Your health is the first of many steps to prioritize after you’ve been involved in a bicycle accident. Depending on the severity of your wounds, you may have to miss work or experience discomfort that lowers your quality of life. If either of these scenarios applies to you and someone else was to blame for your accident, you might be eligible for financial compensation.
If you are trying to find a South Carolina bicycle accident lawyer, look no further than the legal experts at Shelly Leeke Law Firm. We work to preserve, review, and investigate options to assist you in recovering all accident-related expenses as soon as possible following your injury.
Upon becoming our client, your focus will be redirected to concentrating on your recovery while our Charleston personal injury lawyers will fight for the full settlement that you rightfully deserve.
Is Bicycling Dangerous in South Carolina?
Even though South Carolina has bicycle laws to protect pedestrians, motorists, and cyclists, it is still ranked highly as one of the most dangerous states for cyclists.
Each year, there are about 500 bicycle accidents in South Carolina, with injuries occurring in about 90% of the cases. In 6% of bicycle incidents throughout the state, there was only property damage. Sadly, the remaining 4% indicate around 20 fatalities per year.
Fortunately, our Charleston legal team has handled a lot of personal injury lawsuits, acting as counsel in cases involving accidents involving cyclist-car, cyclist-pedestrian, and cyclist-cyclist accident cases. We sympathize with your situation and will make every effort to identify your losses and secure full compensation.
Calculating Compensation After a Bicycle Accident
It’s normal and even necessary to wonder how much your bicycle accident claim is worth after being involved in a bike wreck. Although your Charleston bicycle accident lawyer can give you a clearer idea of your settlement amount, you should understand how this value is calculated prior to negotiations.
The amount of your damages is the claim value for your bicycle accident. Your losses in money, as well as money for your physical and emotional pain, are included in your damages. Your damages cover the monetary losses you sustain as a result of the collision, and additional sums cover any non-financial losses related to being involved in a bicycle collision.
Damages You Can Collect from Your Personal Injury Claim
Your personal injury claim exists to hold the appropriate party accountable and to recover the following damages and losses from a bicycle accident:
- Medical costs: Medical expenses such as hospital bills, prescription costs, nursing or rehab care, medical equipment, and ambulance bills are all eligible for recovery under your personal injury claim.
- Property damage: Damage to your bicycle, protective equipment, cell phone, or other devices that were damaged in your accident is considered damaged property.
- Disability: Impairments that are long or short-term, paralysis, or disfigurement can be quantified in order to determine adequate compensation.
- Pain and suffering: Physical and emotional pain that did not exist before the accident can be calculated. Loss of enjoyment, traumatic flashbacks, anxiety, and other mental injuries will be weighed as a factor for compensation.
- Diminished income: Lost wages, change in benefits due to diminished hours, and the loss of future work are recoverable as earning capacity damages.
Proving Liability in a Bicycle Accident Case
A bicycle accident may have numerous parties at fault, including the bike’s manufacturer, a pedestrian, a driver, or even you if you were somehow involved. There are regulations governing comparative negligence in South Carolina, but establishing culpability depends on what behavior led to your damage.
A bicycle accident attorney in Charleston will attempt to reconstruct the collision and gather evidence, witness accounts, and police reports to establish liability. When carelessness is shown, it can be determined who is responsible for paying your damages after your bike accident.
Which Injuries Are Most Common in Bicycle Accidents?
You may sustain minor to severe injuries after experiencing a bicycle accident. Many wounded parties report sustaining temporary or permanent harm, including:
- Bruises
- Road rash and lacerations
- Fractures and broken bones
- Paralysis
- Disfigurement
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- Soft-tissue injuries
- Amputations
The extent to which you are wounded is an implication of many factors, such as speed, if the driver was following too closely or showed a delayed reaction, etc. It is also a major component in determining your settlement amount.
Free Legal Advice for South Carolina Bicycle Accident Victims
Contact us for a free consultation session in order to get legal advice regarding your bicycle accident. If you need to know if your accident qualifies for a personal injury claim or want an estimate on the value of your case, our bicycle accident attorneys in Charleston are available.
Allow Shelly Leeke Law Firm to assess your claim and negotiate your settlement. Our lawyers are excellent litigators who will stop at nothing to get you due justice.
