Many folks here in Florida ride bicycles for fitness and to enjoy the natural beauty of our state.
Some folks use bicycles out of economic necessity, but under either scenario Florida offers many dedicated bike lanes on major roadways to help people get places on their bikes.
Unfortunately, motor vehicles and bicycles don’t always mix well, even though drivers of motor vehicles are supposed to share the road with bicyclists.
Recent news out of Clearwater Florida indicates that a 62 year old bicyclist was struck and killed by not one, but two motor vehicles, while he was riding in a bike lane on Ulmerton Road. This tragedy is one we see far too often on our roadways in the Bay area.
Unfortunately, if a loved one suffers a personal injury or a wrongful death and the at fault driver flees the scene (taking what was a bad situation and making it a crime), many people are left wondering how to pay medical bills and lost wages that will inevitably occur as a result of the a human powered vehicle coming into contact with a two ton motor vehicle.
If you’re one of those folks who lives in Florida and owns a car or lives with relatives who own a car, you’re entitled to use the personal injury protection (PIP) insurance on your automobile insurance policy.
If you’re in Florida, but don’t own a car or live with someone who owns a car and the person who causes the injury is in a motor vehicle, you can use the at-fault party’s PIP coverage for your initial bills.
But what if PIP isn’t enough (it’s only $10,000, which will not go very far with today’s cost of medical treatment) or if the person who causes the crash flees the scene so you don’t know who they are? Hopefully, if you own a car, before you got into that bicycle crash you bought STACKED uninsured motorist (“UM”) coverage from your automobile policy, because that generally will provide you with coverage if you’re hurt while on a bicycle, a motorcycle, or even a unicycle.
But the time to check out whether you’ve got this coverage is before something bad happens. And if something bad happens, give us a call to help you or your family out.
If you or your family are injured in a car accident with an impaired driver, contact us at 800-984-9951 or Click Here to talk to our Lawyers
Read More about Bicycle Accidents at: Bay 9 News