San Antonio Bicycle Accident Lawyers
Hit by a driver who didn't see you? Patterson Law Group has recovered $100 Million+ for injured Texans and knows the Texas cyclist-rights statutes that drivers and their insurers routinely overlook. Local San Antonio office. Free consultation, no fee unless we win.
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San Antonio office — local attorneys who know the cyclist-rights statutes
Our San Antonio office at 926 Chulie Drive serves Bexar County cyclists directly. We know Texas Transportation Code §551.101 (same rights and duties as a driver), §551.103–§551.106 (riding to the right, two-abreast rule, hand signals), the San Antonio safe-passing ordinance, the PIP/UM/UIM rules that apply when a cyclist is struck by an at-fault driver, and the Texas Tort Claims Act windows that apply when the City of San Antonio or another government entity is involved. When you cannot come to the office, we come to you — at the hospital, at home, by phone, or by Zoom.
San Antonio & surrounding cities we serve
We represent cyclists across Bexar County and the surrounding South Texas and Hill Country counties. If you were riding in any of the cities below — or anywhere else in the SA metro — call us.
Counties covered: Bexar, Comal (New Braunfels), Guadalupe (Seguin), Atascosa, Wilson, Medina, and Kendall (Boerne).
Why injured San Antonio cyclists choose Patterson Law Group
Real trial lawyers
We try cases. Three decades of trial practice across Texas courts. Every bicycle case is built for the courthouse from day one — sight-line photography from the driver's position, traffic-camera and surveillance video preservation, and depositions of the responsible driver.
$100 Million+ recovered
Three decades of trial-tested results for Texas families, including the highest Wrongful Death Settlement in Texas in 2024 — an 8-figure recovery for a grieving family. We bring that same trial-readiness to every San Antonio cyclist case we take.
No fee unless we win
You pay nothing up front. We only get paid when you do, and our fee comes out of the settlement, not your pocket. The firm advances investigation, expert, and litigation costs. Free consultation, no obligation, available 24/7.
What to do after a San Antonio bicycle crash
Cycling crashes often produce concussions and orthopedic injuries that take hours or days to fully present. The first 24–48 hours after the crash usually decide what evidence survives and what gets lost. Here is what we tell our SA cyclist clients:
- Get medical care immediately. San Antonio has University Health (the region's only Level I trauma center, on the Medical Center campus), Brooke Army Medical Center at Joint Base San Antonio (a federal Level I trauma center that also serves civilian crash victims), Methodist Hospital (Level II), Baptist Medical Center, and Christus Santa Rosa. Concussions, soft-tissue injuries, internal bleeding, and undiagnosed fractures can take time to surface — and a documented medical visit creates a record the carrier cannot easily dispute later.
- Report the crash. San Antonio PD handles crashes inside the city; Bexar County Sheriff handles unincorporated Bexar; DPS handles state highways. Get the case number. If you were on a city greenway or park trail when the crash happened on city property, the report and any incident-report number matter for any Texas Tort Claims Act notice.
- Photograph everything. The bike, the at-fault vehicle, the scene from your line of approach AND from the driver's line of approach, the road conditions, sight obstructions, any visible damage to your bike and gear, and any visible injuries. Memories fade. Adjusters exploit gaps. Photos do not.
- Get witness contact info. Independent witnesses — pedestrians, other cyclists, business owners along the route — can decide whether the case settles for fair value. Get a name and phone number before they leave the scene.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the at-fault driver's insurer. Their adjusters call within hours and they are trained to get statements that limit your recovery. You are not required to talk to them. Refer them to us.
- Call a lawyer before you sign anything. Early settlement offers are almost always low — and once you sign a release, you cannot reopen the claim even if your injuries turn out to be worse than expected. We send preservation-of-evidence letters within hours so traffic-cam footage, business surveillance video, and the at-fault vehicle's ECM data are locked down before the routine destruction window passes.
Texas bicycle law — what San Antonio cyclists should know
Two-year statute of limitations
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code §16.003 gives you two years from the date of the crash to file most personal injury and wrongful death claims. Crashes involving city property or city vehicles may trigger Texas Tort Claims Act notice deadlines as short as six months.
Cyclists have driver-equivalent rights
Texas Transportation Code §551.101 grants a cyclist the same rights and imposes the same duties as the driver of a vehicle on the roadway. §551.103 generally requires cyclists to ride as near to the right as practicable when slower than other traffic, with safety exceptions. §551.104 allows riding two abreast within a single lane. §551.105 requires hand signals.
3-foot safe-passing ordinance
Texas has no statewide 3-foot passing statute, but San Antonio and several other Texas cities have adopted local safe-passing ordinances. A violation of a municipal safe-passing ordinance can support a negligence-per-se argument when the violation caused the crash. We pull the applicable ordinance and any legislative history.
No statewide adult helmet rule
Texas has no statewide adult bicycle-helmet requirement. Lack of a helmet is rarely admitted as evidence of comparative fault in a Texas civil case — helmets do not prevent crashes, only affect injury severity. We move to limit any helmet evidence to what the data actually controls.
Modified comparative fault
Under §33.001, Texas follows a 51% bar rule: you can recover damages as long as you are 50% or less at fault. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault. Defense lawyers routinely argue a cyclist 'came out of nowhere' — we push back with sight-line and visibility evidence.
Paid or incurred medical bills
§41.0105 limits medical-damage recovery to amounts actually paid or incurred. With a Level I trauma stay at University Health or BAMC easily running into six figures, careful paid-or-incurred documentation matters.
UM/UIM and PIP cover cyclists
Texas PIP coverage on your auto policy applies to you and resident relatives whether you were in a car or on a bike. UM and UIM coverage on your auto policy generally applies to a cyclist struck by an at-fault driver who is uninsured or under-insured. A resident relative's auto policy may also apply.
Wrongful Death Act
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 71 governs wrongful death and survival actions. Surviving spouse, children, and parents can recover for loss of love, companionship, and financial support. Survival actions belong to the estate for pain and medical bills the deceased experienced before death.
San Antonio cycling hot spots
San Antonio has one of the largest urban greenway networks in Texas, and Bexar County's surface streets and frontage roads route cyclists into traffic constantly. The locations below produce most of our bicycle case files:
- Mission Reach & the San Antonio River Walk. The Mission Reach trail south of downtown and the urban River Walk loop produce a steady flow of crashes at street-crossing points where the path meets surface streets.
- Howard W. Peak Greenway Trails. The Salado Creek, Leon Creek, and Medina River greenways stretch across the city. Most crashes happen at trailheads and at-grade crossings of arterial streets.
- Pearl, Broadway, and the museum-district corridor. Mixed traffic with bike lanes, scooters, pedestrians, and parked-car door-zone hazards. Dooring incidents are a recurring case type here.
- Loop 410 and Loop 1604 frontage roads. Frontage-road intersections at major exits produce the highest-energy bicycle crashes in our SA caseload. Drivers exiting at speed routinely fail to look for cyclists already in the crosswalk or in the frontage-road lane.
- US-281 north toward Hill Country. Popular weekend training route for SA cyclists heading to Bulverde, Spring Branch, and Blanco. Crashes here often involve drivers crossing center lines or making unsafe passes on two-lane sections.
- Boerne, Helotes, and the I-10 west cycling routes. SA cyclists training in Hill Country regularly use shoulder lanes on FM-1604, FM-471, and the rural FM-roads west of San Antonio. Crashes here often involve drivers not expecting cyclists on rural roads.
- UTSA / Medical Center / La Cantera commuter routes. Heavy student and worker cycling traffic crosses Loop 1604 and the access roads. Right-turn-across-bike-lane crashes are routine.
- Downtown one-way grid. Downtown SA's one-way street grid (E Houston, E Travis, E Commerce, E Market) catches cyclists at intersections with surface-street traffic and at the perimeter of the convention-center district.
Where San Antonio bicycle cases are heard
Bexar County
Civil personal injury cases in Bexar County are heard at the Bexar County Justice Center, 300 Dolorosa Street, San Antonio. The 37th, 45th, 57th, 73rd, 131st, 150th, 166th, 224th, 225th, 285th, 288th, 407th, 408th, and 438th District Courts handle the civil docket.
Surrounding counties
Cases out of Comal County (New Braunfels) go to the Comal County Courthouse at 150 N Seguin Avenue. Guadalupe County (Seguin) cases go to the Guadalupe County Courthouse at 211 W Court Street. Kendall County (Boerne) cases are heard at the Kendall County Courthouse, 201 E San Antonio Avenue.
Federal court (W.D. Tex.)
Cases with diversity of citizenship or substantial federal-law issues can be filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division, John H. Wood Jr. Federal Courthouse, 655 East Cesar E Chavez Boulevard.
Most cyclist cases settle and never see a courtroom — but we file in the proper venue and build every case as if it will, which is part of why insurance companies settle them fairly.
Common questions from San Antonio cyclist clients
What is the deadline to file a San Antonio bicycle accident lawsuit?
Do cyclists have the same rights as cars on San Antonio roads?
Is there a 3-foot passing rule in Texas?
Does Texas require adult cyclists to wear helmets?
Can I use my own auto insurance for a bike crash I had no car involved in?
What if the driver who hit me left the scene?
What if I was partially at fault for the San Antonio bicycle crash?
Where are San Antonio bicycle accident cases filed?
How much does it cost to hire Patterson Law Group for a bicycle case?
Hit on your bike in San Antonio? Talk to a Texas trial lawyer today.
Local San Antonio office · Free consultation · No fee unless we win · Available 24/7 · Se habla español