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@dcdriver2. You are overstating the difficulty of recovering from a cyclist compared with recovering from an automobile driver. You are correct that some fraction of collisions with a cyclist will cause serious damage to a car which the cyclist will not voluntarily pay, requiring you to take her to small claims court which you may be reluctant to do. But a similar fraction of collisions with automobiles have damages greater than the insurance and assets of the driver. Alot od drivers are uninsured, and even more carry to bare minimum, which will not make a victim whole after a very serious accident--even a victim willing to go to court.

That said, I think it would be a great idea to reform the insurance requirements for cyclists. Because cyclist collisions with motor vehicles are lagely governed by a no-fault law ("contributory negligence") what we need is no-fault insurance for cyclists. That would include a requirement that both cyclists and drivers carry the no-fault bicycle collision insurance, and that all auto insurace in the district be required to include such a policy (since everybody must buy it). Then when an accident occurs, each party collects from their own insurance. DC insurance compananies could be required to sell an optional policy to out-of-state drivers and cyclists at the same cost.

@Falls Church: You have not really made a compelling case for a class action lawsuit against the bus company. How many people have had collisions with WMATA? Is the ratio of the cost of a class action lawsuit to a small claim greater than that number? If not, then filing small claims makes more sense.

Given that the facts of every accident must be litigated, and WMATA is liable for the accident whether or not it is also negligent in driver training, I would expect that the class action add tremendously to the cost of the lawsuit, without avoiding the need to prove the facts of each individyual accident.

Your analogy with the tobacco class action lawsuits wouild be for insurance companies, not a class of cyclists to sue the bus company.

If you have a few days to spend on this, I would urge you to prepare a guide on how to bring small cases against WMATA for accidents, rather than looking for a lawyer willing to take on a class action.

by Jim Titus on Jun 8, 2012 6:35 am • link • report