If a motor vehicle hits you while you are cycling or on foot, German law does not start you at zero and ask you to prove the driver did something wrong. It starts from the premise that operating a car is itself a dangerous activity, and that the risk belongs to the person who brought the car onto the road. Most people injured this way do not know that, and settle as though they were the ones with something to prove.
1. The rule that changes the starting position
Under § 7 StVG, the keeper of a motor vehicle — and therefore their compulsory liability insurer — is liable for injury and damage caused by the operation of that vehicle, whether or not the driver was careless. This is strict liability, and in German it goes by the concept of Betriebsgefahr: the operating risk a moving car carries simply by being a moving car.
The escape route is narrow. Against a cyclist or a pedestrian, the keeper is released only where the accident was caused by force majeure — an outside event of an entirely different order, not merely a driver who says there was nothing they could have done. Alongside this, the driver personally is presumed at fault under § 18 StVG unless they show otherwise.
So "the driver says I came out of nowhere" is not the end of the conversation. It is an argument about how much, not about whether.
2. Where your own share comes in
Your own conduct is still weighed, as contributory negligence under § 254 BGB. It reduces a claim by a percentage rather than ending it — 20% at fault means 80% of the loss — and insurers routinely open with a percentage more favourable to them than the facts support.
What tends to count against a cyclist or pedestrian:
- Riding without working lights in the dark. Lights are legally required equipment, and their absence is the single most common deduction.
- Riding against the direction of travel in a one-way street or on the wrong side of a two-way cycle path.
- Crossing against a red signal, on a bike or on foot.
- Using the footway where cycling on it is not permitted, or stepping into the road away from a crossing.
- Headphones or a phone in hand, where it can be shown to have contributed.
Even where one of these applies, the car's Betriebsgefahr does not vanish. It normally remains in the balance, which is why a claim survives circumstances that people assume disqualify them entirely.
3. The helmet question
This is the point on which almost everyone — including insurers writing to claimants — is wrong.
There is no legal requirement for an adult to wear a cycle helmet in Germany, and in 2014 the Federal Court of Justice held that an ordinary cyclist's compensation is not reduced simply because they were not wearing one. A letter that opens by deducting a share for the missing helmet is stating a position, not the law.
Two honest qualifications. The reasoning turned on what is customary for everyday cycling, so it does not automatically extend to every situation — sporting or racing use has been treated differently in some decisions. And it says nothing about whether a helmet is a good idea, which is a separate question with an obvious answer.
4. Children
German law protects children in traffic to a degree that surprises most parents. Under § 828 BGB:
- a child under 7 cannot be held responsible for damage at all;
- a child under 10 cannot be held responsible in an accident involving a motor vehicle, tram or railway — unless they acted deliberately.
In practice this means that when a seven- or nine-year-old rides into the road and is struck by a car, the reduction an insurer proposes for the child's own behaviour is usually not available to them. The rule exists because children cannot reliably judge speed and distance, and it is one of the most valuable provisions in this area.
A separate question — whether a supervising adult failed in their duty — can still be raised, and it is assessed on its own terms rather than as the child's fault.
5. Dooring, bike lanes and tram tracks
Dooring — a parked car's door opened into a passing cyclist — is governed by § 14 StVO, which requires anyone getting in or out of a vehicle to take care that no other road user is endangered. The duty is set high, and responsibility falls squarely on the person who opened the door. A cyclist riding at a normal distance from parked cars is generally entitled to expect the doors to stay shut.
Cycle lanes and crossings. Where a marked cycle path crosses a side road, a turning driver must give way and must expect cyclists on it. Failure to look before turning across a cycle lane is one of the most common causes of serious injury in German cities, and it is a driver's duty rather than a shared risk.
Tram tracks and rails add a further layer, because a tram operator carries its own strict liability. A fall caused by tracks alone, with no other vehicle involved, is a different and harder claim, usually against whoever is responsible for the state of the road surface.
6. What you can claim
The claim is broader than the medical bill, and the parts people forget are often the larger ones:
- Schmerzensgeld — compensation for pain and suffering, assessed by reference to published tables of comparable injuries.
- Treatment costs not covered by your insurance, including physiotherapy, aids and prescription charges.
- Lost earnings, including the period after sick pay drops, and lost self-employed income.
- The bicycle and everything on it — frame, wheels, lights, lock, and the panniers.
- Clothing, glasses, phone, helmet. A helmet that took an impact is written off even if it looks intact.
- Household help (Haushaltsführungsschaden), where an injury stops you running your home — commonly overlooked and frequently substantial.
- Travel to and from treatment, and the cost of getting around while you cannot ride.
- Future losses, where the effects have not finished — which is the reason not to close a claim early.
For how these are valued and what a realistic range looks like, our guide on how much compensation you can claim goes into the arithmetic, and what you can claim after an injury covers the heads of loss in more detail.
7. If the driver drove off, or had no insurance
A hit-and-run or an uninsured vehicle does not necessarily leave you with nobody to claim against. Germany maintains a guarantee fund — the Verkehrsopferhilfe — which exists for exactly these cases: unidentified drivers, uninsured vehicles, and certain other gaps.
Conditions attach, and reporting the incident to the police promptly matters a great deal more here than in an ordinary claim, because the fund needs the attempt to identify the vehicle on record. If the driver left the scene, report it the same day.
8. The first forty-eight hours
- Call the police and make sure a record exists. It cannot be recreated later.
- Photograph everything — final positions, the vehicle and its plate, the road layout, signals, your bike, and your injuries as they appear over the following days.
- Get witness names and numbers. The driver's account and yours will diverge, and a bystander is what settles it.
- See a doctor the same day, even if you feel fine. Soft-tissue and head injuries surface late, and a gap between the accident and the first medical record is the argument every insurer reaches for.
- Keep the damaged items — bike, helmet, clothing — and do not repair or dispose of them before they have been documented.
- Do not sign the insurer's forms or accept an early figure. A final settlement (Abfindungserklärung) normally closes off future damages permanently, including consequences that have not appeared yet.
If a vehicle was involved on both sides, or you were driving rather than riding, our guide to a road accident in Germany covers what changes.