Minnesota Personal Injury Lawyers & Attorneys
When a Minnesota child is hit by a car while riding their bike, it is every parent’s worst nightmare come true. We teach our children to ride bikes to give them freedom and the ability to visit nearby friends. We tell them to be careful, to wear their helmets, and not to jump curbs in order to keep them safe. But a child’s bicycle is little more than a fast pedestrian when faced with the mass and velocity of a full-sized car.
Whether you personally witnessed the accident or ran outside when you heard the crash, seeing your child hit by a car is both terrifying and heartbreaking. No one wants to experience the fear that their child might be seriously or permanently injured. Or, in this time of crisis, take on the responsibility for dealing with the aftermath. But in order to see the best possible outcome, it’s important to understand what to do if your child is hit by a car while riding their bike.
Minnesota is here to help by outlining exactly the steps to take to ensure that your child gets the medical attention they need, a complete police report is filed, and you have a strong case when it’s time to file an insurance claim. Because as traumatic as this experience is at the beginning, getting through it means planning ahead.
Minnesota Bicycle-Vehicle Crashes Happen Every Day
Every year, approximately 100 children are killed and over 250,000 children are injured in bicycle-related accidents, according to Stanford Children’s Health. In many ways, we’re lucky that children create such a small percentage of the 800 annual fatalities caused by bicycle/vehicle collisions based on data from the NHTSA.
Chances are, the driver didn’t mean to hit yourย child. They may have been rolling too fast through a stop sign, texting instead of watching the road, or it’s even possible your child surprised them in their bicycling behavior. But when a car hits your child, the whole world stops. For many parents, it doesn’t matter why the bicycle and vehicle collided, but the details will matter in the near future.
Let’s start with a quick summary of your next important steps.
- Choose Your Actions Carefully
- Take Care of Your Child’s Injuries
- Preserve the Scene
- Establish Witnesses
- Call the Police
- Collect Driver Information
- Take Photographs
- Talk to the Police
- Take Your Child to the Hospital
- Hire an Attorney
After a Bike Accident, Your First Actions are Critical
It’s important to understand that there are a lot of ‘first things to do’ after your child has been hit by a car. These things will both help your child and help you to deal with the aftermath. Not only do you need to attend to your child’s injuries, but you also need to make sure all the other post-accident actions take place. Like calling the police, collecting the driver’s information, and taking pictures of the scene.
While it’s important that all these things get done in a fairly short amount of time, you don’t have to do them all yourself. Enlist the help of your spouse, neighbors, and witnesses to make sure that all the immediate response tasks are taken care of while you take care of your child. Remember, the first actions after an accident are critical both for your child’s safety and seeking justice after the event.
Help Your Child, But Don’t Move the Bike
The very first thing you should do is to attend to your child’s injuries. There is a very high chance that they will be badly scraped up and bruised from impacting the car and then sliding across the pavement afterward. They may need help separating from their bicycle or they may have been thrown from the bike in the collision. Administer what medical treatment you can from your home first aid kit, focusing most on stopping any bleeding injuries.
Broken bones are also very common in these situations and there is a possibility that your child will also have a concussion, dislocated joints, or other serious injuries after the crash. Do everything you can for your child and, if necessary, prepare to call an ambulance to take them directly to a hospital.
If possible, try not to disturb the bicycle’s location too much while treating your child and remember exactly where your child was right after the crash. These will be imporant details for later.
Ask the Minnesota Driver and Witnesses to Stay
Your next priority is to make sure anyone involved or who witnessed the crash stays around to make a report. You may want to enlist help for this part if you are sitting with your injured child.
Under no circumstances should the driver be allowed to leave or they will be essentially committing a hit-and-run on your child. They must stay and talk to the police whether or not they are in a hurry or didn’t see your child in the road before the crash. Many drivers understand post-crash protocol and will volunteer to stay to complete the police report, but it may be necessary to insist that the driver and their passengers remain during the aftermath.
Likewise, you also want to ask anyone who witnessed the crash to stay and speak to the police. Having a third-party witness to the accident can help significantly if your child’s side of the story and what the driver says don’t match up. If witnesses can’t stay because they need to be somewhere, collect their names and contact information so they can be called about the incident later on.
Call 911 to Report the Accident
Next, or simultaneously, call 911. The emergency services operator on the other end will be able to put you in contact with everything you need to handle the situation. If your child needs an ambulance, one will be sent for you. The 911 operator will also make sure that the police are on their way. When the police arrive, they will want to take statements and build a complete report of the accident.
The police report will determine many things about your future. Including whether the police determine if the driver committed a specific crime like driving under the influence, distracted driving, or disobeying traffic laws. Give the 911 operator any preliminary information they ask for so that the police will know exactly what kind of situation they are coming to help with.
Collect Information From the Driver
Once the police are called, it’s time to make sure you have all the information you will need in the future. First, approach the driver to collect the necessary information. Get their full name, their license plate number, and the details of their insurance policy. If possible, snap a picture of both sides of their insurance card so you can confirm the details later on.
That said, do not converse with the driver. Don’t say anything accusatory, don’t ask for an apology, and don’t say anything like “I’m sorry” yourself. People often say something that can jeopardize a legal case when they are upset after an accident. The less you and the driver talk (other than exchanging information) the better. If the driver asks, give them your name but we advise you do not give them your contact information at this point.
Take Photographs of Everything
After an accident like this, it is vital that the original facts of the crash are preserved. This is why you left the bike where it landed and asked the witnesses to stick around. If you can, take the time (or ask a friend) to take detailed pictures of the entire scene. Get photographs of your child’s injuries both right after the crash and later at the doctor’s office when the injuries are being examined by a professional.
Get photographs of the scene and the vehicle as well. Where the vehicle is in the road, where the bike landed, and where your child landed are all key pieces of information. Snap a few pictures of any external damage to the car, even if it’s just a scratch. These pictures may prove to be very important proof of facts later on. Especially if the driver’s story changes from what really happened.
Do Everything You Can to Complete the Minnesota Police Report
When the police arrive, talk to them. Some people get the impression that the police will automatically determine exactly what happened. But they will need to put together what happened at the crash by examining the scene and piecing together the accounts of everyone who was involved in or witnessed the accident.
Do your best to provide as much detail to the police as you can and encourage your child, if possible, to tell their side of the story. If your child is incapacitated, let the police know that they can stop by later after your child has been fully medically treated to get their story. This is the right time for your witnesses to step forward and give their account. Or, if witnesses had to leave, give the contact information you collected to the police.
You may also want to get an email address to send your photographs to the police. While the cops will take their own pictures, yours taken earlier may contain important details. But don’t give them your only copies. You will need those photos for your own purposes later on.
Determine the Extent of the Damage to Your Child
Finally, the ambulance will arrive or you will be free to drive to the hospital. That is, if you haven’t already driven to the hospital or sent someone else ahead with your child while you handled the scene of the crash. In the next few hours or days, medical professionals will need to not only treat your child’s apparent injuries, but also determine the full extent of the injuries.
In serious collisions, there are often long-lasting consequences or a slow healing process from the injuries. Ask your medical professionals to give you a clear idea of how badly injured your child is, how long treatment and recovery will last, and what the likely costs of this recovery will be. Get it all in writing and keep this information on file.
Hire a Personal Injury Attorney
If your child is injured beyond a few easily healed scrapes and bruises, it is likely time to call an attorney. While the law will hold the driver responsible for any criminal actions like reckless or intoxicated driving, you will need to take the initiative to hold them personally responsible for the damage done to your child. This is where a Minnesota personal injury attorney is your best ally.
A lawyer with experience in personal injury cases will be able to help you put all your preparation to use: Building a strong case that should pay for your child’s medical treatments as well as the trauma and suffering they and your family have been through as a result. In a deeply personal case like this one, you will need someone compassionate who understands that the issue is both a family matter and a legal one.
Prepare for the Insurance Claim Run-Around
Finally, brace yourself for the usual tricks of an insurance company trying to avoid fulfilling a claim. When you file a civil lawsuit against the driver who hit your child, this usually becomes a matter of insurance. The driver should have liability car insurance that is supposed to pay the medical costs and additional damages for any pedestrians they hit.
However, as you know, insurance companies are often very resistant to paying. Even when it is something clearly covered by their policy. Expect to have the ‘tables turned,’ your child accused or reckless bicycling, and more in the battle to win a fair insurance claim from the driver who hit your child. Even if the driver is a nice person who is genuinely sorry, their insurance company may still try to make you jump through hoops to win a fair damages claim.
Working with a Personal Injury Attorney in St. Paul, Minnesota
If your child has been hit by a car while riding their bicycle, you are not alone. You don’t have to face the police, the hospital, and the driver’s aggressive insurance defenses on your own. Here in Minnesota, the skilled attorneys of Swor & Gatto are ready to help you. For a free consultation on beginning a contingency personal injury case, you can contact us today. We’re always ready to lend a hand to someone in need.