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Bicycle and e-bike
A driver who did not look is still a liability case.
Dooring, right hooks, unsafe passes, and intersection crashes, on a bicycle or an e-bike. Group-ride and event crashes can raise different questions, such as a signed waiver or an organizer’s role. They belong here when the facts support them.
What to keep
The bicycle, the helmet, and the clothing. Photographs of the lane, the door, and the sight line. Names of riders who were with you. If a city vehicle or a road defect is involved, the government-claim clock is much shorter than the ordinary two-year injury deadline under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1.
California’s three-foot passing rule and local bike-lane rules are evidence. They are not, by themselves, the case. The case is still negligence, causation, and damages.
E-bikes
California law treats an electric bicycle as a bicycle with fully operable pedals and an electric motor of no more than 750 watts. Vehicle Code section 312.5 sorts them into three classes:
- Class 1: the motor helps only while the rider pedals and stops helping at 20 miles per hour.
- Class 2: the motor can move the bike without pedaling (a throttle) and stops helping at 20 miles per hour.
- Class 3: the motor helps only while the rider pedals, stops helping at 28 miles per hour, and the bike has a speedometer.
The class can matter after a crash: where the bike was allowed to ride, what equipment it needed, and how an insurer describes the rider’s speed. Keep the e-bike as it is, including the battery, the controller, and any class label, and photograph its display. If the bike or its battery failed, do not repair or discard it. It may be evidence.
This is general California information, not advice about your crash.
Start intake or call 877-BIKE-911.