Contact Us Today (737) 999-3335
Contact Us Today (737) 999-3335
A driver did not see you, or did not bother to look, and now you are hurt while the driver’s adjuster asks why you were in the road at all. You want to know whether Texas protects a cyclist the way it protects a driver, who pays when the driver carries a bare-minimum policy, and whether riding without a helmet ruins your claim.
On a bicycle you have the same rights as a driver, and a careless driver’s insurance should pay for the harm. What makes these cases different is how little protects a cyclist’s body and how often insurers try to blame the rider. You have two years to file suit, and Texas has no statewide helmet law standing in your way.
Attorney Abraham Peña is a Rio Grande Valley native, born and raised here, whose practice handles nothing but injury cases, in English and Spanish alike. If you were hurt on your bike, tell us how it happened.
The City’s Bicentennial Hike & Bike Trail runs beside Bicentennial Boulevard, and a separate trail follows 2nd Street. The danger points are where those trails cross busy streets. Away from the trails, cyclists share 23rd Street, Ware Road and the Expressway 83 frontage roads with traffic that is often exiting at highway speed.
Under Texas law, a person riding a bicycle has the rights and duties of a driver, and other drivers owe you the same duties on a bike as in a car: to yield, to signal, to pass safely and to keep a proper lookout.
A bike crash leaves fewer clues than a car crash, so the first days matter. If you can:
Most bicycle injuries come from a driver breaking a rule that applies to every vehicle. Depending on the facts, we look at:
Texas has no statewide helmet law, so riding without one is not a traffic violation under state law. Insurers still raise it, but it can only matter for a head injury, and only if the insurer proves a helmet would have changed the outcome.
The same reasoning applies when an insurer says you rode at night without a light or against traffic. Texas does require a bicycle ridden at night to have a white front light visible from 500 feet and a red rear reflector or light, so a photo showing your lights were on can end that argument.
Depending on your injuries and the evidence, Texas law lets you seek:
Because the driver at fault may carry only the state minimum, the real question in many bicycle cases is how much insurance is available. Your own underinsured motorist coverage can make up the difference, up to your limit, which is why we read your policy along with the driver’s.
In most cases, Texas gives you two years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit, or two years from the date of death in a wrongful death case. If a city or county vehicle, signal or crossing was involved, written notice is due within six months, and some city charters set an even shorter period.
Insurers in bicycle cases try to pin blame on the rider, and Texas’s modified comparative fault rule gives that strategy teeth. When your share of fault is 50 percent or less, your damages are reduced by that share; at 51 percent or more, you get nothing. For example, if a jury found $120,000 in damages and assigned you 25 percent of the fault, you would receive $90,000.
Probably not. Texas lets a cyclist leave the right edge when the outside lane is under 14 feet wide without a bike lane or too narrow to share, when passing or turning left, or when a hazard makes the edge unsafe. Many McAllen streets have lanes like that, and a photo with a tape measure often settles it.
No. Your own auto policy’s uninsured motorist coverage, which Texas insurers must include unless you rejected it in writing, pays what the driver should have paid and covers you on a bicycle. If you do not own a car, a family member’s policy in your household may apply.
Personal injury protection on your own auto policy pays medical bills and lost income regardless of fault. Health insurance pays next, subject to repayment from the settlement, and the at-fault driver’s insurer usually pays once, at the end.
Yes. We charge nothing up front and take bicycle cases on a contingency fee, so we are paid only from money we recover for you. No recovery means no fee.
On a bicycle there is nothing between you and the car, and the injuries can take months to heal. Call The Law Office of Abraham Peña, PLLC at (737) 999-3335 or get in touch through our contact page for a free, confidential consultation. There is no fee unless we win, and we meet with clients by appointment at 813 N Main St., Suite 404, McAllen. ¡Hablamos español! Esta página también está disponible en español: abogado de accidentes de bicicleta en McAllen.
You pay nothing upfront. Our fee is only collected
if we secure compensation for you.
813 N Main St. Suite 404
McAllen TX, 78501
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