Washington, D.C., bill allows cyclists to get full damages if hit by car

The D.C. Council gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a measure that would allow cyclists and pedestrians in a collision with a motor vehicle to collect full damages, even if they are partially at fault.

The Motor Vehicle Collision Recovery Act, which was unanimously approved at a legislative meeting Tuesday, would fundamentally change how the District handles damages for such accidents.

A second vote for final approval will come in September after the council’s summer recess.

Currently in the District, bike riders cannot collect any damages if it can be proved they bear even 1 percent of the blame for an accident, meaning a motorist must be 100 percent at fault for any damages to be paid to a cyclist.

The bill aims to employ a “comparative negligence standard” requiring both parties to share responsibility for a collision based upon their respective degree of blame in causing an accident. If a bicyclist is less than 50 percent at fault, he or she would be awarded full damages.

The fate of the measure seemed in peril last week when Council member Kenyan McDuffie, Ward 5 Democrat, sought to offer an amendment that would reduce the amount cyclists could collect.

Instead of receiving full damages if they are less than 50 percent at fault, bike riders would get compensation based on the percentage of their responsibility.

So cyclists who are 25 percent responsible for an accident would be awarded 75 percent compensation instead of full damages.

Mr. McDuffie pulled his amendment from consideration before the meeting, and the legislation was moved from the nonconsent portion of the agenda — on which council members debate — to the consent agenda, where noncontroversial bills are often voted on in a bloc.

Biking advocates praise the legislation as being fairer to cyclists, but driving advocates say it would put undue burden on motorists and increase their insurance rates.

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association has been at the forefront of the push to change the law.

According to the association, in 2012 there were 564 crashes involving cyclists and drivers in the District, with 458 people being injured in the accidents.

Many of those injured received little to no compensation for medical bills and lost wages under the city’s current rules, the association says.

But John Townsend, spokesman for the automotive club AAA Mid-Atlantic, said the legislation could cause insurance rates for motorists to soar.

He also said the bill could spell disaster for insurance companies in the District. Had the proposal been in place in 2005, it would have added $25 million to what insurers paid out that year, according to AAA’s statistics.