Bicycle Accident Statute of Limitations in California

You generally have two years from the date of a bicycle crash to file an injury lawsuit in California. But if a pothole, an unsafe bike lane, or a government vehicle played any role in your crash, part of your claim can expire in six months. This article walks through every deadline that can apply to a San Diego bicycle accident claim, including the exceptions most articles skip.

A statute of limitations is the legal deadline for filing a lawsuit. File after the deadline passes, and the court will almost always dismiss your case, no matter how strong it is. The insurance company knows your deadline from day one. A San Diego bicycle accident attorney tracks every deadline that applies to your case so none of them is missed.

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Bicycle Accident Deadlines at a Glance

Six different deadlines can apply to a single bicycle crash:

• Injury claim against a driver or other private party: two years from the date of the crash.
• Any claim involving a government entity: a written claim within six months, then a lawsuit within six months after the government rejects the claim in writing.
• Injured rider under 18: the two-year clock is paused until their 18th birthday, but the government deadlines are not.
• Wrongful death: two years from the date of death, not the date of the crash.
• Property damage to your bike and gear: three years.
• Uninsured or hit-and-run driver: you must sue, settle, or formally demand arbitration under your own coverage within two years.

The sections below explain where each deadline comes from and the exceptions that can change it.

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The Two-Year Deadline for Most Bicycle Accident Claims

For most bicycle crashes caused by a negligent driver or other private party, California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1 gives you two years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit. That one deadline covers your claims for medical expenses, lost income, future care, and pain and suffering.

Miss it and the court will dismiss your case, even if the driver was clearly at fault. The practical damage starts earlier than that. Insurers have little reason to pay fair value to someone who is running out of time to sue, which is why the filing deadline shapes negotiation long before it arrives. Our guide to bicycle accident settlements in California explains how that leverage works.

Being partly at fault does not shorten or extend the deadline. Under California's comparative negligence rules for bicycle accidents, you can still recover compensation if you share some blame, and the two-year clock runs exactly the same.

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Six Months to File a Claim Against the Government

If a city, county, state agency, or transit district may share fault for your crash, you have six months to act, not two years. This is the deadline injured cyclists miss most often, because government involvement is not always obvious. It includes crashes caused by road hazards like potholes, broken pavement, missing signs, and unsafe bike lane design, as well as collisions with MTS buses and city or county vehicles.

Under California Government Code § 911.2, you cannot simply file a lawsuit. You must first present a written claim to the government entity within six months of the crash. The entity then has 45 days to respond under Government Code § 912.4; if it does nothing, the claim is treated as rejected. Once the claim is rejected in writing, Government Code § 945.6 gives you six months from the rejection notice to file the lawsuit itself.

If the six-month claim deadline has already passed, a late-claim application is possible under Government Code § 911.4, but only within one year of the crash and only for limited reasons, such as excusable mistake or the injured person being a minor. Treat it as a rescue option, not a plan.

These cases are worth the procedural care. In one case our firm handled, cyclists were forced out of a highway shoulder that vehicles were routinely allowed to block, pushing riders toward 50 mph traffic. Years of prior public complaints about that same spot became the proof that the government knew the condition was dangerous and did nothing. Evidence like that can support a strong case, but only if the six-month claim is filed on time. Our guide to suing the government for a bicycle accident in California covers the full process.

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Injured Riders Under 18: The Clock Usually Waits

When the injured cyclist is a child, the two-year deadline is paused, or tolled, until their 18th birthday under Code of Civil Procedure § 352(a). In most cases, that means an injured child has until age 20 to file a lawsuit against a private defendant.

Families do not have to wait. A parent can start the case early through a guardian ad litem, a court-appointed representative (usually a parent) who acts for the child in the lawsuit. Filing early preserves evidence and pays for treatment while memories and records are still fresh.

The government deadlines are the exception, and the statute says so directly: § 352(b) states that the tolling rule does not apply to claims against public entities. Two narrower protections exist instead. If the child was under 18 for the entire six-month claim period, the entity must accept a late claim under Government Code § 911.6(b)(2). But the late-claim application itself still has to be filed within one year of the crash, and being a minor does not pause that one-year cap. For any crash involving a child where the government may share fault, act within the first year, and ideally within the first six months.

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The Discovery Rule: Deadlines for Injuries You Notice Later

The clock normally starts on the day of the crash because you know you were hurt and who hurt you. Some injuries do not announce themselves that day. Brain injuries, internal injuries, and psychological trauma can surface days or weeks later.

California's discovery rule starts the clock when you knew, or reasonably should have suspected, that you were injured and that someone's wrongdoing caused it. The California Supreme Court set the standard in Jolly v. Eli Lilly & Co.: suspicion is enough to start the clock, even before you have proof.

In a bicycle crash case, courts apply the rule narrowly. You knew the crash happened, so the defense will argue you had every reason to investigate your injuries right away. The discovery rule can help when a serious condition was hidden, but it is disputed in almost every case where it is raised. Get examined early, report every symptom, and treat the two-year date as your real deadline.

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When the At-Fault Driver Leaves California

Under Code of Civil Procedure § 351, time the defendant spends outside California does not count toward the two-year deadline. If the driver who hit you moved to Arizona for eight months, those eight months can be excluded.

Two cautions. First, courts have limited this rule in situations where the defendant could still be served with the lawsuit despite being out of state, so it is a backup argument, not an extension to rely on. Second, you rarely need it: a driver who leaves California can still be sued and served here. If the at-fault driver has disappeared or moved, that is a service problem for your lawyer to solve, not a reason to wait.

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Wrongful Death: Two Years From the Date of Death

When someone dies from bicycle crash injuries, the family's wrongful death claim must be filed within two years of the date of death, not the date of the crash. The two-year period comes from Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1, which covers actions for the death of a person caused by another's wrongful act, and Code of Civil Procedure § 377.60 defines who can file: the surviving spouse or domestic partner, children, and certain other family members who depended on the person who died.

If a loved one survived the crash for a time before passing, the wrongful death clock starts at death, which can give the family more time than they expect. The reverse trap also exists: if a government entity shares fault for a fatal crash, the six-month claim deadline applies to the wrongful death claim too.

Our guides to fatal bicycle accident claims and the wrongful death statute of limitations in San Diego cover these rules in depth.

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Property Damage Has a Three-Year Deadline

Damage to your property runs on a longer clock. Under Code of Civil Procedure § 338(c), you have three years to bring a claim for damage to personal property, which for a cyclist can be significant: the bike itself, a helmet that must be replaced after any impact, damaged clothing, and electronics like a GPS unit or phone.

In practice, your attorney usually resolves property damage alongside the injury claim. The separate three-year deadline matters mainly when the two-year injury deadline has already passed. Losing the right to sue for your injuries does not erase the property claim.

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Hit-and-Run and Uninsured Drivers: Insurance Deadlines Are Different

If the driver fled the scene or carries no insurance, your own auto policy's uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage may pay for your injuries, and it applies even though you were on a bike, not in your car. UM/UIM claims run on their own two-year rule, and it is stricter than most people assume.

Under Insurance Code § 11580.2(i), you must do one of three things within two years of the crash: file suit against the uninsured driver, reach a written settlement agreement with your insurer, or formally demand arbitration in writing, sent by certified mail. Simply opening a claim or trading calls with the adjuster does not satisfy the statute. Cyclists lose UM/UIM claims this way while believing their claim was safely "in progress."

If this is your situation, our guides to hit-and-run bicycle accidents in San Diego and uninsured driver bicycle accidents explain the coverage in detail.

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How to Protect Your Deadlines Starting Today

Every deadline above gets easier to meet if you act in the first days after the crash:

• Get medical care now and follow the treatment plan. The medical record ties your injuries to the crash and protects you if a hidden injury surfaces later.
• Identify every potential defendant early. Whether a road defect or public vehicle was involved decides whether your deadline is two years or six months. This is the first question to answer, not the last.
• Notify your own insurer. If the driver fled or is uninsured, your UM/UIM coverage has notice requirements and its own two-year rule. Our guide to insurance claims after a bicycle accident explains how to open the claim without hurting your case.
• Put the dates in writing. Crash date, claim dates, and rejection notices. Our California civil litigation deadline calculator can help you map the key dates.
• Talk to a lawyer early. A San Diego bicycle accident lawyer does more than file on time. Building the case takes months of evidence work, and our guide to the bicycle accident lawsuit process in San Diego shows what that timeline looks like.

For the full first-week checklist, see what to do after a bicycle accident in San Diego.

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Talk to Hulburt Law Firm Before Your Deadline Passes

If you or someone you love was hurt in a bicycle crash in San Diego, Hulburt Law Firm can tell you exactly which deadlines apply to your case and act before they pass. Call (619) 821-0500 or message us through our contact form for a free, confidential case review. There is no fee unless we win.

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