Motor accident lawyer North Willoughby: riding, cycling or on foot

In NSW, a motor accident is generally an incident involving the use or operation of a motor vehicle that causes an injury. You don't need to have been driving, or even in a vehicle. A pedestrian, a cyclist, a pillion passenger and a bus passenger can all be injured in a motor accident. For accidents from 1 December 2017, the Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 sets the rules.

Getting into or out of a vehicle is a common grey area. If a passing car hit you as you stepped out, or your driver moved off while you were halfway out, the injury may come from the use of a motor vehicle. Whether it does depends on exactly what happened, so write it down while it's fresh and have it checked.

Cyclists often assume they need insurance of their own to claim. They don't. The claim runs through the CTP insurance of the motor vehicle involved, so if a car, truck, bus or motorbike hit you while you were riding, it generally goes to that vehicle's insurer. Solo falls, collisions with other cyclists and crashes caused only by the road surface usually sit outside the scheme.

E-scooters raise a question of their own. A scooter isn't covered by CTP insurance itself, so if a scooter rider knocked you down on a footpath, a CTP claim is unlikely and another path may apply. If a car hit you while you were on a scooter, a claim against the car's insurer may still be possible. Have the specific facts checked.

Heavy-vehicle crashes often draw in more people than a car crash: an operator, perhaps a separate trailer owner, a company that loaded the truck, and other drivers. Your injury claim still starts in one place, the CTP insurer of the vehicle at fault. Questions about the other parties can wait, and a lawyer can look at them if a damages claim follows.

Injuries from a crash with a heavy vehicle are often serious: fractures, head injuries and injuries to the spine. Medical evidence needs to cover every injury, and early legal advice can be worth having because more parties and more records are involved. That doesn't mean you need a lawyer to lodge, only that the file can become complex.

Not every pedestrian injury happens on a street. Shopping centre, station and hospital car parks are open to the public, and a person hit there by a car that is reversing or turning can usually claim. A vehicle rolling down a home driveway can also be a motor accident, sometimes involving a child and a family car. The details matter, so check before assuming you can't claim.

Treatment and care for a child who was 16 or under at the time continues for as long as it's needed, and fault doesn't change that, even if the child ran onto the road. A parent or guardian lodges the claim. Notes from school about concentration, behaviour or missed days can help show how the injury affects them as time goes on.

Buses, taxis and rideshare cars carry CTP insurance like any other registered vehicle. As a passenger, you generally claim against the insurer of whichever vehicle caused the crash: the one you were in if its driver was at fault, or another vehicle if that driver was. You claim against the insurer, not the bus company or the app. Passengers are rarely found at fault.

Food and parcel delivery puts riders on busy roads for long hours. When a car hits one, the claim may go to that car's CTP insurer. A rider working as an employee at the time usually claims workers compensation first, so the details of the arrangement matter. Platform insurance, where it exists, has its own terms and doesn't necessarily replace either claim.

Missing or inadequate gear can become an argument: the insurer may claim a particular injury would have been less serious with proper protection. Where the evidence backs that up, contributory negligence can reduce the claim by a percentage. If the rider is found more than 61% at fault, the damages claim is lost, and statutory benefits are generally limited to the first 52 weeks. Keep damaged gear unrepaired, and photograph it from every side.

Broken bones, torn ligaments, nerve damage and head injuries are common in motorcycle crashes. Those are generally not threshold injuries, which matters for how long benefits run and whether damages may be possible. Make sure each doctor records every injury, not just the most painful one, and links it to the crash in their notes.

For crashes involving trucks, buses and rideshare cars, the operator may hold records you don't: onboard cameras, telematics, trip logs and driver hours. They aren't kept forever. Note the company, the route or fleet number and the time, and ask early. For passengers, a trip receipt or card record shows you were on board.

• Helmet, handlebar or dashcam footage, saved as the original file
• Written requests for shop, station or bus footage
• A screenshot of the rideshare or delivery trip
• Names and numbers of witnesses who stopped