Massachusetts Bicycle Accident Law

Who Pays After a Crash in Massachusetts

Massachusetts is a no-fault state, and its statute writes cyclists in by name. General Laws chapter 90, section 34A requires personal injury protection, known as PIP, to cover any pedestrian struck by the insured vehicle, then says the term pedestrian "shall include persons operating bicycles." The insurer of the car that hit you pays regardless of fault, whether or not you own a car.

PIP is capped at $8,000 per person. It pays medical expenses incurred within two years of the crash, up to 75% of your average weekly wage, and the cost of household services you can no longer do yourself.

A health plan changes the order of payment. Under section 34A, PIP pays the first $2,000 of medical expenses. After that the bills go to your health plan, and PIP covers what the plan does not pay until the $8,000 is gone.

If the car that hit you carries no PIP, section 34A sends you to your own auto policy or one held in your household. With no policy anywhere, section 34N gives a Massachusetts resident a claim through the assigned claims plan.

A lawsuit against the driver starts where PIP stops. Section 34M exempts the driver from liability for the losses PIP covers. Chapter 231, section 6D allows pain and suffering damages only when your reasonable medical expenses exceed $2,000, or when the injury causes death, the loss of a body member, permanent and serious disfigurement, a listed loss of sight or hearing, or a fracture. A broken collarbone or wrist clears the threshold on its own.

PIP pays nothing for the bike. That claim goes against the driver's property damage coverage. Chapter 275 of the Acts of 2024 raised the compulsory limits for policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2025: bodily injury went from $20,000 per person and $40,000 per accident to $25,000 and $50,000, and property damage went from $5,000 to $30,000.

Fault and How It Reduces a Claim

Massachusetts uses modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar. Under chapter 231, section 85, your own negligence does not defeat a claim unless it is greater than the total negligence of the people you are suing. Below that line, your damages shrink in proportion. A rider 50% at fault for a $100,000 loss collects $50,000. At 51%, nothing.

Section 85 gives an injured rider three advantages. You are presumed to have used due care, and the other side must prove otherwise. Your negligence is compared with the combined negligence of every defendant. And breaking a traffic law is evidence of negligence but does not bar recovery "as a matter of law and for that reason alone."

The bicycle statute, chapter 85, section 11B, limits how two common violations can be used against you:

• Lights. From a half hour after sunset, a white front lamp visible from 500 feet and both a red rear lamp and a red reflector. A rear lighting violation "shall not be used as conclusive evidence of contributory negligence."
• Riders under 18. A violation of section 11B by a minor does not affect any civil right or liability.

Chapter 90, section 14 removes one argument from the driver entirely: it is not a defense for a motorist who causes a crash with a bicycle that the bicycle was to the right of vehicular traffic.

Helmets are required only for riders and passengers 16 or younger, and section 11B says a violation cannot be used as evidence of contributory negligence in any civil action. For an adult, the statute is silent.

Hit-and-Run and Uninsured Drivers

Uninsured motorist coverage is compulsory in Massachusetts. Chapter 175, section 113L requires every auto policy to protect its insureds against uninsured and hit-and-run drivers at the bodily injury liability limits, which the Division of Insurance lists as $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident.

The coverage follows the person. Part 3 of the standard Massachusetts Automobile Insurance Policy pays the policyholder and any household member "if injured as a pedestrian," and the policy defines a pedestrian as anyone struck by an auto who is not occupying one.

A hit-and-run needs no physical contact here. In Surrey v. Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co., the Supreme Judicial Court held in 1981 that a policy clause requiring contact with the unidentified vehicle conflicts with section 113L and has no effect. The standard policy pays when the owner or operator cannot be identified, and it tells you to notify both the police and your insurer within 24 hours.

Underinsured motorist coverage, Part 12 of the standard policy, is optional. Under section 113L it pays only to the extent its limit exceeds the at-fault driver's bodily injury limit. Carry $25,000 against a driver who also carries $25,000, and it pays nothing. Stacking is prohibited: limits on two cars or two policies are never added together.

With no auto policy in your household, there is no uninsured motorist coverage to claim. All of it covers bodily injury only, so nothing here pays for the bike.

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

Both rules sit in chapter 90, section 14. The dooring sentence reads: no person shall open a door on a motor vehicle unless it is reasonably safe to do so without interfering with the movement of other traffic, "including bicyclists and pedestrians." The fine is up to $100. "No person" reaches a rideshare passenger as well as the driver.

The passing rule came from Chapter 358 of the Acts of 2022, approved January 2, 2023. A driver passing a vulnerable user must leave "a safe distance of not less than 4 feet." Chapter 90, section 1 defines a vulnerable user to include a person operating a bicycle. Chapter 89, section 2 answers the narrow-road excuse: when four feet is not available in the lane, the driver must use all or part of an adjacent lane, crossing the centerline if necessary, when it is safe.

Section 14 also covers the two turns that injure riders most. A driver who overtakes a bicyclist may not turn right unless the turn can be made at a safe distance. A driver turning left must yield to oncoming traffic, "including a bicycle on the right of the other approaching vehicles."

E-bikes

Massachusetts recognizes two e-bike classes, not three. Chapter 90, section 1 defines an electric bicycle as a bicycle or tricycle with fully operable pedals and a motor of 750 watts or less that fits Class 1 or Class 2. Class 1 assists only while you pedal and stops at 20 mph. Class 2 can run on the motor alone and gives no assistance at 20 mph. A bike sold as a 28 mph Class 3 model falls outside the definition.

The same section says an electric bicycle is not a motor vehicle. Chapter 85, section 11B 3/4 gives its rider every right and duty of a bicyclist, with exceptions: no riding on sidewalks, and no natural surface trails unless the local authority allows it.

A third class may be coming. Senate Bill 3168, drafted in part from a petition on Class 3 electric bicycles, was sent to Senate Ways and Means on July 6, 2026. It had not become law when this guide was reviewed.

Whether PIP reaches an e-bike rider is not settled in anything published. Section 34A counts persons operating "bicycles, tricycles and similar vehicles" as pedestrians, while the standard auto policy excludes anyone operating "a motorized bicycle or moped," a category the statutes now define to leave electric bicycles out. In a bike insurance policy, check that your e-bike's class and top assisted speed are covered.

Deadlines

Massachusetts gives you three years to sue and far less time for everything that comes first. The 30-day road defect notice is the one riders miss.

1. 24 hours

   Report a Hit-and-Run

   The standard Massachusetts auto policy tells you to notify both the police and your insurer within 24 hours of a hit-and-run.

2. 5 days

   Driver's Crash Report to the Registry

   Under chapter 90, section 26, the driver of a motor vehicle in a crash with an injury, a death, or more than $1,000 in damage must file a written report with the Registrar of Motor Vehicles within five days.

3. 30 days

   Road Defect Notice

   A claim for an injury caused by a defect in a public way requires written notice within 30 days under chapter 84, section 18, stating your name and address and the time, place, and cause of the injury. Section 19 names the city or town clerk among the officers who can receive it. Section 15 caps recovery from a county, city, or town at $5,000. For a defect in a state highway, chapter 81, section 18 applies the same notice rule and a $4,000 cap.

4. Two years

   PIP Claim

   Chapter 90, section 34M requires a PIP claim as soon as practicable and in every case within two years of the crash.

5. Two years

   Presentment Under the Tort Claims Act

   A negligence claim against a public employer must be presented in writing to its executive officer within two years under chapter 258, section 4. For a state agency, that is the Attorney General. If no written denial comes within six months, the claim counts as denied. The lawsuit must be filed within three years. Section 2 caps damages at $100,000, except for serious bodily injury claims against the MBTA.

6. Three years

   Injury, Bike Damage, and Wrongful Death Lawsuits

   Chapter 260, section 2A gives you three years to sue for injuries and for damage to the bike and gear. A wrongful death action under chapter 229, section 2 runs three years from the death.

For a child, chapter 260, section 7 delays the three-year clock until the disability of being a minor is removed. Do not count on it to extend the 30-day road defect notice or the two-year presentment.

Evidence to Preserve

Each item below answers a Massachusetts statute or policy term.

• The plate number and insurer of the car that hit you. That insurer owes your PIP benefits.
• Every medical bill, with your health plan's explanation of benefits. The total decides whether you clear the $2,000 threshold for pain and suffering, and imaging of a fracture clears it outright.
• The police report number, and the time you called if the driver fled. Section 11B requires a cyclist to report a crash with an injury or more than $100 in property damage to local police.
• The passing gap and the door. Video, witnesses, and photos of lane width speak to the four-foot rule in section 14.
• Every auto policy in your household, with the Coverage Selections Page showing the Part 3 and Part 12 limits.
• For a road defect: photos with a measurement, the exact location, and a dated copy of the written notice with proof of delivery to the city or town clerk.
• The damaged bike, unrepaired, with receipts. That claim sits outside PIP.

Coverage for Massachusetts Riders

Massachusetts no-fault is generous about who it covers and thin on how much: $8,000 for medical bills and wages combined, nothing for the bike, a compulsory limit of $25,000 behind the driver, and a fault rule that pays nothing at 51%. 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. A rider with no auto policy in the household has none from an auto insurer.

Medical Payments covers the deductible and out-of-pocket costs your health plan leaves once the $8,000 of PIP is spent. Choose a limit close to your plan's out-of-pocket deductible.

Liability answers the other side of the 51% rule. If you injure someone or damage their property while riding, it pays covered settlements or judgments and the cost of defending a covered lawsuit, with limits from $25,000 to $500,000.

Crash damage to the bike, the loss PIP ignores, is part of the policy itself. The bike is insured at stated value with no depreciation, subject to the deductible, whoever caused the crash.

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

Bicycle Accident Attorneys in Massachusetts

Velosurance legal partners who represent injured cyclists in Massachusetts.

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  Spada Law Group

  111 Everett Ave #1F
  Chelsea, MA 02150

  (617) 889 - 5000