You’re traveling, trying to see the countryside, and decide to take in the sights and smells first-hand. Opting to choose a bicycle over a rental car, you’re enjoying everything the city has to offer, and you saved a lot of money in the process. Three tips for what to do in case you get on a bike accident during a tour. Take a look at this blog post to learn tips on how to avoid bike accidents.
But then the unthinkable happens: a bicycle accident.
What do you do? What are your legal options? How do you pay for your medical bills? These are all questions you’ll be asking yourself.
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1. Call the Local Police
The key most important thing you can do is to call the police. A staggering 71% of bike accidents deaths occur in urban areas. You might be lucky to have lived, but this doesn’t mean you should just pedal away.
Injuries often don’t present themselves until minutes, hours, or days later.
Adrenaline will mask the imminent pain. And if you don’t call the local police, you’re at risk of not having a report.
If you don’t make a report, there is no record of an accident occurring. The report will allow you to have a timeline of when the accident occurred, and hopefully, you’ll have the information of the person that caused the accident.
Later on, if you decide, you might even be able to take legal action against the opposing party.
A police report will also provide a description of the accident as well as what the police have witnessed. Lack of a police report will lead to other parties telling a different story of how the accident occurred.
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2. Start Gathering Information
If you’re severely injured, don’t hurt yourself further by trying to gather information and evidence. But if you’re not going to cause yourself added injuries, you can:
● Take pictures of the accident scene
● Obtain the other driver’s insurance information
● Talk to witnesses and gather their personal information
● Takedown the driver’s name, address, license plate number, and phone number
Videos and pictures will help a lot, too. This information will allow you to file a claim with the other person’s insurance company, too.
The information that you obtain will be vital to how you handle your case. You can hand this information over to a lawyer, claim agent, or even a travel insurance company to seek legal remedies against the other person involved in the accident.
Related Read: Car Accidents During Travelling
3. Call Your Travel Insurance Agent
If you’re injured, your trip might be cut short. One woman learned this the hard way. She and her husband didn’t get travel insurance for the first time ever. The lack of insurance left her calling:
● Airlines
● Tour operators
● Travel agencies
And perhaps travel insurance wouldn’t have helped this woman. Depending on the terms of the policy, she may not have been able to recuperate her money. If the bike accident isn’t part of the exclusions, call your insurance company and file a claim.
Travel insurance will reimburse you for money lost on accommodations you couldn’t take advantage of because of your injury.
You’ll also be able to rely on most travel insurance policies to ensure that your medical and health bills are covered.
If you don’t have insurance or want to pursue legal action against the other person, you’ll need to call a local attorney that knows the country’s laws.
