Houston Bicycle Accident Lawyer
Fighting for You After a Bicycle Accident in Texas
Houston has a substantial and growing cycling scene, with riders traveling through dense central neighborhoods, along bayou trails, and on busy streets throughout the city. But sharing the road with cars, trucks, and other vehicles can put cyclists in vulnerable situations, especially where bike routes intersect with heavy traffic. When collisions lead to injuries, a bicycle accident lawyer can help you recover the compensation you need to move forward.
If a driver’s negligence caused your bicycle accident, you may have the right to pursue compensation for your injuries and other losses. Texas law generally gives bicyclists the same roadway rights and duties as drivers, while Houston provides additional protections for vulnerable road users. How these laws apply to your accident matters. It could mean the difference between getting the compensation you deserve and settling for far less.
Do Bicyclists Have the Same Rights as Drivers in Texas?
Yes, bike riders have the same rights as drivers in Texas. That means drivers are legally required to treat you as a lawful roadway user, not as an obstacle that needs to get out of the way.
That said, you do need to follow specific rules when riding a bike. Texas generally requires slower-moving cyclists to ride as close to the curb or edge of the roadway as possible. However, there are important exceptions. A cyclist may move farther left when:
- Passing another vehicle
- Preparing to turn left
- Avoiding a hazard or unsafe road condition
- Riding in a lane that’s too narrow for a bicycle and vehicle to safely travel side by side
These exceptions matter after an accident. A driver or insurance company may try to blame you simply because you weren’t riding at the right edge of the road. But where you were riding and why are important parts of determining who was actually responsible for the crash.
Houston’s busiest areas also present unique challenges for cyclists. Riders may encounter crowded intersections in Downtown and Midtown, event traffic in EaDo, higher-speed traffic along Beltway 8 and its feeder roads, and vehicle traffic near bayou trail crossings and entrances.
Being more vulnerable on these roads doesn’t mean you have fewer rights.
How Does a Bicycle Accident Lawyer Determine Fault?
Determining fault after a bike accident comes down to more than who had the bigger vehicle or where the cyclist was riding.
Because cyclists have the right to use the road, drivers have a responsibility to watch for them and share the roadway safely. We call this “duty of care.” When an accident happens, the important questions are whether the driver breached that duty, whether their actions caused the crash and your injuries, and what damages you suffered as a result.
A driver may breach their duty of care through unsafe behaviors like:
- Passing you without enough space
- Turning across your path
- Failing to yield the right of way
- Driving while distracted
- Speeding or driving too fast for the conditions
- Opening a door into your path
- Entering or blocking a bike lane unsafely
- Driving while impaired
- … And many others
Proving that the driver was negligent requires evidence of what happened before, during, and after the collision. Crash reports, witness statements, photos, video footage, and medical records help demonstrate how the crash happened and how the collision caused your injuries.
Houston’s Laws Protect Vulnerable Road Users
In addition to Texas traffic laws, Houston’s vulnerable road user ordinance protects people who are at greater risk of injury on the road. Under this regulation, cyclists and e-bike riders have additional protections.
When approaching or passing a cyclist, drivers must move into another lane when there are at least two marked lanes traveling in the same direction (if it’s safe to do so). If that’s not possible, the driver must pass at a safe distance.
The ordinance also addresses other dangerous interactions between drivers and cyclists. Drivers can’t make a right turn in front of a vulnerable road user unless they can do so safely. They are also prohibited from using their vehicle to intimidate, harass, or threaten a cyclist.
If a Houston driver violated the ordinance and hit you, we can use that violation to help establish fault after the crash. For example, if we can gather evidence showing that a driver passed too closely, that can help us establish that the driver failed to use reasonable care around you.
Can You Recover Compensation if You Were Partly at Fault?
Yes. Being partly responsible for a bicycle accident doesn’t automatically prevent you from recovering compensation. Under Texas’s modified comparative negligence rule, you can recover damages as long as you’re not more than 50% responsible for the accident. However, your compensation is reduced according to your percentage of responsibility.
Essentially, partial fault can take a bite out of your compensation without wiping it out entirely. Say your losses after a bicycle accident total $48,000, and you are found 25% responsible. That 25% comes out of what you can recover, reducing the amount to $36,000.
But Texas draws the line when your share of responsibility exceeds 50%. At 51%, you can no longer recover compensation.
With your compensation tied directly to your share of fault, the driver or their insurance company may try to blame you for the crash. They may point to where you were riding, whether you obeyed a traffic signal, or another action you took before the crash. But an alleged traffic violation does not, by itself, answer the most important question: Did your conduct contribute to causing the accident?
For instance, a driver might argue that you were riding outside the proper position on the roadway. But as discussed above, Texas law allows cyclists to move away from the right edge under certain circumstances. Even when a cyclist did violate a rule, the entire picture still matters when determining how responsibility for the crash should be divided.
As your bicycle accident lawyer, Ryan Nguyen will investigate the complete circumstances surrounding the collision and challenge anyone who tries to place unfair blame on you.
What Evidence Can Help Your Bicycle Accident Lawyer?
When someone disputes fault, the right evidence can help Ryan piece together what happened and show who caused the crash. He may look for:
- The crash report and statements from witnesses
- Dashcam, bodycam, traffic camera, or security footage
- Photos showing bike lanes, road hazards, signs, and whether you and the driver could clearly see each other
- Your bicycle, helmet, lights, clothing, and other gear
- Medical records that connect your injuries to the crash
- Phone records, data from the vehicle, or drug and alcohol test results, when needed
Some evidence can disappear quickly. Businesses may delete security footage, crews may repair road hazards, and witnesses may forget important details. The sooner Ryan can investigate, the better chance he has of capturing the details that tell the story of your crash.
Who Pays for Your Losses After a Bicycle Accident?
Texas is an at-fault state, so the person who caused your bicycle accident is generally responsible for the resulting losses. If a driver hits you while you’re cycling, we typically start by seeking compensation through that driver’s liability insurance.
But not every driver has enough insurance, or any insurance at all. If an uninsured or underinsured driver hits you, coverage from your own auto policy may help pay for your losses. This coverage can also become important after a hit-and-run when we can’t identify the driver who struck you.
And sometimes, the driver isn’t the only party we need to investigate. You may have hit a dangerous road defect on a Houston street or been struck by a City vehicle or METRO driver. A government agency could potentially share responsibility in some cases. Claims involving government entities follow different rules, including notice requirements that may give you much less time to act.
What Can a Bicycle Accident Claim Pay For?
A bicycle accident can cost you much more than a damaged bike. You may be dealing with medical bills while missing work, and a serious injury could affect your health and finances well into the future.
Your personal injury claim may seek compensation for losses such as:
- Medical bills and future medical care
- Lost wages
- Reduced ability to earn income
- Damage to your bicycle and other property
- Physical pain and suffering
- The ways your injuries have affected your everyday life
The value of a bicycle accident claim depends on your specific losses and how the crash has affected you. Ryan will look beyond the bills you have today to understand the full impact of your injuries and pursue compensation that reflects what you’ve been through.
Common Bike Accident Injuries That Can Lead to Compensation
A bicycle crash can cause serious injuries that aren’t always obvious right away. In 2025, Texas recorded 90 bicyclist deaths in traffic crashes, up from 79 the year before, according to TxDOT data reported by ABC13. Even when collisions aren’t fatal, the injuries are often serious and require months of treatment and recovery.
Common bicycle accident injuries include:
- Road rash and deep abrasions
- Broken bones
- Concussions and traumatic brain injuries
- Spinal injuries and herniated discs
- Facial fractures and nerve damage
- Internal injuries
Your injuries and how they affect your life can have a major impact on the value of your claim. If you’ve been hurt in a bicycle crash, call bicycle accident lawyer Ryan Nguyen to discuss what happened and what your next steps may be.
How Ryan Nguyen Handles Bicycle Accident Cases Differently
Bicycle accident cases can be undervalued right from the start. An insurance company may look at the damage to the bike and assume you couldn’t have been hurt that badly. Their settlement offer may reflect that assumption. Ryan knows better than to let an insurer decide what your injuries are worth without looking at all the evidence.
His medical background is especially valuable in bike accident cases. A crash may cause serious injuries, including fractures, road rash, and traumatic brain injuries. Some concussion and mild TBI symptoms might not be apparent immediately, and a normal initial CT scan doesn’t necessarily rule them out. Insurance companies may look to downplay these injuries when the medical records don’t tell the full story.
Ryan knows what to look for in those records and where important details may be missing. He uses that medical knowledge to show how the crash affected you and why your injuries deserve to be taken seriously.
If you’ve been hit while riding your bike, you don’t have to figure out the insurance claim on your own!
Ryan and his team can help clients in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. For Houston’s Spanish- and Vietnamese-speaking families, that means you can call our office, explain what happened, and ask questions in the language you’re most comfortable using. After a serious accident, communicating with your bicycle accident lawyer shouldn’t be one more thing you have to struggle with.
Get Help Now From a Houston Bicycle Accident Lawyer
Houston’s roads can be challenging for cyclists, but you have rights when someone else’s carelessness causes your injuries. If you’ve been hurt while riding a bike, Ryan Nguyen can investigate what happened, challenge the insurance company’s efforts to blame you, and argue strategically for full compensation. You don’t have to sort through Texas bicycle laws, insurance coverage, and questions about fault on your own.
Schedule a free case consultation today to tell Ryan what happened and get help navigating the road ahead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Texas generally gives you two years to file a personal injury lawsuit. But don’t assume you always have two years to take action.
If your accident involves the City of Houston, METRO, or another government agency, you may need to provide notice much sooner. For example, Houston’s charter requires written notice within 90 days for certain injury claims against the City. METRO also has a formal claims process. These issues can come up if a City vehicle hits you, or a government entity may be responsible for a dangerous road condition.
That’s one reason it’s worth talking to Ryan soon after a crash rather than watching the calendar and assuming you have plenty of time.
For the most part, yes. Texas generally requires e-bike riders to follow the same traffic laws as other cyclists. If you’re injured in an e-bike accident, fault will depend on what you and the driver were doing when the crash happened.
Texas has three classes of e-bikes. Classes 1 and 2 have a top assisted speed of 20 mph, while Class 3 e-bikes can assist you up to 28 mph. If the vehicle meets Texas’s definition of an electric bicycle, you don’t need a driver’s license, registration, or auto insurance to ride one.
Some rules depend on your age or where you ride. Class 3 riders must be at least 15, and Houston requires riders under 18 to wear a helmet. Local rules can also limit e-bike use in certain areas and on certain trails and paths.
If you’re injured while riding an e-bike, an insurance company may use one of these rules to argue that you share the blame. But breaking a rule doesn’t necessarily mean you caused the crash. The details about what happened still matter!
Houston doesn’t require people 18 or older to wear a bicycle helmet. If you’re under 18, it’s a different story: Houston requires children to wear a helmet while riding a bicycle on a public way, which includes publicly maintained streets, trails, and parks.
If a child or teenager wasn’t wearing a helmet when a driver hit them, that fact alone doesn’t tell us who caused the crash. We still need to look at what the driver and cyclist were doing and how the collision happened.
It depends on where you are. Houston prohibits riding a bicycle on sidewalks within the central business district. The City can also post signs prohibiting bicycle riding on sidewalks elsewhere.
On sidewalks that permit bicycles, pedestrians have priority. Cyclists must also make themselves heard before riding past someone. If you’re unsure whether you can ride on a particular Houston sidewalk, check for posted restrictions rather than assuming sidewalk riding is always allowed.
You may have been riding on a sidewalk when a driver hit you. Whether you were allowed to ride there matters, but so do the driver’s actions and whether your location on the sidewalk contributed to the crash.
Ryan will first investigate what happened and determine who may be responsible. That can mean reviewing the crash report, tracking down video and witnesses, looking at the scene, and figuring out which insurance policies may cover your losses.
Once Ryan understands the accident and the extent of your losses, he can present your claim to the appropriate insurance company and negotiate for a fair resolution. If the insurer refuses to offer fair compensation, filing a lawsuit may be the next step.
There isn’t one timeline that fits every bicycle accident claim. A relatively straightforward insurance claim may move faster than a case involving serious injuries, disputed fault, several responsible parties, or a government agency.
Your medical recovery can also affect the timing. Ryan needs to understand how the crash has affected you (and what care you may still need) before evaluating what fair compensation looks like. If the insurance company won’t negotiate fairly and a lawsuit becomes necessary, the case will generally take longer to resolve.