Having handled insurance liability claims for the last 31 years, and having handled hundreds, if not over a 1,000 claims involving cars and bicycles, I would say around 50% of the time the car is at fault, 50% the bicyclist. I would say the biggest issue with bicyclists I've seen is, in no particular order,
1) swerving left into the path of an overtaking car, 2) riding on the wrong side of the road, 3) riding at night with no lights, 4) lane splitting, riding up the right side of a line of cars at a stop light and running into a car that is turning right, 5) and one I have personally seen a lot since there are a lot of bike routes where I live, a group of bicyclists spilling out past a stop sign as if they were one big catepillar into the path of a car that has right of way without understanding that every bicyclist in that group has an individual duty to stop at the stop sign.
Drivers tend to pass too closely and clip bicyclists, and tend to pass and turn right into the path of the bike, and parallel parkers that open doors into the path of approaching bicyclists.
As far as lawsuits - the vast, vast majority of legit claims get settled before a lawsuit is ever filed. Most lawsuits are settled in mediation or during the discovery process without ever making it into a court room. Verdicts as a proportion of total claims is miniscule. Most cases go to trial over liability disputes, not damages, though some go over damage disputes. Defendants are usually represented by a good attorney paid for my their insurer. Liability disputes tend to fall out in favor of the defendant. Insurers only tend to take the strongest cases to court. Hardly any verdicts are published publicly so finding them to post here would be very hard.
All that really has no meaning if the bicyclist is dead does it? Knowing he is 50/50 supposed to make him feel better while he is taking a dirt nap? I don't know where you live but around here, bicycles don't do so well when an automobile of your choice hits them. I would rather be alive than put myself in losing fight and getting killed. People on bikes love to play games with traffic and exert their rights all over the place until a couple of them get wiped out, the they ar all "Oh ma gawd, we was just riding 23 abreast. The driver should have ran into oncoming traffic or hit a tree instead of mowing us down like cornstalks". Kind of like people who have to pick up snakes and then are shocked when they get bit. SMH
And to be honest, I don't like Paul, I don't like looking at his stupid avatar picture with his penis protector on, I don't care for his insulting replies when you don't agree with him, I don't like his whiney posts, I hate clicking onto the site to see him constantly whining about bike riders, riding etc...yeah, can't think of one redeeming quality of the guy. Like there must be a forum out there for him to talk biking but he chooses to do it here and be a whiney c u n t about it.
