's negligence. A police report will document the date, time and location of the incident; the names, addresses and phone numbers of the responsible parties and witnesses; the mechanism of injury; the presence of physical evidence such as property damage to the vehicles, roadway debris or skid marks; and the presence of dangerous conditions on the roadway that may be fixed or disappear long before you decide to hire a lawyer. A police report will also document all factors that may have contributed to the crash such as weather conditions, visibility and the physical condition of the parties. A dishonest driver will claim s/he could not see you coming due to glare from the sun or obstruction of view, even though glare was absent or minimal and even though s/he had a clear, unobstructed view. A dishonest driver will claim s/he was unimpaired even though s/he was very fatigued and nodding off from lack of sleep, alcohol consumption or use of sedating medications. Police investigation right after the crash will document the real circumstances leading to your accident.
Preserve all physical evidence of the crash for your case.
Utah has a fault based legal system, which measures and compares the fault of each party for causing a crash. It is common for the parties to a vehicle/bike crash to give conflicting accounts of how the crash occurred and who caused it. Frequently the best evidence of how the crash occurred, and who caused it, is the post-incident condition of the vehicle, the bike, the cyclist and his/her helmet. Traffic collision reconstructionists can scientifically reconstruct a vehicle/bike crash only if they have this evidence. Hence, any cyclist who is injured in a crash caused by someone else's negligence should preserve his/her bike and accessories, bike helmet and bike clothes without change. S/he should also make these available to his/her attorney before the opposing insurance company acquires them, as the insurer's representative can destroy, modify, alter or lose these items to the irreversible detriment of the injured cyclist's case. Preservation of physical evidence also means photographing all scrapes, cuts, bumps and bruises on your body, which are telltale evidence of location, type and severity of impact.
Any bicyclist who has suffered a significant injury that he has reason to believe was caused, or substantially contributed to, by the negligence of another, ought to contact an attorney as soon as possible.
Time is of the essence to avoid the loss of critical physical evidence or eyewitness testimony. If your injury occurred within the State of Utah, please contact the Utah Bicycle Coalition to discuss your rights and explore the possibility of having an attorney represent you.
Recoverable damages for the injured cyclist's bodily injuries
Under Utah law, a bicyclist who sustains bodily injuries due to the negligence of another is entitled to sue the responsible party in court and obtain a judgment for money damages that will reasonably compensate him/her for all damages caused as a consequence of those injuries. This includes "general damages" for pain, suffering, anguish, cosmetic deformity, reduced quality of life and loss of enjoyment of life. It includes, "economic damages" for past and future hospital, medical and therapy expenses for diagnosis and treatment of the injuries. It also includes, "economic damages" for past and future loss of wages and benefits from employment, past and future loss of income from self-employment or past and future diminution of earning capacity, whichever is applicable. If the injured cyclist was married at the time the negligent act or omission caused harm, his or her spouse may also assert a claim for loss of consortium, which entitles the non-injured spouse to recover damages for the loss of the injured spouse's love, companionship, society, comfort, affection, sexual relations and household services. It is not required the injured cyclist file suit. Indeed, many times claims can be settled out of court without even filing a complaint to initiate a lawsuit. If settlement cannot be reached before expiration of the statute of limitations (2 years from date of injury for all injuries occurring on or after 1/1/03) then it is imperative to file a lawsuit in order to preserve your right to recover money damages.
Recoverable damages for the death of a bicyclist
When a bicyclist is killed due to the negligence of another, his/her, "heirs" are generally entitled to damages for their personal losses because of his/her, "wrongful death." These include damages for funeral and burial expenses and damages for their loss of his/her love, companionship, society, comfort, friendship, affection and household services. If the, "heirs" were financially dependent on the deceased cyclist, they can also recover damages for the loss of financial support s/he provided before his/her death. If the cyclist died with a will, then the executor of his/her estate may also bring a, "survival action" to recover the hospital and medical expenses s/he incurred between the time of injury and time of death, expenses that would otherwise deplete the estate. If the person died without a will, then his/her, "successors in interest" may bring the survival action. If, in the rare event the person who killed the cyclist did so intentionally and maliciously, his/her estate may seek punitive damages against the defendant in the survival action.
Recoverable damages for damage to your bicycle
The law provides the owner of the damaged bicycle is entitled to compensation for the cost of repairs or the actual cash value of the bicycle at the time of the loss, whichever is less. A good, experienced bike mechanic is well qualified to assess cost of repairs, and this would certainly include the person who has serviced or maintained your bike at your favorite bike shop. If the cost of repairs exceeds the actual cash value of the bicycle, the bike is declared a total loss. If the bike was in excellent condition, the actual cash value is equivalent to the purchase price minus standard depreciation associated with the passage of time. If the bike was already damaged, then the value will be further lowered to reflect this. Actual cash value is essentially the same thing as the bike's actual market value one second before the crash, which can be ascertained from shops that sell used bikes, E-Bay and other websites that sell used bikes. One mistake some cyclists make is to assume the insurance company owes them whatever they spend on a new replacement bike. Someone whose bike cost $1,200 new and whose bike was destroyed in a collision when it was 3 years old is not going to receive a check for $5,000 if s/he chooses to replace it with the newest model Trek that Lance Armstrong used in the Tour de France. If your bike is declared a total loss, you can ask to salvage undamaged parts that you would like to keep. This could include such things as the seat and pedals. When they declare a bike a total loss, and pay the cyclist for it, responsible insurers destroy the fork and frame, to prevent them from being released into the community where someone could get badly hurt using that equipment. They do this because they cannot know if the frame or fork has suffered invisible hairline cracks and do not wish to place cyclists or their company at risk.
