Author: Randall Spencer

Fillmore Spencer Founding Partner, Randall K. Spencer will host our monthly Brown Bag Lunch and CLE in September. Mr. Spencer is passionate about providing his clients with excellent experiences throughout the process as well as favorable outcomes at the end of the case.

Many people think that auto insurance only protects you if you are in a car accident. What most people don’t understand is that your car insurance policy also protects you in the event you are a pedestrian or riding a bicycle and are hit by someone else’s car.

We recently had a case where driver cut a corner and hit our client who was riding a bicycle causing serious injuries. Unfortunately, the driver only had the nominal insurance coverage required by the state. Our client was an avid bike rider and didn’t think much about his car insurance because he preferred to bike rather than drive. What we explained to him is that bike riders need car insurance as much as avid drivers, and they may actually need uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage even more that those who drive regularly.

If you are riding a bicycle and you are injured by the negligent acts of a car driver who has insufficient insurance to compensate you for your property damage and cover sufficient medical care for your injuries, your own car insurance coverage has under insured motorist coverage to make up the difference so you can heal and be made whole. Unfortunately, many who solely bike, or drive very little, do not carry uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage with high enough limits to cover their own injuries in cases like this one. If the driver who causes your injuries has a policy with limits too low to cover your medical care, and you do not have your own

So, the answer is yes! Cyclists need to make sure that they have very good auto insurance to protect them from negligent drivers while they are riding their bikes. The same is true for runners, walkers, skaters, and skateboarders who are injured by negligent drivers of automobiles. It might be helpful to think of automobile insurance as insurance that covers you and your property for the damage caused by an automobile—whether you are in an automobile yourself or not.

If you have any questions about insurance coverage or if you have been injured by the negligent actions of another, call Fillmore Spencer. We’d be happy to help.

­A consultation with a recent client inspired me to write this blog. I hope to educate my friends and community about misleading advertising that insurance

Unlike the choice to change your car’s oil yourself instead of taking it to an auto repair business, hiring a car accident lawyer to represent you in relation to an auto accident almost always leads to receiving more money than you pay for the services. In other words, the attorney’s fee is almost always far less than the increase in settlement one would expect to receive after hiring an attorney.