I turned left into two riders and they have broken bones: what happens to me in New York?

Attorney Answer

Two riders with broken bones are a claim that can be made against you. A fracture is a listed serious injury under both the current and the former New York definition, so the no-fault threshold will not keep this case out of court. Report the collision to your insurer, let the insurer defend you, and do not discuss fault with the riders, their family or any investigator before speaking to an attorney.

New York states the left-turn duty in one sentence. Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1141 provides: "The driver of a vehicle intending to turn to the left within an intersection or into an alley, private road, or driveway shall yield the right of way to any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction which is within the intersection or so close as to constitute an immediate hazard." Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1146(a) separately requires every driver to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a bicyclist or pedestrian on a roadway. Neither decides the case alone: what the riders were doing and what each of you could see are questions of fact, and "I didn't see them" is not an admission of liability.

The threshold decides whether they can sue you for pain and suffering at all. Insurance Law § 5104(a) provides: "Notwithstanding any other law, in any action by or on behalf of a covered person against another covered person for personal injuries arising out of negligence in the use or operation of a motor vehicle in this state, there shall be no right of recovery for non-economic loss, except in the case of a serious injury, or for basic economic loss." That bar runs between covered persons, and whether these riders are covered persons is for counsel — but a fracture is a serious injury either way. Their first medical bills and lost earnings are basic economic loss, paid as no-fault first-party benefits rather than by suit; Insurance Law § 5106(a) makes those benefits overdue if unpaid thirty days after proof of loss.

Which version of the motor-vehicle rules applies turns on when an action is commenced, not on when the crash happened, so the first question is whether anything has yet been filed against you. For an action commenced on or after May 26, 2026 — the position of anyone who has not yet sued — Insurance Law § 5102(d) reads: "(d) 'Serious injury' means a personal injury which results in death; dismemberment; significant disfigurement; a fracture; loss of a fetus; permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system; permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member; or significant limitation of use of a body function or system." That regime carries the bar in CPLR 1411(b): a claimant whose fault is greater than the defendant's recovers nothing. Insurance Law § 5104(d) further caps non-economic damages at $100,000 for certain at-fault injured people, with death actions excepted.

For an action already on file before May 26, 2026, the former § 5102(d) governs it. That text carried the same eight categories plus a ninth: a medically determined injury of a non-permanent nature preventing the injured person from performing substantially all of their usual and customary daily activities for at least ninety of the one hundred eighty days after the occurrence. Such an action runs under CPLR 1411 (former text), pure comparative fault, where a claimant's share reduces recovery but never bars it. And if the vehicle belongs to someone else, Vehicle and Traffic Law § 388(1) makes the owner liable for negligence in its use by a driver with the owner's permission, express or implied.

What you can do

1. Report the collision to your insurer now and confirm your liability limits. Late notice is one of the few ways a driver loses coverage he actually had.

2. Do not write out, record or post your own account of the crash. An injury collision can draw a traffic or criminal charge, and anything you produce can be used against you in both.

3. Preserve the evidence: dashcam or phone footage, the vehicle before repair, and the names of anyone who stopped.

4. Decline recorded statements to the riders' insurer or lawyer.

5. If police or a prosecutor contact you, speak to a New York criminal defense attorney before answering anything, and route insurer questions through your own attorney.

⏱ Time limits apply. CPLR 214(5) gives three years to commence an action for personal injury, measured from the date of this collision, and § 214 carries its own exceptions. The date the riders file also decides which motor-vehicle rules govern their case. Whether any period has run depends on facts this page cannot see, so have a New York attorney review the dates against your file and your policy now.