Yes, Your Automobile Insurance Policy May Cover Your Bike Crash
When it comes to automobile insurance, it is important for all riders to know and understand that it is not just the driver’s automobile insurance coverage that matters, but our own. When I tell people this, the most common response is for people to think they misheard me. Then, when I tell them that I did indeed state that their automobile insurance may apply to their bike crash, they often ask something like: “Why on earth would my own automobile insurance company ever pay for my injuries from bicycle crash caused by someone else?”

The answer is actually quite simple and logical. When we buy automobile insurance, we are often purchasing insurance protection not only for the harm we may cause to other people with our automobiles but also for automobile-related harms that we may suffer. Our automobile insurance policies not only have liability provisions and property damage provisions that cover us in the event that caused harm to someone else or their vehicle and/or in the event our vehicle is damaged, but they also often contain provisions addressing uninsured/underinsured coverage (“UM coverage”) and medical payment insurance (“medpay coverage”). These provisions become important to us as bicyclists in the event of a crash.

Let me explain.

UM Coverage: What It Is and How It Can Protect Against More than Just “Hit and Runs”
UM Coverage is exactly what its name purports it to be. It is automobile insurance coverage that generally kicks in and covers an insured person when the motorist primarily responsible for a crash: (1) cannot be identified; (2) has been identified, but unlawfully does not carry any insurance (i.e. is uninsured); or (3) has been identified, has tendered his/her insurance policy limits, but does not carry enough insurance to fully compensate you and your family members for your losses and damages (i.e. is underinsured).

While many people rightfully associate UM Coverage with “hit and run” automobile v. automobile crashes, it is also important to know that UM Coverage also can apply when the “hit and run” involves injury to a bicyclist.

UM Coverage may also be available to an injured bicyclist in “no contact” situations (i.e. situations where an unidentified negligent driver leaves the scene of a crash after negligently causing a bicyclist to crash but without ever making contact with the bicyclist or the bicycle). For example, if a motorist acts negligently by violating the minimum three-foot passing law and causes a bicyclist to swerve and crash, and if that motorist intentionally or unintentionally leaves the scene of the crash, the bicyclist should be able to successfully make a UM claim under his or her own automobile policy for the amount of his or her damages up to the amount of the purchased UM Coverage.

Further, UM Coverage commonly extends to bicyclists in cases where a number of the damages suffered by the injured bicyclist exceeds the amount of the motorist’s insurance coverage. For example, had the Kalamazoo tragedy occurred in Maine, and had Mr. Pickett only carried the minimum amount of insurance required by Maine law (up to $50,000 per person and up to $100,000 total per crash), the bicyclists’ own UM coverages would all come into play. If each of the nine bicyclists received $11,111.11 under the driver’s policy and if one of the surviving nine bicyclists carried a UIM policy in the same amount of the driver, the most in UIM coverage that the bicyclist would likely be entitled to would be $38,888.89 (the difference between the $50,000 she purchased in coverage and the $11,111.11 he already received from the driver). In contrast, if one of the other surviving bicyclists purchased and carried $500,000 in UIM Coverage, that bicyclist would likely be entitled to receive up to $488,888.89 for damages arising out of the very same crash.