Pedestrian and bicycle accident lawyers for New Jersey and New York

A person on foot or on a bicycle has no steel frame, no airbag and no seat belt. When a car or truck hits a pedestrian or cyclist, the result is often broken bones, head injuries or worse, and the medical bills start before you have had time to think about a claim.

The insurance rules for these crashes surprise most people. In New Jersey, the policy that pays your medical bills is often your own, even though you were not driving. In New York, it is usually the policy on the car that hit you. This page explains how coverage, the right to sue and fault rules work in both states. It is general information, so talk with a lawyer about your own facts.

Who pays your medical bills in New Jersey

New Jersey uses a no-fault system called personal injury protection, or PIP. PIP pays medical expenses after an auto accident no matter who caused it. A standard policy provides up to $250,000 in medical expense benefits per person per accident, although many drivers choose lower limits.¹ Our guide to New Jersey PIP covers the details.

If you or a relative has a New Jersey auto policy

PIP on a New Jersey policy covers the named insured and family members living in the same household when they are hurt as pedestrians by an automobile.¹ So your own car insurance, or the policy of a spouse or relative you live with, is usually the first place to look, even though none of your cars were involved.

The law defines a pedestrian as anyone who is not occupying, entering or getting out of a vehicle that is propelled by something other than muscle power and designed mainly for use on highways, rails and tracks.² A person walking fits that definition. So does a person riding an ordinary pedal bicycle, because a bicycle runs on muscle power.

If no one in your household has auto insurance

People who do not own a car, and who do not live with a relative who has a policy, still have options. Every liability policy issued in New Jersey on a motor vehicle that is not a private passenger “automobile,” including motorcycles and motorized bicycles, must provide PIP to pedestrians hurt in New Jersey by that vehicle.³

In July 2026, the Appellate Division held in a published decision that this rule reaches the policy covering a rideshare vehicle. An uninsured pedestrian struck by a car being used for Lyft was entitled to PIP from that policy.⁴

When no other coverage is available, a pedestrian struck by a private passenger automobile may be able to collect PIP from the Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund. The Fund is administered by the New Jersey Property-Liability Insurance Guaranty Association, which says notice of a pedestrian PIP claim must be given within two years of the injury and requires several forms, including a notarized eligibility affidavit.⁵

Your right to sue the driver in New Jersey

PIP pays medical bills, but it does not pay for pain and suffering. For that, you bring a claim against the driver who caused the crash. Whether your claim is limited depends on the lawsuit option attached to your household’s policy, not the driver’s.

A person subject to the limitation on lawsuit option, often called the verbal threshold, can recover for pain and suffering only if the injury involves death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement or scarring, displaced fractures, loss of a fetus, or a permanent injury. A doctor must certify the injury based on objective clinical evidence.⁶ The option chosen by the named insured binds immediate family members who live in the household and do not have their own policy (N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8.1).

That rule follows you onto the sidewalk and the bike lane. In Harbold v. Olin, a boy riding his bicycle was hit by a car. Because he lived with his mother and her policy carried the verbal threshold, the Appellate Division held that he was bound by it.⁷

The threshold does not reach everyone. The no-limitation rule applies to a person who is eligible for PIP but is not required to maintain PIP coverage and is not an immediate family member under a standard or basic policy.⁶ Someone with no car and no insured relative at home, who receives PIP from another source, is generally in that group.

The threshold also protects only owners and drivers of an “automobile” covered by PIP. The No Fault Act defines that term mainly by reference to private passenger vehicles, and it excludes vehicles used as a public or livery conveyance for passengers.²⁶ When a bus or other commercial vehicle hits you, the type of vehicle can change the analysis. Our guide to the New Jersey verbal threshold explains the injury categories.

No-fault and the serious injury threshold in New York

New York also has a no-fault system, but it treats people on foot differently. Each auto policy must pay first-party benefits to persons other than occupants of another motor vehicle or a motorcycle, for losses arising from the use of the insured vehicle in New York.¹¹ In plain terms, a pedestrian or bicyclist usually files with the insurer of the car that hit them.¹²

If that car was uninsured, benefits can come from a policy covering you or a relative in your household.¹¹ If there is none, you file with the Motor Vehicle Accident Indemnification Corporation, known as MVAIC.¹² Basic no-fault benefits cover up to $50,000 per person in economic loss, such as medical bills and lost wages.¹³ Written notice of the claim is due as soon as reasonably practicable and no later than 30 days after the accident.¹²

To recover for pain and suffering from the driver, you must show a “serious injury.” The law defines that as death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, a fracture, loss of a fetus, permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system, a permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member, or a significant limitation of use of a body function or system.¹³ For lawsuits started on or after May 26, 2026, New York removed the former category for a short-term injury that kept you from your usual activities for 90 of the first 180 days.¹⁶ You can also recover economic losses above the basic $50,000 without meeting that threshold.¹³ See our guides to New York no-fault and the serious injury threshold.

Who had the right of way

Fault in a pedestrian or bicycle crash usually turns on the rules of the road. Both states put strong duties on drivers, and both expect pedestrians to act with reasonable care too.

New Jersey’s stop and stay law

Since April 1, 2010, New Jersey drivers have had to stop and stay stopped for a pedestrian crossing in a marked crosswalk when the pedestrian is in, or within one lane of, the driver’s half of the road. At an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, drivers must yield. A violation carries a $200 fine and two license points, and a court may add up to 15 days of community service.⁸

Pedestrians have duties as well. No pedestrian may step off the curb into the path of a vehicle so close that the driver cannot stop, and a person crossing outside a crosswalk must yield to vehicles.⁸

New York and New York City rules

In New York, when traffic signals are not in place or not working, a driver must yield to a pedestrian crossing in a crosswalk, slowing or stopping as needed. A pedestrian may not suddenly leave the curb and walk or run into the path of a vehicle too close to yield. Every driver must exercise due care to avoid colliding with any bicyclist or pedestrian, and must sound the horn when necessary.¹⁴

New York City goes further. Under the city’s Right of Way Law, N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 19-190, a driver who fails to yield to a pedestrian or bicyclist with the right of way commits a traffic infraction. If the vehicle makes contact and causes physical injury, the driver can be charged with a misdemeanor. The law does not apply when the failure to yield or the injury was not caused by the driver’s lack of due care.

A ticket or criminal charge does not decide your injury claim, but it can be important evidence. Insurers often argue that a pedestrian was outside the crosswalk or that a cyclist ran a light. Both states reduce your recovery by your share of fault. New Jersey bars recovery only if your share is greater than the defendants’ (N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1), and New York now applies the same rule to claims against drivers that are governed by the no-fault law and filed on or after May 26, 2026.¹⁶ Before that change, New York let you recover even if you were mostly at fault (CPLR 1411), and that older rule still applies to many other kinds of claims. Our guide to comparative negligence explains how this works.

Bicycles, e-bikes and e-scooters

A rider on an ordinary bicycle is treated as a pedestrian for New Jersey PIP, which is why the young cyclist in Harbold received PIP through his mother’s policy.²⁷ In New York, a bicycle is not a motor vehicle, so a cyclist struck by a car is generally covered by the car’s no-fault insurer, just like a pedestrian.¹¹

Motorized devices are different. In Goyco v. Progressive Insurance Co., the New Jersey Supreme Court held that a person riding a low-speed electric scooter is not a pedestrian, because the scooter is powered by something other than muscle and is designed for use on highways. The rider could not collect PIP, and the Court said any change is for the Legislature.⁹

New Jersey also changed its e-bike law. Under P.L.2025, c.285, low-speed electric bicycles and motorized bicycles must be registered with the Motor Vehicle Commission, which began issuing e-bike licenses and registrations on June 26, 2026. Riders generally need a driver’s license or a moped license. Motorized bicycles must be insured, while low-speed electric bicycles do not need insurance.¹⁰ And if you were walking when an insured motorized bicycle hit you, a liability policy on that bicycle must provide pedestrian PIP.³

New York does not register e-bikes or legal e-scooters. The Department of Motor Vehicles says they may be ridden on roads with a posted speed limit of 30 mph or less, and not on sidewalks unless local law allows it. E-scooters may not go faster than 15 mph, and e-bikes that assist up to 25 mph are permitted only in a city of one million or more people, which means New York City.¹⁵

If you were hurt on an e-bike or scooter, the coverage picture is often complicated. Health insurance and the at-fault driver’s liability coverage may both matter, so get advice before giving any recorded statements.

Hit-and-run crashes

When the driver who hit you leaves the scene, call 911 and report the crash to the police right away, even if you think you can manage on your own. Prompt reporting protects your claim in both states.

In New Jersey, if you or a relative you live with has a policy, its PIP still pays medical bills after a hit-and-run, because PIP does not depend on who was at fault.¹ In New York, no-fault benefits may come from a household policy or, if there is none, from MVAIC.¹²

For pain and suffering, you may have an uninsured motorist claim under your own or a household member’s policy, or a claim through the Unsatisfied Claim and Judgment Fund or MVAIC if no policy applies. Strict reporting and notice deadlines apply, some measured in hours or days. Our page on uninsured and underinsured motorist claims explains them.

Evidence that decides these cases

Pedestrian and bicycle cases often turn on a few seconds. Who had the light? Was the pedestrian inside the crosswalk lines? How fast was the driver going? The evidence that answers those questions can disappear quickly.

• Traffic camera footage, and video from buses, stores, homes and doorbell cameras, much of which is recorded over within days or weeks.
• Signal timing and phasing records from the state, county or city transportation department, which show how long the walk signal and the green light lasted.
• The police crash report, scene diagrams, photographs and witness statements.
• The vehicle’s event data recorder and any dashcam video, and the driver’s phone records if distraction is suspected.
• Rideshare and delivery app data showing whether a driver was logged in and on a trip.
• Your bicycle, helmet, clothing and shoes, kept exactly as they were.
• Photographs of sightlines, lighting, parked cars and lane markings at the scene.

How Parra Klein handles pedestrian and bicycle cases

We start by locking down the evidence. That means preservation letters for traffic camera and business video, requests for signal timing records, the police report and any body camera footage, and, where it matters, the vehicle’s electronic data. We document the scene with photographs, including the lighting, sightlines and crosswalk markings.

At the same time, we sort out the insurance. We identify every policy that may owe PIP or no-fault benefits, file the applications on time, and look for liability, uninsured motorist and fund coverage. When a public entity, bus or government vehicle is involved, we prepare and serve the notice of claim before the deadline.

We work with your treating doctors to document fractures, head injuries and the care you will need in the future. We handle communication with the insurance carriers, and we prepare each case as if it will go to trial.

Arlene Parra and Juan Carlos Reyes are fluent in Spanish, and we serve clients in Spanish from the first call. We meet clients at our offices in Elmwood Park and Union City, New Jersey, and in Manhattan, and we offer remote consultations. There is no attorney’s fee unless we recover money for you.