Philadelphia is one of the most active cycling cities in the country, with thousands of riders sharing the streets of Center City, Fishtown, West Philadelphia, and neighborhoods from Manayunk to South Philly every single day. That activity comes with real risk. In 2024, 125 people were killed as a result of traffic crashes in Philadelphia. Philadelphia ended 2023 with a total of 126 traffic fatalities, and 10 of those were bicyclists. If you were just hit by a car while riding your bike in Philadelphia, the steps you take in the next hours and days will directly affect your health and your legal rights. Here is what you need to know, and what you need to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your first call after a bicycle crash should always be to 911. Even if you feel okay, you need a police report and a medical evaluation. Adrenaline masks pain. Internal bleeding, traumatic brain injuries, and spinal damage can be present without obvious symptoms immediately after impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When police respond, they document the scene, gather witness information, and file an official crash report. That report becomes a key piece of evidence in your personal injury claim. Under Pennsylvania law, crashes resulting in injury or death must be reported to the police. Do not skip this step, even if the driver seems cooperative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Go to the emergency room or urgent care the same day. If you were near Temple University Hospital, Jefferson Health, or Penn Medicine in University City, get there. Delaying medical care gives insurance adjusters a reason to argue that your injuries were not serious or were caused by something else entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Keep every record. Discharge papers, imaging results, prescription receipts, and follow-up appointment notes all become part of your damages claim. If you later pursue compensation for medical expenses, those bills need to be fully documented from day one. A Philadelphia personal injury lawyer<\/a> can help you understand how to preserve and organize this documentation for your case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Evidence disappears fast. Skid marks fade. Witnesses walk away. Surveillance footage gets overwritten. If you are physically able to do so, start gathering evidence at the crash scene before anything changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Use your phone to photograph every angle of the scene. Get shots of the driver’s vehicle, the point of impact, your bicycle, any visible injuries, road conditions, traffic signs, and the surrounding area. If the crash happened on Roosevelt Boulevard, on Broad Street, or near a busy intersection in Kensington or Old City, look for nearby traffic cameras or business security cameras. That footage may capture exactly what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Get the driver’s full name, license number, vehicle registration, and insurance information. Collect names and phone numbers from anyone who witnessed the crash. Witnesses who saw a driver blow through a stop sign or cut across a bike lane can make or break a case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Write down everything you remember while it is fresh. The direction you were traveling, the speed of the vehicle, what the driver said at the scene, and the weather conditions all matter. According to PennDOT, driver behavior is the leading factor in 83 percent of fatal crashes that occur annually on Pennsylvania roadways. Documenting driver behavior at the scene builds the foundation of a negligence claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pennsylvania law treats cyclists as full participants in traffic. Pennsylvania’s Vehicle Code considers bicycles as vehicles and provides that every person riding a bicycle upon a roadway shall be granted all of the rights and responsibilities applicable to a driver of a vehicle, with certain exceptions. That means you have the same right to use Philadelphia’s streets as any car or truck driver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pennsylvania also has a strong Safe Passing Law. Under 75 Pa. Cons. Stat. \u00a7 3303(a)(3), vehicles that want to pass a cyclist on the road must give the cyclist four feet of space while passing, and the law also requires passing vehicles to pass at a careful and prudent reduced speed. When a driver violates this law and hits you, that violation is direct evidence of negligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pennsylvania also has a dooring law. Pennsylvania is one of the few states with a dooring law: 75 Pa. Cons. Stat. \u00a7 3705 prohibits vehicle drivers from opening or leaving open any door on a motor vehicle unless it is reasonably safe to do so and can be done without interfering with the movement of other traffic. This matters for cyclists riding through Center City, where parked cars along Chestnut Street or Walnut Street create constant dooring hazards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Importantly, Pennsylvania law does not allow a failure to wear a helmet to be used as evidence of a cyclist’s contributory negligence, per Pennsylvania Pa. Cons. Stat. \u00a7 3510(b). So even if you were not wearing a helmet when the crash happened, the other driver cannot use that fact against you in your claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDocument the Scene and Gather Evidence Before You Leave<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Understand Your Legal Rights as a Cyclist Under Pennsylvania Law<\/h2>\n\n\n\n