Personal injury after a bicycle accident - who covers the loss?

The bicycle is a popular and efficient means of transport, and many people prefer to cycle to work and leave the car behind. With bicycles on both roads and pavements, it's not uncommon to see collisions between bicycles and cars, bicycles and bicycles, or bicycles and pedestrians. Although a bicycle has far less potential for damage than a car, a collision with a bicycle can still lead to serious injuries. personal injury.

Personal injury after bicycle accident

If you collide with a car, the damage and subsequent loss will be covered by the car's liability insurance. Bicycles, on the other hand, do not have compulsory liability insurance, and injuries caused by bicycles to pedestrians or other cyclists are not covered by the Motor Vehicle Liability Act. In addition, there are a number of other two-wheelers, such as electric bicycles and segways, and more and more fast and quiet means of transport are emerging that are not covered by the Motor Vehicle Liability Act. This means that people who are injured in a collision with such a means of transport often don't know where to turn to get compensation for their loss.

Claims against the tortfeasor

The starting point in cases where there is no compulsory liability insurance is that the injured party must claim their loss directly from the tortfeasor. The condition is that the tortfeasor has acted negligently. In many cases, the tortfeasor will have private insurance that covers any liability he incurs, and the injured party will then be able to make a claim against an insurance company without having to deal directly with the tortfeasor.

If the tortfeasor must be said to have acted coarse negligence, in addition to compensation for financial loss, you will be able to claim compensation for redress.

Remember that in cases where the party causing the damage has taken out liability insurance, this insurance also covers reasonable and necessary expenses for legal assistance.

Extended professional indemnity cover

If there is no liability insurance, the injured party may have insurance that covers the loss. If you are injured on the way to or from work, you should check with your employer whether there is extended occupational injury cover that covers injuries that occur on the way to or from work. If you work in the municipality and are covered by the General Collective Agreement, such accidents will be covered. Some employers take out additional insurance for their employees, such as disability insurance or invalidity insurance, which can cover an ongoing loss of income or pay out compensation.

Travel insurance

Some travel insurance policies cover accidents that occur even if you are not travelling out of the country or abroad. In this case, you should check the terms of your own and any spouse's insurance. It is also a good idea to check whether your employer or trade union has taken out group travel insurance for its employees or members.

Accident insurance

Many people have accident insurance that they don't know about, which may be «baked into» an insurance package with travel and home insurance. Here, too, it's worth checking whether anyone in the family has taken out insurance that covers several members of the household. Accident insurance is often paid out in a lump sum, but you may also find that a private disability insurance policy has been included to cover ongoing loss of income.

Special regulations for segways and self-balancing vehicles

In conclusion, I would like to briefly mention that injuries caused by the use of segways and self-balancing vehicles are exempt from the insurance obligation pursuant to section 3, fourth paragraph of the Motor Vehicle Liability Act. This type of personal injury is thus covered by the Norwegian Road Traffic Insurance Association's liability under section 2, second paragraph of the Road Traffic Insurance Regulations. We therefore urge you to report personal injuries caused by the use of self-balancing vehicles to the Norwegian Motor Insurers' Association.