Miami and Tampa bicycle accident lawyer
A bicycle is a vehicle. The driver owes you three feet.
Florida law treats a bicycle as a vehicle and a cyclist as a driver, with most of the same rights and most of the same duties. What it does not give you is a policy of your own in the collision, so the coverage question runs the same route it does for a pedestrian.
- Passing distance
- 3 feetThe minimum a driver must leave when overtaking
- Whose PIP pays
- Yours firstThen a household policy, then the vehicle that hit you
- Deadline to sue
- 2 yearsFla. Stat. § 95.11, for crashes on or after 24 March 2023
- Helmets
- Under 16Required by law only for riders under sixteen
01 What the driver owed you
02 Helmets and the argument that follows
03 Where these cases come from
Miami-Dade
Miami-Dade cycling injuries cluster on the causeways, along Biscayne and across the grid in Little Havana and Hialeah, where bike lanes start and stop without warning. The Rickenbacker draws fast group riding and the collisions that come with it.
Hillsborough
Hillsborough cyclists ride Bayshore, the Upper Tampa Bay and Pinellas trail connections, and the commercial corridors in between, where bike lanes sit immediately beside parked cars and turning traffic.
04 What damages a claim
- Letting the damaged bicycle be thrown away before it is photographed.
- Missing the fourteen-day PIP window.
- Accepting the driver’s account in the police report without asking for a correction.
- Assuming no helmet means no case.
Frequently asked questions about Florida bicycle accidents
I was riding on the sidewalk. Does that matter?
It can. Riding on a sidewalk is lawful in many places in Florida, and a cyclist there generally has the rights and duties of a pedestrian.
Where it matters is at driveways and intersections, where drivers are not looking for someone moving at riding speed. It becomes a comparative fault argument rather than a bar.
Who pays for my bicycle?
Property damage is a separate claim against the at-fault driver’s liability coverage, and it is settled separately from the injury claim.
Keep the bike, the receipts and the photographs. Settling the property damage early is normal; settling the injury claim early rarely is.
Tell Jose what happened
A free review of your bicycle accidents case, with no obligation, and no fee and no costs unless there is a recovery. English or Spanish, whichever you would rather use. You speak with Jose A. Dapena directly at every stage, not with an intake department — and if there is no claim worth bringing, he will tell you that.