Cycling is a pleasant form of exercise and transportation, but unfortunately, it’s also a risky way to get around in the tight roads of Little Haiti and in the busy intersections of Miami. With few bicycle lanes across the city and many thousands of cyclists, it’s unsurprising that many accidents take place each week involving bicycles.

If you own a bicycle in the Little Haiti area, you too may be at risk of such an accident – they can truly come out of nowhere, shocking even the most careful and serious of cyclists. In such an event, it’s important that you know what to do – which processes to go through to stay safe and to prepare for a legal challenge down the line.

Immediate Aftermath

Unfortunately, bicycle accidents often involve serious injuries. That’s why the first tip in this list – if you experience a bicycle accident in the future – is absolutely to make sure you’re safe and being looked after by medical professionals. Nothing else should take precedence over your long-term or short-term health and safety.

It’s also important that you stay calm. Many accidents for cyclists involve drivers who will not have checked a mirror or who may have bullied you off the road. Getting angry or irate will help no one – and may even result in your being arrested.

Evidence Gathering

A bicycle accident will leave you dazed and in pain – and that’s why it’s so important to seek medical attention as soon as possible after your collision. More often than not, an ambulance will attend the scene to make sure you’re okay.

In the meantime, just like after a car accident, it’s worth taking photos and videos of the scene around you. If you cannot, ask a witness to do it for you, and share with them a way in which they can get in touch. The evidence gathered from the scene of your bicycle crash will form the backbone of an eventual legal challenge you bring against those involved in your accident.

Your Legal Claim

Once you’ve been treated and you’ve been given the green light to return home by doctors, it’s time to begin thinking about your legal claim. Bicycle accidents in Little Haiti almost always result in an injury that you can claim for – and, if not, some damage to your bicycle or to your clothing that you’ll also be able to cost up and pass on to a lawyer. Compensation claims involve:

• The total expenses you’ve had to shoulder relating to the treatment and rehabilitation of your injuries.
• Lost earnings due to your accident.
• The cost of transport that you have been forced to take instead of using your bicycle.
• The bicycle itself, the clothes you were wearing at the time, and any other possessions that got damaged in your accident.

The sum of these costs, and others that your lawyer will draw to your attention, will form the monetary basis of your bicycle accident claim. The other basis of your claim will involve liability – deciding who was responsible for your bicycle accident in Little Haiti.

Liability

This is a slippery legal concept that many people don’t quite understand – which is why it’s so important to talk to an experienced lawyer who has specific experience of working on legal cases involving bicycle accidents.

In short, your lawyer will be trying to prove that there was a liability of a third party – be that another motorist, a pedestrian, or even the highway maintenance company in your local area – in your accident. With bicycle accidents, this tends to be relatively easy to prove.

Finding Your Lawyer

When you experience a traumatic accident on your bicycle in South Florida, resulting in a personal injury, the last thing you want to do is trawl the internet for hours on end looking for the right law firm and advice to win compensation after your accident. You simply want to recover as quickly as possible and get back to your daily life. In some cases, where you are trying to gain compensation over a wrongful death after a bicycle accident, you can grieve properly.

That’s where 1-800Vincent comes in. We operate an extensive lawyer referral service across the Miami region, including the areas around Little Haiti, which helps connect victims of a bicycle accident with specialist lawyers in this area of law.

By giving us a quick call, you’ll share with us the details of your bicycle accident. From there, we’ll do the rest – doing all the heavy lifting to find you the best-fit lawyer, with experience fighting and winning cases like yours, to take the reins of your case. We work only with trusted lawyers with reliable results, which means that your legal representation will be well-suited to winning your case.

Working With a Lawyer

After you’ve been referred to your Miami Dade county lawyer by our team at 1-800Vincent, we’ll leave you in their capable and trustworthy hands. They’ll ask for all the evidence that you have related to your accident and for a running list of costs that you’ve shouldered as a result of your accident on your bicycle. Then, they’ll work out your case, working tirelessly for your compensation payout while you can relax and get on with your life.