Why Delaying Action After a Bicycle Accident Hurts Your Case

Time Can Destroy Your Claim Before It Begins

If you’ve ever been in a serious bicycle accident, you know the first few days feel like chaos. You’re hurting, juggling doctors’ visits, maybe dealing with a bent-up bike, and wondering how to even explain this mess to work or school. For many riders, legal action doesn’t even cross their minds at first. But while you’re focused on recovery, the clock on your case is already ticking.

That’s the part nobody tells you. Waiting too long to act doesn’t just make things harder, it can shut the door on your entire claim. At Horn Wright, LLP, our personal injury attorneys have seen what happens when cyclists delay. Evidence disappears, witnesses forget, and insurance companies quietly build their defense while victims do nothing.

Cyclists already face an uphill battle in New York’s dense traffic system. Adding delay only hands the advantage to the other side.

Why Evidence Disappears Quickly After Accidents

Think about where most crashes happen in New York: intersections filled with delivery trucks, sidewalks crowded with pedestrians, and bike lanes running right next to parked cars. In those places, evidence doesn’t last long.

Skid marks wash away with rain. Debris gets swept by sanitation crews. Security footage from a bodega or restaurant is often overwritten in less than a week. Witnesses move on, forget details, or simply can’t be found later. Even the damaged bike itself, which might show a brake failure or impact pattern, sometimes gets tossed before anyone examines it.

Once this evidence is gone, it’s gone for good. That leaves cyclists with nothing but their word, which insurers are quick to dismiss. In federal cases under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), the situation is even riskier. Victims often have only one chance to present evidence during the administrative claim process. If you wait too long to gather proof, you may never get another shot.

Cyclists don’t realize how fragile their case is until it’s too late. That’s why acting immediately isn’t about being “eager,” it’s about survival.

How Statutes of Limitations Affect Your Case

New York law gives the impression of generosity: three years to file a personal injury lawsuit under the Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR). But in practice, that window is much smaller.

Here’s why:

• Wrongful death cases must be filed within two years under EPTL § 5-4.1. Families dealing with grief often lose precious months before even speaking to a lawyer.
• Claims involving municipalities, such as being struck by an MTA bus, require a notice of claim within 90 days under General Municipal Law § 50-e. Miss that, and the case usually ends before it starts.
• Claims involving federal vehicles, like a USPS truck, require an administrative claim under the FTCA within two years. Fail to file, and you’re barred from suing altogether.

On paper, three years sounds safe. In reality, many cyclists have far less time. Every delay cuts into a shrinking window, and insurance companies know it.

Why Insurance Companies Benefit From Delays

Delays don’t just happen by accident, insurers actually count on them. The longer you wait, the more power shifts into their hands.

Consider how insurers use time:

• Witness statements: adjusters often track down witnesses quickly and frame the narrative in the driver’s favor.
• Medical treatment gaps: if you wait weeks to see a doctor, they argue your injuries aren’t serious or weren’t even caused by the crash.
• Evidence control: insurers collect police reports, photographs, and sometimes video before victims think to ask for it.
• Procedural deadlines: they quietly hope you miss filing cutoffs like the 90-day municipal claim requirement.

For insurers, delay is strategy. For cyclists, delay is destruction. Every day spent waiting is another day the other side gets stronger.

New Hampshire Provides Shorter Filing Deadlines Than New York

Not every state treats cyclists the same way. In New Hampshire, the deadlines and rules for bike accident cases are narrower than in New York, leaving victims with less breathing room.

• Statutes of limitations are generally three years, but New Hampshire courts enforce them with little flexibility. New York judges sometimes allow exceptions, such as tolling for minors or incapacitated victims.
• Comparative negligence is harsher. If a cyclist is found more than 50% at fault, recovery is barred. In New York, even if you’re 80% responsible, you can still collect damages for the other 20%.
• Jury awards tend to be smaller, especially for non-economic damages like pain, suffering, or emotional trauma.

So a cyclist hit by a truck turning wide in Albany might have a solid path to recovery. The same crash in Concord could leave the victim with nothing if they waited too long or if jurors assigned just over half the blame.

Missed Compensation Opportunities Caused by Waiting Too Long

What victims often don’t realize is that delay doesn’t just threaten the case itself—it erases categories of compensation piece by piece.

Take lost wages. To prove them, you need medical records tying your injuries to time off work. Wait months to see a doctor, and insurers argue your lost job or hours weren’t related to the accident at all.

Or consider emotional damages. Anxiety, PTSD, and sleepless nights are very real after a crash, but they’re difficult to prove without early treatment records. A therapist who saw you immediately after the crash can testify clearly. If you start therapy two years later, insurers argue your struggles came from somewhere else.

Families in wrongful death cases face the sharpest consequences. The two-year filing deadline under EPTL § 5-4.1 means hesitation can leave them without recovery for funeral costs, lost income, or medical bills. Once that door closes, it rarely opens again.

Delay isn’t just about lost time, it’s about lost money, lost healing, and lost justice.

How Lawyers Preserve Cases Immediately After Accidents

Experienced lawyers don’t wait for things to unfold, they move fast. The difference between a strong case and a weak one is often decided in the first week after a crash.

Here’s what strong legal teams do right away:

• Investigate the scene: sending professionals to document traffic flow, bike lane design, and hazardous conditions before they change.
• Secure surveillance footage: demanding businesses preserve video before it’s erased.
• Interview witnesses quickly: while memories are still fresh and details sharp.
• Preserve physical evidence: keeping the damaged bike for inspection by engineers.
• Collect medical records: ensuring doctors link injuries directly to the crash.
• File notices of claim: preserving municipal and federal cases before strict deadlines pass.

In New York, this immediate action is even more critical because of the city’s constant movement. A crash scene on Queens Boulevard today will look completely different tomorrow. Federal claims are even stricter, wait too long, and courts won’t even hear the case.

The sooner lawyers step in, the more likely cyclists are to preserve every piece of their claim.

Horn Wright, LLP, Encourages Immediate Action for Cyclists

Waiting feels natural after a crash. You want to heal first, breathe, maybe just get through the next day. But hesitation is exactly what insurers want. They know time erodes cases faster than anything else.

At Horn Wright, LLP, our personal injury attorneys encourage cyclists to act immediately. That doesn’t mean filing a lawsuit the same day, it means protecting your evidence, meeting deadlines, and stopping insurers from twisting the story.

We’ve seen too many riders lose out by waiting. Evidence gone. Deadlines missed. Opportunities for justice erased. Don’t let delay decide your case. Act quickly, and give yourself the chance to recover fully, both in health and in court.