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What a Left Cross Is
A left cross happens when a driver coming the other way turns left across the path of a rider traveling straight — into an intersection, or into a driveway, parking lot, or side street. The rider has the through movement and the right of way; the turning driver crosses it.
It is one of the most severe patterns in this practice area, for a straightforward reason: the closing speed is the sum of both vehicles, and the rider strikes the flank of a turning car with nothing between them and it. There is rarely time to brake and almost never room to steer around.
The explanation a driver gives is nearly always the same — they looked, and they did not see a bicycle, or they saw one and judged it further away or slower than it was. Neither is a defense to the duty the statute imposes.
What Section 316.122 Requires
Fla. Stat. § 316.122 is one sentence, and it decides most of these cases:
“The driver of a vehicle intending to turn to the left within an intersection or into an alley, private road, or driveway shall yield the right-of-way to any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction, or vehicles lawfully passing on the left of the turning vehicle, which is within the intersection or so close thereto as to constitute an immediate hazard.”
Three points follow from the text. The duty covers turns into a driveway, alley, or private road, not only intersections — a great many of these crashes happen at the entrance to a plaza or apartment complex, and the statute reaches them. The duty is owed to any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction, and under Fla. Stat. § 316.20655(1) an electric bicycle “is a vehicle to the same extent as a bicycle,” with § 316.2065(1) giving its rider the rights of any other vehicle's driver. And the judgment about what constitutes an immediate hazard is the turning driver's to make. Making it incorrectly is the breach; it is not an excuse for one.
Layered on top, Fla. Stat. § 316.130(15) requires every driver to “exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian or any person propelling a human-powered vehicle and give warning when necessary.” A precise reader will notice that subsection speaks of a human-powered vehicle; it reaches e-bike riders through the bridge in § 316.20655(1) rather than by naming them. Where a page needs a duty that names electric bicycles in its own text, § 316.083(2) and (3) — the 3-foot passing rule — is the one that does.
David I. Shiner, Esq.
Founder, Shiner Law Group · AV Preeminent® rated · Florida Bar member since 2002
David I. Shiner founded Shiner Law Group and has been a member of The Florida Bar since 2002. He is a graduate of Nova Southeastern University’s law school and holds an AV Preeminent® rating from Martindale-Hubbell. The firm represents injured people across Florida from offices in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Pierce, Orlando, Wellington, and Belle Glade, and handles these cases on a contingency basis with free consultations and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
What 'I Never Saw the Bike' Is Actually Worth
This is the defense in almost every left cross, and it is worth understanding what it does and does not do.
A driver who fails to see a rider who was plainly there to be seen has not established an excuse — they have described a failure to keep a proper lookout, which is the conduct § 316.130(15) and the yield duty in § 316.122 exist to address. The question a case turns on is whether the rider was there to be seen, and that is answered by evidence rather than by assertion.
| Evidence | What It Answers |
|---|---|
| Time of day and light | Fla. Stat. § 316.2065(7) sets the lighting requirement between sunset and sunrise. Sunset time on the date is a matter of record and worth fixing early. |
| Your lighting and clothing | A working front lamp visible at 500 feet, and a rear lamp and reflector each visible at 600 feet, answer the argument directly. Preserve the lamps. |
| Sightlines | Landscaping, parked vehicles, a stopped bus, or a queue of traffic can obstruct a turning driver's view. Photograph the approach from the driver's seat position. |
| Signal phase | Whether the driver had a protected arrow, a permissive green ball, or a flashing yellow arrow changes the analysis substantially. |
| Vehicle damage | Where on the flank the impact landed tells you how far through the turn the vehicle was when it crossed the rider's line. |
Because Fla. Stat. § 768.81(6) bars recovery entirely above 50 percent fault, the defense does not need to prove the rider caused the crash. Establishing lighting and sightlines early is what keeps the apportionment where it belongs.
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Why These Collisions Injure So Badly
The mechanism matters to a claim because it explains injuries that otherwise look disproportionate to a low-speed urban crash.
- Closing speed is additive. A rider at 20 mph and a car turning at 15 mph meet at 35 mph of relative motion, in a space measured in feet.
- The impact is against a flat flank. Unlike a glancing pass, there is no deflection — the rider stops against the side of the vehicle and is thrown over or into it.
- There is no crumple structure and no restraint. The rider takes the deceleration directly, which is why head, facial, dental, clavicle, and wrist injuries dominate.
- Secondary impact with the roadway follows. The fall after the strike frequently does damage independent of the collision itself.
None of that is a legal argument on its own, but it is why documenting the mechanism early matters. An insurer evaluating a “bicycle versus turning car” file without the geometry in front of them will assume a slow-speed event.
On paying for it: no insurance attaches to the bicycle, because Fla. Stat. § 316.20655(2) exempts e-bikes from financial responsibility requirements. See insurance after an e-bike crash for the order in which coverages are worth checking.