You are riding your bike, legally in the bike lane on the correct side of the road, when you see a driver ahead of you looking to pull out of a driveway or a parking lot. You watch as the driver looks directly at your bike, so you know that they have seen you and you also know you have the right of way. You expect them to wait for you to pass before they pull into the road.
But they do not. As you pass in front of them, the driver hits the gas and runs into you on your bike. When they get out of the car after the accident, with the ambulance on the way, they say they never saw you at all. How could this happen?
Missing key details
It could be due to a condition known as inattentional blindness, which often happens when drivers are in a hurry and just quickly look at the scene around them. They do not take enough time for their brain to really process all the information, so they do not see everything. Instead, they usually see the things they expect to see, and their brain can omit other key details or fill in the gaps.
In other words, that driver was probably looking at the road to see if there were any other cars or trucks before making their turn. It never dawned on them that a bicycle would be approaching, so they may have looked right at you without actually registering that your bike was there. This is a common issue that leads to motorcycle accidents, but it could also lead to bicycle accidents.
Seeking compensation
Even if they claim they did not see you, that driver still injured you and failed to yield the right of way. As such, you may deserve financial compensation for medical bills and related costs.
