Maine Bicycle Accident Law

Who Pays After a Crash in Maine

Maine is a fault state. Title 29-A, section 1601 requires every owner and operator of a registered vehicle to maintain financial responsibility, and the driver who caused your crash pays through that liability coverage. There is no personal injury protection and no injury threshold to clear before you can bring a claim.

Section 1605 sets the minimums: $50,000 for one person's injuries, $100,000 for everyone hurt in the crash, and $25,000 for property damage. Shoulder surgery with rehab costs $15,000 to $40,000, so one operation plus a few months of lost income can press against a minimum-limits policy.

Maine also requires $2,000 of medical payments coverage on auto policies, but section 1605-A covers "the driver and passengers" of the insured vehicle and only medical costs incurred in the year after the injury. A cyclist struck by that car is neither. Whether the medical payments coverage on your own auto policy follows you onto a bike depends on the policy wording, so ask your insurer in writing.

Your bike and gear are paid from the driver's property damage limit. Your medical bills come from the bodily injury limit, usually in one settlement at the end of treatment. Until then your health plan pays, and you carry its deductible and copays.

If nobody in your household insures a car, there is no auto policy of your own to fall back on. That leaves the driver's liability coverage, your health plan, and whatever you carry on the bike itself.

Fault and How It Reduces a Claim

Maine's comparative negligence statute, Title 14, section 156, lets you recover when you share the blame, with a hard stop: a claimant "found by the jury to be equally at fault" recovers nothing. A 50/50 split is a loss.

Below that line the statute is specific. The jury first records the total damages you would have received with no fault of your own, then reduces that figure "by dollars and cents, and not by percentage," to the extent it considers just and equitable. The lower figure is the verdict. When several defendants share the blame, each is jointly and severally liable for the full amount.

Section 2063 of Title 29-A gives a cyclist the rights and the duties of a vehicle operator, and an insurer will look for a rule you broke:

• Lane position. A rider slower than traffic keeps to the right "as far as practicable," except when that is unsafe "as determined by the bicyclist," and when passing, turning left, or avoiding hazards and lanes too narrow to share. Riding on a paved shoulder is permitted.
• Stop signs. Section 2063 requires a cyclist to stop and yield before proceeding. Maine has no rolling-stop rule.
• Lights. Section 2084 requires, at night, a white front light visible from 200 feet, a red or amber rear light or reflector visible from 200 feet, and reflective material on the pedals, feet, or ankles.

Two statutes work in your favor. Under section 2070, a motor vehicle's collision with a person on a bicycle is prima facie evidence that the driver violated the three-foot passing rule. And section 2328 settles the helmet question: in an accident involving a bicycle, non-use of a helmet "is not admissible as evidence in a civil or criminal trial."

Hit-and-Run and Uninsured Drivers

Title 24-A, section 2902 puts uninsured motorist coverage in every Maine auto liability policy. The limit must match your bodily injury liability limit unless you rejected that amount in writing on the insurer's form, and it can never fall below $50,000 per person and $100,000 per crash. The statute protects "persons insured under the policy," so the policy decides who counts. In Dufour v. Metropolitan (1982), a nine-year-old hit while crossing a Biddeford road recovered under her parents' policy.

In Lanzo v. State Farm (1987), a driver was forced off Route 17 in Rangeley by a car that never touched him. The court held that a policy clause requiring physical contact conflicts with section 2902 and is void.

The statute sets no reporting deadline for that claim. Lanzo also applied the Maine rule that an insurer denying coverage for late notice must show the delay prejudiced it. Do not test that: report the crash to police immediately and notify your auto insurer in writing the same week.

The coverage has edges. An underinsured vehicle is one with liability limits lower than your own uninsured motorist limit, so if you carry $50,000 and the driver carries $50,000, your policy adds nothing. Dufour also held that the statute does not require stacking: two cars on one policy do not double the limit when the policy says so.

None of this pays for the bike. Section 2902 covers bodily injury, sickness, disease, and death. Two things to check in a bike insurance policy: whether it offers uninsured motorist coverage of its own, and whether crash damage is covered no matter who hit you.

Dooring and Passing Laws

Maine's dooring rule sits in the parking statute, Title 29-A, section 2068. A person may not open a motor vehicle door on the side of moving traffic unless it is reasonably safe and can be done without interfering with traffic, or leave it open longer than needed to load or unload passengers. It says "person," so a passenger who opens a door into your path has violated it. Section 2063 lists "opening doors from parallel-parked vehicles" as a hazard that justifies leaving the right edge of the road.

Passing is covered by section 2070. A driver overtaking a bicycle must leave "not less than 3 feet" while passing, and may pass you in a no-passing zone only when it is safe to do so.

Maine law also names cyclists and e-bike riders as vulnerable users in section 101. Under section 2251, an officer who investigates a crash involving a vulnerable user and has probable cause to connect it to a violation must inform the district attorney within five days. Under section 2413-A, amended in 2025, a driver who commits a traffic infraction and causes death or serious bodily injury faces a civil fine of up to $5,000 and a license suspension of 14 days to four years.

E-bikes

Title 29-A, section 101 defines an electric bicycle as a two-wheel or three-wheel bike with fully operable pedals and an electric motor of less than 750 watts. Class 1 assists only while you pedal and stops at 20 mph. Class 2 has a motor that can propel the bike on its own, short of 20 mph. Class 3 assists only while you pedal, stops at 28 mph, and must have a speedometer.

The same section excludes an e-bike from the definition of a motor vehicle, and section 2063 exempts its rider from financial responsibility, licensing, registration, and plates. In a crash you are treated as a cyclist, with the same fault rule and deadlines.

Two rules can be turned against you. Riders under 16 may not operate a Class 2 or Class 3 e-bike and must wear a helmet on any e-bike. A Class 3 is barred from bicycle paths unless the path is within a roadway or the local authority allows it.

Modification is the larger risk. Under section 2063, if the motor is altered to assist past 20 mph on motor power alone or past 28 mph with pedaling, "that vehicle is no longer an electric bicycle," and the exemptions go with it.

One question has no clear answer in published Maine authority: whether an auto policy's uninsured motorist or medical payments coverage follows you onto an e-bike. Get your auto insurer's position in writing, and check that a bike insurance policy covers your e-bike's class.

Deadlines

Maine gives you six years to sue a driver, which hides how short the clocks are when a town, a county, or the state is on the other side.

1. Immediately

   Report the Crash to Police

   Title 29-A, section 2251 requires a crash with any bodily injury, or apparent property damage of $2,000 or more, to be reported immediately to the State Police, the county sheriff, or the municipal police. Make the call yourself, above all when the driver has left.

2. 180 days

   Road Defect Notice to a Town or County

   A crash caused by a defect or want of repair in a town way, highway, or bridge falls under Title 23, section 3655. Written notice of your claim, your injuries, and the location of the defect must reach the municipal officers or county commissioners within 180 days, and the lawsuit must start within one year. Officials must have had 24 hours' actual notice of the defect, and recovery is capped at $6,000 against a town.

3. 365 days

   Notice of Claim Under the Maine Tort Claims Act

   For a crash with a government vehicle, Title 14, section 8107 requires written notice within 365 days stating the date, time, place, and circumstances, your injury, and the amount claimed. A claim against the state goes to the agency involved and to the Attorney General. Later notice needs good cause.

4. Two years

   Lawsuit Against a Government Entity

   Section 8110 bars a Tort Claims Act lawsuit begun more than two years after the claim accrues. Section 8105 caps damages at $400,000 for all claims from a single occurrence.

5. Three years

   Wrongful Death Lawsuit

   Title 18-C, section 2-807 requires a wrongful death action to be commenced within three years of the death.

6. Six years

   Injury and Bike Damage Lawsuit

   Title 14, section 752 gives you six years to sue a driver for injuries or for damage to the bike and gear. Small claims court hears disputes up to $10,000 under section 7482, a limit raised by a 2025 law.

For a child, section 853 holds the six-year clock until age 18. The Tort Claims Act has its own version: notice within 365 days of the 18th birthday and a lawsuit within two years of it.

Evidence to Preserve

Collect evidence with the statutes above in mind.

• The police report number and the agency that took it: State Police, the county sheriff, or the municipal department. Under section 2251 the report cannot be admitted at trial, but the State Police can release a copy on written request.
• The driver's name, address, registration number, and proof of insurance, which section 2252 requires the driver to give you at the scene of an injury crash.
• Witnesses, above all in a hit-and-run with no contact, where your account needs support.
• The scene: lane width, shoulder condition, parked cars, signs, and sight lines. Lane width and hazards decide whether section 2063 required you to keep right.
• Your bike as it was: front light, rear light or reflector, pedal reflectors, and for an e-bike the class label. Do not repair or discard the bike until the claim is settled.
• Medical records and bills from the first visit onward, and receipts for the bike, upgrades, and gear.
• Dated copies of every written notice to a town, county, or state agency, with proof of delivery.

Coverage for Maine Riders

The gaps in this guide are specific to Maine: a driver with $50,000 of coverage, an auto policy whose uninsured motorist coverage adds nothing when your limit equals the driver's, a mandatory medical payments benefit written for people inside the car, and a fault rule that pays nothing at an even split. The Velosurance policy offers the coverages discussed above.

Uninsured Motorist covers losses beyond medical bills, such as lost wages, when the at-fault driver cannot pay.

Medical Payments covers the deductible and out-of-pocket costs your health plan leaves, whatever the driver's insurance does. Choose a limit close to your plan's out-of-pocket deductible.

Liability answers the other side of comparative fault. If you are blamed for a share of a crash, it covers injury to other people and damage to their property, including the cost of defending a covered lawsuit, with limits from $25,000 to $500,000.

Crash damage to the bike is part of the policy itself. The bike is insured at stated value with no depreciation, subject to the deductible, whoever caused the crash. Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3 e-bikes are covered like conventional bikes.

For any of these coverages to apply, it must be on the policy before the crash. Get a quote and add them before your next ride.