How Do Most Bicycle Accidents Happen?

In 2022, 1,360 cyclists died on U.S. roads—a 47% increase over the past decade. 

Most bicycle accidents don’t happen because cyclists are reckless or “came out of nowhere.” They happen because drivers crash into them—at intersections, while turning, while opening car doors without looking. The roads weren’t designed for bikes, and the law often treats cyclists like second-class citizens.

If a driver hit you or someone you love, you don’t have to just accept it and move on. You have rights, and legal action might be your best shot at getting real compensation. Call The Zinn Law Firm at (415) 292-4100 to discuss your case.

The Stark Reality of Bicycle Accidents

Bicyclists aren’t just getting hit more frequently—they’re getting killed at an alarming rate. The roads are more dangerous for cyclists now than they’ve been in decades, and the reasons for that are as predictable as they are frustrating.

Who’s Getting Hit?

Some people still like to blame cyclists for their own accidents—they’re too reckless, too unpredictable. But the data tells a different story.

• Men aged 45-64 account for over 70% of cycling deaths. These aren’t teenagers pulling stunts in the street. These are adults, commuting, exercising, or just trying to get home alive.
• Alcohol is involved in about 34% of fatal bicycle crashes. That number includes drunk drivers, not just drunk cyclists (which are rarer).
• Urban roads account for nearly 80% of all bicycle fatalities. Cities have more cyclists, but they also have more distracted drivers, more car doors swinging into traffic, and more infrastructure that doesn’t care about bikes.

Why Are More Cyclists Dying?

The short answer: Cars are getting bigger, drivers are getting more distracted, and city planning still treats bicycles like an afterthought.

• SUVs and Trucks Are Deadlier Than Ever
  Modern SUVs sit higher off the ground, with larger blind spots and a front-end design that’s basically a battering ram for pedestrians and cyclists. A 2020 study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that SUVs and pickups are significantly more likely to kill a cyclist on impact compared to smaller cars.
• Phone Use Behind the Wheel Is Out of Control
  Smartphones have turned every driver into a distracted driver. Texting, GPS, social media—people are doing everything except watching the road. A study from Cambridge Mobile Telematics found that distracted driving was a factor in ~34% of all fatal crashes.
• The Roads Weren’t Built for You
  Most cities were designed for cars, not people. The U.S. spent decades widening roads, eliminating bike lanes, and prioritizing vehicle flow over human safety. Now, only a small fraction of U.S. streets have protected bike lanes, and those that do exist are often poorly designed or outright ignored by drivers.

The Most Common Bicycle Accident Scenarios

Intersection Collisions

Intersections are where bicycles and cars mix the most, and that’s exactly why most bike crashes happen there. The problem isn’t just drivers failing to yield—it’s that intersections were never designed with cyclists in mind.

• The Right Hook: A driver overtakes a cyclist going straight and then turns right directly into them. Happens because drivers assume they’re faster than cyclists or because they forget bikes exist the second they hit their turn signal.
• The Left Cross: A driver turning left at an intersection underestimates the cyclist’s speed and cuts them off. The impact sends the cyclist flying over the hood or straight into the side of the car.
• The Red-Light Squeeze: A cyclist stops at a red light in the bike lane. A driver pulls up next to them, impatient, and when the light turns green, the driver accelerates while turning right—directly into the cyclist’s path.

California law (Vehicle Code § 21800-21804) requires drivers to yield to traffic with the right-of-way, including bicycles. But enforcement is weak, and drivers rarely face consequences.

The Dooring Hazard

Imagine pedaling past a line of parked cars, only for a driver to suddenly swing open their door—directly into your front wheel. That’s called “dooring”, and it’s responsible for 4.3% of bike crashes (though in some urban areas, it’s far worse).

A dooring crash is especially brutal because it gives the cyclist zero reaction time. They either slam into the door or swerve into traffic to avoid it, which sometimes makes the crash even worse.

California law actually has something to say about this. Vehicle Code § 22517 makes it illegal to open a car door “unless it is reasonably safe to do so.” The problem? Most drivers don’t think about cyclists when they open their doors.

Rear-End Crashes

When a driver rear-ends another car, it’s a fender bender. When a driver rear-ends a cyclist, it’s a trip to the hospital—or worse.

Some of the most catastrophic bike accidents happen when a driver plows into a cyclist from behind. These crashes are usually the result of:

• Driver inattention: Texting, fiddling with GPS, or just not paying attention to the road.
• Speeding: A driver going 50 mph won’t have time to react to a cyclist up ahead.
• Poor visibility: A cyclist riding at night without lights is practically invisible to drivers who aren’t looking for them.

California’s Three Feet for Safety Act (Vehicle Code § 21760) requires drivers to leave at least three feet of space when passing a cyclist. If they can’t, they’re supposed to slow down and wait until it’s safe. In reality, many drivers treat the three-foot rule as optional.

Side-Swipes & Close Passes

There’s nothing like the heart-pounding thrill of a car whipping past at 45 mph, inches from your handlebars. A close pass doesn’t always cause a crash, but when it does, it’s usually because:

• The driver misjudged how much space they had.
• A gust of wind or a pothole caused the cyclist to wobble at the wrong moment.
• The driver was too impatient to wait for a proper passing opportunity.

Close passes are terrifying, and they don’t have to involve direct impact to be dangerous. The sudden rush of air from a fast-moving car can literally suck a cyclist off balance, especially at high speeds.

Hit-and-Run Accidents

Over 25% of fatal bicycle crashes involve a hit-and-run driver. That’s one in four cyclists left on the pavement while the driver speeds away.

Hit-and-runs happen for one simple reason: Drivers don’t think they’ll get caught. Even if they do, the penalties are often weak. In California, a driver who injures a cyclist and flees faces up to one year in jail (Vehicle Code § 20001). But let’s be real—most hit-and-run drivers never get caught at all.

Why Do Drivers Keep Hitting Cyclists?

Driver Negligence & Human Error

Most bike crashes happen because drivers either aren’t paying attention or don’t care enough to drive cautiously around cyclists.

• Failure to Yield: A lot of drivers seem to believe that roads exist solely for cars and that cyclists are just guests—guests they don’t feel obligated to accommodate. Failing to yield to a bicycle at an intersection or crosswalk is illegal (California Vehicle Code § 21800), yet it remains one of the leading causes of bicycle crashes.
• Speeding: A speeding driver has less time to react and a much higher chance of killing someone when they do hit them. In fact, a pedestrian or cyclist hit at 40 mph has an 80% chance of dying—at 20 mph, that drops to 10%.
• Aggressive Driving: Some drivers just refuse to share the road. They tailgate cyclists, honk aggressively, or try to “teach them a lesson” by passing dangerously close. These same drivers would never behave this way around another car, but put a person on two wheels in front of them, and suddenly they’re Mad Max.

Cyclists Are Often Invisible to Drivers

Cyclists don’t actually disappear. But based on how many drivers claim they “never saw the bike,” you’d think bicycles came with built-in invisibility cloaks. The problem isn’t physics—it’s psychology.

• Inattentional Blindness: The brain prioritizes objects that seem relevant. Drivers scan the road for cars, trucks, and traffic signals. A bicycle doesn’t register the same way. The brain processes it as background noise—until it’s too late.
• Blind Spots in SUVs & Trucks: As vehicles get larger, their blind spots grow too. Modern SUVs and pickups have massive blind zones—so large that an entire cyclist can disappear in front of them.
• The “Looked But Failed to See” Phenomenon: This happens when a driver glances in a direction but doesn’t actually register what’s there. They look straight at a cyclist but pull out anyway because their brain never processed the bike as a threat.

Infrastructure Fails Cyclists

Even if drivers behaved perfectly (they won’t), the way cities are designed would still put cyclists in danger.

• Bike Lanes That Aren’t Bike Lanes: Some cities slap down a painted line on the side of a busy road and call it a “bike lane.” These lanes don’t protect anyone. They put cyclists inches from speeding traffic with zero physical barrier. And when they disappear at random intersections, cyclists get dumped right back into car lanes, where drivers aren’t expecting them.
• No Safe Passing Space: California law (Vehicle Code § 21760) requires drivers to leave at least three feet when passing a cyclist. But in cities where roads are too narrow, drivers don’t have enough room to legally pass a bike unless they fully change lanes—so instead, they squeeze past dangerously close, assuming it’ll be fine.

Legal Aspects of Bicycle Accidents

Bicycles are legally classified as vehicles in California Vehicle Code § 21200, meaning cyclists have the same rights and responsibilities as drivers. So when a driver cuts off, rear-ends, or plows into a cyclist, it’s treated the same as if they had hit another car.

Determining Liability in a Bicycle Crash

Liability in a bicycle accident works just like any other traffic collision: the person who acted negligently is responsible.

• Driver at Fault: In most cases, the driver is liable because they failed to yield, drove distracted, or violated traffic laws. Running a stop sign, turning without signaling, or passing too closely puts the fault squarely on them.
• Cyclist at Fault: If a cyclist blew through a red light, rode against traffic, or swerved unpredictably, they might carry some or all of the blame.
• Shared Fault: California follows comparative negligence laws (Civil Code § 1714), meaning fault can be split between both parties. If a driver was speeding but the cyclist was riding without lights at night, the cyclist’s compensation might be reduced by their percentage of fault.

Police reports, witness statements, traffic camera footage, and accident reconstructions all play a role in determining who pays. But here’s the ugly truth: police reports are notorious for siding with drivers. Officers frequently write up reports assuming the cyclist must have been at fault—even when all available evidence says otherwise.

Comparative Fault Laws & Shared Responsibility

Even if a driver caused the accident, the cyclist might still get blamed for a percentage of it. That’s how comparative negligence works.

California follows a pure comparative fault system, meaning a cyclist can still recover damages even if they were 99% responsible for the crash. But their payout gets reduced by their level of fault.

Insurance companies love comparative negligence because it gives them an excuse to lowball settlements. The moment they find any reason to blame the cyclist—wrong lane position, no helmet, dark clothing at night—they’ll use it to slash the claim payout.

Legal Recourse for Injured Cyclists

If a driver hit a cyclist and was at fault, the cyclist has the right to financial compensation for:

• Medical expenses: Ambulance rides, hospital bills, surgeries, physical therapy, and ongoing treatment.
• Lost wages: If the cyclist missed work or became permanently disabled, they’re entitled to lost income.
• Pain and suffering: This includes psychological trauma that doesn’t come with a concrete medical bill.

Insurance companies usually pay these damages, but when they drag their feet—or try to shift blame—the case ends up in court.

And if a cyclist dies because a driver ran them over? That’s a wrongful death case. The family can sue for:

• Funeral costs
• Loss of financial support
• Loss of companionship (California Code of Civil Procedure § 377.60)

Drivers who kill cyclists might also face criminal charges, but that depends on whether the police, prosecutors, and judges decide to take it seriously. In reality, most fatal bike crashes get written off as “tragic accidents,” even when the driver was texting, speeding, or blowing through a stop sign.

Drivers Won’t Protect You. We Will.

If drivers took cyclists seriously, you wouldn’t be reading this. But they don’t.

That’s where we come in. The Zinn Law Firm fights for cyclists who’ve been injured or lost loved ones because a driver wasn’t paying attention. You don’t have to argue with insurance companies or settle for less than you deserve. 

Call (415) 292-4100 today, and let’s make them take responsibility.