Bicycle Accident Settlement Amounts in New York (2024–2026)

Key Takeaways

• A cyclist struck by a car in New York is entitled to no-fault first-party benefits from the car’s insurer under Insurance Law § 5103(a)(1).
• Because the cyclist is a “covered person” (Insurance Law § 5102(j)), a lawsuit against the driver for pain and suffering requires a “serious injury” under Insurance Law § 5102(d).
• For actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026, § 5102(d) has eight categories (the 90/180-day category is gone), and CPLR 1411(b) bars a cyclist whose fault is greater than the driver’s.
• Economic loss above the $50,000 of basic economic loss is recoverable from the driver without proving a serious injury.

Bicycle crashes with motor vehicles are among the most serious crashes on New York roads. A cyclist has no steel frame around them. When a driver clips a rider on Hempstead Turnpike, cuts across a bike lane on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, or swings open a car door on a busy Suffolk County street, the injuries are often severe.

This article explains how New York law treats a cyclist’s claim against a driver, what drives its value, and what to do in the first weeks. If you were hurt on Long Island, our Long Island bicycle accident attorney page covers how we take these cases.

No-Fault Covers Cyclists, and So Does the Serious Injury Threshold

Cyclists are inside New York’s no-fault system, not outside it. Insurance Law § 5103(a)(1) requires every owner’s policy on a motor vehicle to pay first-party benefits to “Persons, other than occupants of another motor vehicle or a motorcycle, for loss arising out of the use or operation in this state of such motor vehicle.” A bicycle is not a motor vehicle, so a cyclist struck by an insured car is one of those persons. Those benefits pay medical bills and lost earnings up to $50,000 of “basic economic loss” (Insurance Law § 5102(a)), whoever caused the crash.

The same entitlement makes the cyclist a “covered person.” Insurance Law § 5102(j) defines that term to include “any pedestrian injured through the use or operation of” an insured motor vehicle “or any other person entitled to first party benefits.” Insurance Law § 5104(a) then provides that in an action by one covered person against another for injuries arising out of the use or operation of a motor vehicle, “there shall be no right of recovery for non-economic loss, except in the case of a serious injury, or for basic economic loss.”

The courts apply that rule to cyclists. In Canner v Diamond, 187 AD3d 1127 (2d Dept 2020), an appeal from Supreme Court, Nassau County, the plaintiff was struck by a vehicle while riding a bicycle; the Appellate Division, Second Department, affirmed dismissal of his complaint because he did not show a serious injury within the meaning of Insurance Law § 5102(d).

What “serious injury” means now

For actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026, Insurance Law § 5102(d), as amended by Part EE of chapter 58 of the Laws of 2026, defines “serious injury” as a personal injury which results in “death; dismemberment; significant disfigurement; a fracture; loss of a fetus; permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system; permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member; or significant limitation of use of a body function or system.” Those are the eight categories. The former category for an injury that prevents substantially all daily activities for 90 of the 180 days after the accident applies only to actions commenced before May 26, 2026. Our serious injury threshold guide covers each category.

What the threshold does not block

The threshold limits non-economic loss (pain and suffering) and basic economic loss. It does not limit economic loss above basic economic loss. A cyclist whose medical bills and lost earnings exceed the $50,000 that no-fault pays can claim the excess from the driver without proving a serious injury.

The mostly-at-fault bar

CPLR 1411(b), added by the same 2026 law, provides that “In any action to recover damages for personal injury subject to article fifty-one of the insurance law, the culpable conduct attributable to the claimant shall bar recovery if the culpable conduct attributable to the claimant is greater than the culpable conduct of the person against whom recovery is sought or is greater than the combined culpable conduct of the persons against whom recovery is sought.” A cyclist’s claim against a driver is subject to article 51, so for actions commenced on or after May 26, 2026, a cyclist found more at fault than the driver recovers nothing. At or below that line, CPLR 1411(a) still reduces the award in proportion to the cyclist’s share of fault. Our page on the 50 percent bar tracks how it applies.

What Drives the Value of a Bicycle Claim

No honest article can give a dollar figure for your case. The value of a cyclist’s claim against a driver turns on a handful of things the evidence either proves or does not.

Whether the injury meets a § 5102(d) category

A fracture is its own category under § 5102(d). A broken clavicle, wrist, rib, tibia or femur clears the threshold on the X-ray. Soft-tissue injuries, sprains and road rash have to be proved through the “permanent consequential limitation” or “significant limitation” categories, which means objective medical findings, not complaints of pain. That is where most threshold motions in bicycle cases are fought.

How clear liability is

A driver’s violation of a Vehicle and Traffic Law rule of the road matters. The Appellate Division restated the rule in Durkee v Sanchez-Rodriguez, 229 AD3d 1315 (4th Dept 2024): “a defendant’s unexcused violation of the Vehicle and Traffic Law constitutes negligence per se.” After May 26, 2026, the liability picture also decides whether CPLR 1411(b) is in play at all.

How much insurance there is

Vehicle and Traffic Law § 311(4)(a) sets the minimum liability limit for a private policy at $25,000 for bodily injury to one person ($50,000 for death). Many drivers carry only that. Commercial policies, a second vehicle, an employer of the driver, and coverage under the cyclist’s own auto policy can each add coverage, and finding them early changes what a case can settle for.

The severity and permanence of the injury

Surgery, hardware, a traumatic brain injury, or a permanent loss of function drive both the non-economic claim and the economic claim above basic economic loss: future medical care, lost earning capacity, and home modifications.

Dooring Cases: VTL § 1214

Dooring happens when a driver or passenger opens a vehicle door into the path of a passing cyclist. Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1214 provides: “No person shall open the door of a motor vehicle on the side available to moving traffic unless and until it is reasonably safe to do so, and can be done without interfering with the movement of other traffic.” An unexcused violation of that section is negligence per se under the rule restated in Durkee.

The person who opened the door may be a passenger rather than the driver, and the claim may run against both. Dooring cases commonly involve parallel-parked vehicles on commercial streets in Nassau County towns like Mineola, Hempstead and Garden City, and throughout Brooklyn and Queens. A police report noting the door opening and a witness who saw it are the core of the liability proof. The serious injury threshold applies to a dooring claim the same way it applies to any cyclist’s claim against the occupants of an insured car.

Left-Turn and Intersection Crashes: VTL § 1141

Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1141 provides that the driver of a vehicle “intending to turn to the left within an intersection or into an alley, private road, or driveway shall yield the right of way to any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction which is within the intersection or so close as to constitute an immediate hazard.” A bicycle approaching from the other direction is owed that right of way. Left-turn crashes tend to happen at speed and with little reaction time, and the injuries are often fractures and head injuries.

When the driver’s violation is clear, the case is about damages: the extent and permanence of the injuries, the effect on the cyclist’s earning capacity, and the cost of future care. That is also where the limits of the driver’s policy, and any other coverage, become the practical ceiling.

Road Defect and Municipal Liability Cases

Not every bicycle crash involves a motor vehicle. Potholes, broken pavement, defective grates, and worn bike lane markings cause serious crashes across Nassau County, Suffolk County and New York City. A crash with no motor vehicle involved is outside no-fault and outside the serious injury threshold; it is a negligence claim against whoever owns and maintains the road.

When that owner is a city, county, town or village, two deadlines control. General Municipal Law § 50-e requires a notice of claim served “within ninety days after the claim arises.” General Municipal Law § 50-i requires the lawsuit to be “commenced within one year and ninety days after the happening of the event upon which the claim is based.” Section 50-i applies to every city, county, town, village, fire district and school district, not only to New York City. Highway department records, 311 complaint histories and prior maintenance logs are the evidence that matters. After the notice of claim is served, the municipality may demand an examination of the claimant under General Municipal Law § 50-h before suit.

Helmets and Comparative Fault

Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1238(5)(b) requires a helmet for a bicycle operator “one or more years of age and less than fourteen years of age,” and § 1238(5-c) requires one for every operator of a class three bicycle with electric assist. New York has no helmet requirement for adults on ordinary bicycles.

Section 1238(7) provides that a failure to comply with the section “shall not constitute contributory negligence or assumption of risk, and shall not in any way bar, preclude or foreclose an action for personal injury or wrongful death by or on behalf of such person, nor in any way diminish or reduce the damages recoverable in any such action.” For an adult on an ordinary bicycle, the statute imposes no duty to wear a helmet at all. Defense counsel still raise helmet non-use, and the fight is usually over whether a helmet would have changed the specific injury. Where the injuries are a broken leg, a shoulder tear or a fractured pelvis, it would not have.

Hit-and-Run and Uninsured Drivers: MVAIC

When the driver fled or had no insurance, the Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation (MVAIC) may pay a qualified injured person. Insurance Law § 5208 sets the filing deadlines. For a hit-and-run driver “whose identity is unascertainable,” the accident must be reported within twenty-four hours to a police, peace or judicial officer or the commissioner, and the claimant must file an affidavit with MVAIC “within ninety days of the accrual of the cause of action.” For an identified uninsured vehicle, the affidavit is due “within one hundred eighty days.” A cyclist who lives in a household with an auto policy should also check that policy’s uninsured motorist coverage.

Evidence That Decides These Cases

Video

Commercial surveillance cameras, traffic cameras and doorbell cameras often capture bicycle crashes, and most systems record over themselves. A written preservation request to every camera owner within days of the crash is the single most valuable step in many cases.

The police report

The responding officer’s report records the scene, vehicle positions, witness names and any summons. In a dooring case, a note that a door was opened is significant. In a left-turn case, the diagram matters. Errors can be challenged, but the report is where the investigation starts.

Witnesses

Statements taken close to the crash are more reliable than statements taken months later. A witness who saw the door open, saw the driver turn without yielding, or saw the cyclist riding lawfully in the bike lane can settle the liability question.

Medical records that speak to § 5102(d)

Prompt treatment, consistent follow-up, and objective findings (imaging, measured range-of-motion deficits compared to normal, surgical findings) are what prove a threshold category. Gaps in treatment are the defense’s first argument.

Speak With a New York Bicycle Accident Attorney

A cyclist’s claim against a driver is a no-fault claim and a threshold case, built on evidence that has to be gathered early: the video, the witnesses, the police report, and medical proof that fits a § 5102(d) category.

If you or a family member was injured in a bicycle crash in Nassau County, Suffolk County, or anywhere in the New York City metro area, the attorneys at the Law Office of Jason Tenenbaum are available to evaluate your claim. Visit our Long Island bicycle accident attorney page to learn how we handle these cases.

Related Legal Resources

For additional guidance on this topic, see:

• Long Island personal injury lawyer
• Long Island car accident lawyer
• contact our office

If you have a case involving these issues on Long Island or in the New York City metropolitan area, the Law Office of Jason Tenenbaum, P.C. offers free consultations. Call (516) 750-0595 or contact our office online.