Almost every one of these claims turns into an argument about where you were riding. That argument is more winnable than most cyclists assume, because the two statutes that decide it both point the other way once somebody reads them properly.
Culver Legal, LLP represents injured cyclists across the Central Valley from an office at 1690 W Shaw Avenue, Suite 220 in Fresno. We work on contingency and advance the costs of the case, so there is nothing to pay up front and no fee unless we win. Call (310) 600-7881 at any hour.
Did You Have to Ride Closer to the Curb?
Usually not, and this is the first argument an insurer reaches for.
Vehicle Code 21202 requires a cyclist traveling slower than the traffic around them to keep as near to the right curb as practicable. It then lists exceptions, and they are wide enough that most real riding falls inside one of them:
- Passing another bicycle or vehicle moving in the same direction
- Preparing to turn left
- Avoiding a hazard, which expressly includes parked cars, opening doors, debris, drainage grates and surface conditions
- A lane too narrow to share safely with a vehicle side by side
That last one does most of the work. On a standard lane with a car passing, the safe position is frequently not at the curb, and the statute accounts for that.
How Much Room Does a Driver Have to Give?
Three feet. Vehicle Code 21760, the Three Feet for Safety Act, requires a driver overtaking a bicycle in the same direction to pass at a safe distance, and sets three feet as the standard. Where three feet is not possible, the driver must slow and pass only when it can be done without danger.
That matters because it makes a close pass a violation rather than a matter of opinion. The obligation sits with the person doing the overtaking, which is the reverse of how these collisions are usually described to the injured cyclist.
Told you should have been further right?
21202 has exceptions wide enough to cover most real riding. Get the argument tested before you accept it.
What Does the Fresno Data Actually Show?
Less than the pages on this subject usually claim, and being straight about it is more useful than alarming you.
The California Office of Traffic Safety publishes crash rankings drawn from statewide collision data, measuring Fresno against the 15 California cities with populations over 250,000, where a rank of 1 is the worst. On bicycle victims killed or injured, Fresno ranked 14th of 15 in 2020, 15th in 2021, 12th in 2022 and 14th in 2023. That is at or near the safest of the group in every one of those years.
The raw counts did rise over that period, from 47 to 88 killed or injured, but the ranking did not move much, which is the more honest way to read it.
Anyone telling you Fresno is among California’s most dangerous cities for cycling has not looked at the table. What that means for your claim is simple and worth knowing: the case will be decided on the two statutes above and on the evidence of this collision, not on a statistic about the city.
Who Wrote the Report, and What If There Isn’t One?
For a collision on a city street inside Fresno, the report comes from the Fresno Police Department Records section, 2323 Mariposa Street, on (559) 621-2534, open Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Collision reports are ordered online for a $12 convenience fee, charged by the service that fulfills the report rather than by the city. A collision out on Highway 99, Interstate 5 or State Route 41 is normally the California Highway Patrol’s instead.
A cyclist is far more likely than a driver to have no report at all. Where a driver clipped you and carried on, or where nobody called it in because you got up and walked the bike home, the file may never have been opened.
That is worth fixing rather than accepting. The medical record made when the injuries declared themselves, photographs of the bike and the road, and any business or doorbell camera along the route all still exist for a while. Camera footage has the shortest life, usually days.
Where Will You Be Treated, and Where Would the Case Be Heard?
Community Regional Medical Center, 2823 Fresno Street, describes itself as the only Level I trauma center between Los Angeles and Sacramento, verified at that level by the American College of Surgeons.
If you were not taken by ambulance, which is common for cyclists who feel able to stand up afterwards, the first medical record you do create becomes the anchor for everything later, and a delay in making one is the first thing an adjuster points at. Head injury is the one most easily missed on the day, and a rider who was talking normally at the scene can still have a traumatic brain injury that only declares itself over the following week.
A bicycle claim seeking more than $35,000 is an unlimited civil case, filed at the B. F. Sisk Courthouse, 1130 O Street, and heard in Fresno County.
Where a public entity contributed, through the condition of the road or a public vehicle, a written claim must be presented within six months under Government Code 911.2, and for the City of Fresno that goes to Risk Management, 2600 Fresno Street, Room 1030, in duplicate.
Did the driver leave?
Uninsured motorist coverage on your own policy can respond. It applies even though you were not in a car.
Why Do Fresno Cyclists Choose Culver Legal?
We are in Fresno, at 1690 W Shaw Avenue, Suite 220, and where you cannot travel we come to you.
Our team speaks Spanish, Farsi, Filipino, Hindi, Mandarin and Korean.
The economics are simple. Contingency, costs advanced, nothing up front and no fee unless we win. Culver Legal has recovered $200 Million and counting, and the phone is answered 24 hours a day.
Fresno Bicycle Accident FAQs
Who is at fault if a car hits a bicycle?
It is decided on the facts of the collision, not by the vehicle types, and the two statutes above do most of the work. The assumption to test first is that the cyclist must have been somewhere they should not have been, because the exceptions in Vehicle Code 21202 are broad and the three-foot rule in 21760 puts the obligation on the driver doing the passing. Even where a rider did contribute, California reduces a recovery in proportion to fault rather than barring it.
Can you sue someone for hitting you on a bike?
Yes. A cyclist injured by a negligent driver has the same claim a driver would, covering medical treatment, lost earnings, pain and suffering, and the bicycle itself. Being on a bicycle changes the evidence and the arguments, not the entitlement.
What are the bike laws in Fresno?
The rules that decide a claim are state law rather than city law. A bicycle on the road is a vehicle for most purposes. Riding slower than traffic means keeping right, subject to the wide exceptions in 21202. Drivers passing you must give three feet under 21760. A city can add its own rules on top, on things like riding on sidewalks, and those vary. If a local rule is being used against you, it is worth checking it actually says what the other side claims.
The driver says I came out of nowhere. How is that answered?
With physical evidence rather than argument: the damage to the bike and to the vehicle, the point of impact, sight lines, lighting and any footage. That last one is why time matters, since footage from nearby businesses is normally overwritten within days.
Does it matter that I was not wearing a helmet?
California requires helmets only for riders under 18. For an adult, helmet use may be raised in relation to head injuries specifically, and it is regularly raised far beyond that as a general argument about judgment. Those are different things, and the second is not a legal argument.
I am undocumented. Can I bring a claim without putting myself at risk?
Yes, and the protection is stronger than most people expect. Under Evidence Code 351.2, added by AB 2159, evidence of a person’s immigration status is not admissible in a civil action for personal injury or wrongful death, and discovery into it is not permitted either. It cannot be raised at trial and it cannot be asked about beforehand. It is not a question we ask you, and it is not a question the other side gets to ask.
Contact a Culver Legal Fresno Bicycle Accident Lawyer
The evidence in a cycling claim disappears quickly, and often nobody has opened a file at all. If you were hurt riding anywhere in Fresno or the surrounding Central Valley, reach us at (310) 600-7881 at any hour, or at 1690 W Shaw Avenue, Suite 220. The review costs nothing.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Culver Legal, LLP is a California law firm. The information on this page is for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.
