Driver's Exposure When a Cyclist Rides Into His Path

Attorney Answer

Nothing you describe is a crime. Being involved in a collision is not one by itself, and an officer's finding that your dad was not at fault points away from criminal exposure rather than toward it. Arrest follows an allegation of criminal conduct — impaired driving, leaving the scene, reckless driving — and none of that appears in what you have written. What can still happen is a civil injury claim by the cyclist, and the officer's view of fault does not decide that one.

The rule starts with Cal. Civ. Code § 1714(a): "Everyone is responsible, not only for the result of his or her willful acts, but also for an injury occasioned to another by his or her want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his or her property or person, except so far as the latter has, willfully or by want of ordinary care, brought the injury upon himself or herself." The closing clause is where the cyclist's own conduct enters. What the statute does not say is what happens when both people were careless, and that is the part your family needs.

California answers it with pure comparative negligence. In Daly v. General Motors Corp., 20 Cal. 3d 725 (1978), the Supreme Court reaffirmed and applied that system, under which an injured person's recovery is reduced only to the extent their own lack of reasonable care contributed to the injury. Two consequences follow, and they cut in opposite directions. A cyclist who rode into the path of a car already moving carries a large share of the responsibility — but a large share is not all of it, and California does not throw her claim out because of it. She can make a claim, worth a reduced portion of her losses, even if most of the causing was hers.

That is also why the police finding, welcome as it is, is not the end. An officer's conclusion about fault is evidence and it carries weight with insurers. It does not bind an insurer, and it does not bind a court. Nor does it decide the percentages.

What tends to happen next is ordinary. If she was injured, she or a lawyer for her presents a claim to your dad's liability insurer, sometimes months later — people often report injuries after the fact. The insurer investigates, and if it accepts liability in whole or in part it defends and pays within the policy limits. Your dad's job during that is to cooperate with his own insurer and to stay off the phone with the other side.

What you can do

1. Make sure his own insurer has the collision reported and knows a cyclist was involved, and let it handle any contact from her side. That is what liability coverage is for.

2. Do not give a recorded statement to the cyclist's insurer or to a lawyer for her. Refer them to his insurer. A polite refusal costs nothing.

3. Request a copy of the traffic collision report from the agency that responded. It is the document that carries the officer's fault conclusion, and his insurer will want it.

4. Keep, unchanged, everything that already exists: the photographs already taken, any dashcam footage, and the damage as it was recorded. Do not delete anything.

5. Read his policy declarations page and note the bodily-injury limits. If a claim comes, that number matters more than almost anything else.

6. If any officer contacts him about a criminal investigation, or if he receives a citation, speak to a local criminal-defense attorney before answering anything.

7. If a claim does arrive, have a local attorney review the report, the policy limits and the claim with him before he responds. A claim letter is not a finding of fault. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. A claim for the cyclist's injuries runs on Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1: "Within two years: An action for assault, battery, or injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another." A claim for damage to your dad's car would run three years under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 338(c)(1). Both ordinarily run from the date of the accident, and other rules can move them. Nothing on this page computes a date for your family. Have a local attorney check the dates against your facts.