Compensation claims for cyclists are growing.  The Highway Code identifies cyclists to be among the most vulnerable road users.  The Code puts an extra duty on motorists to take extra special care in consideration of cyclists.

Nevertheless, compensation claims on behalf of cyclists can be reduced if the cyclist him/herself has contributed to the accident.  The usual reasons are as follows:

• Cycling ‘too fast’
• Cycling with their ‘head down’ (especially where dropped handlebars are concerned)
• Failing to wear visible clothing or display lights on the bike
• Undertaking/overtaking a queue of traffic

A cyclist travelling in a cycle lane will usually assume that they have the right of way but even then courts have frequently found cyclists to be partially to blame for the accident.

In one recent case the court made the cyclist 50% responsible for the accident even though the motorist had turned left across the cycle lane and across his path.

However, there is a good record of legal cases in which the Judges make it clear that motorists should take extra care if there is likely to be two wheeled traffic travelling along the nearside of a queue of four wheeled traffic, either in a cycle lane or otherwise.  Motorists should proceed with utmost care.

On the other side of the coin, it is not uncommon for cyclists to cycle into stationary objects ahead of them and even in cases such as this the courts have been prepared to award compensation to the cyclist, especially if the vehicle was parked blocking a cycle lane.

Cyclists may have a better chance of obtaining full compensation if the accident took place on a country road.  In those situations the courts have awarded compensation to cyclists even if they share some of the blame with the motorist.

There may be situations where there is no other vehicle involved in an accident where the cyclist was injured.  This can be, for example, where there is an obvious defect in the road or the cycle track which may have caused the accident.  This could be a defect in the design of the road layout or due to poor maintenance.