Colorado Motorcycle Accident Lawyer
If you were hurt riding in Colorado, you have three years from the date of the crash to file a claim, not two. Wade Zobel represents injured riders across Colorado, and the first conversation costs nothing.
No fee unless we recover money for you. Se habla español.
To file a motor vehicle injury claim in Colorado, not the two you were probably told
Up front. Contingency fee, in writing before you sign
Conditions that must all be true at once for lane filtering to be legal
Wade handles your case himself, in English or Spanish
Three Years to File, Not Two
That matters because the two year deadline is the one most people are told. It applies to most injury claims in Colorado, but not to claims that come from the use or operation of a motor vehicle, and a motorcycle is a motor vehicle. Those get three years under C.R.S. 13-80-101(1)(n).
Wade Zobel represents injured riders across Colorado. The first conversation costs nothing, and you pay no fee unless we recover money for you.
Colorado Lane Filtering Law, and What Insurers Get Wrong About It
This is the newest and most misunderstood piece of Colorado motorcycle law, and it is the argument we see insurers reach for first. Since August 7, 2024 a two wheeled motorcycle may overtake or pass another vehicle in the same lane, but the Colorado State Patrol lists five conditions and filtering is legal only when every one of them is met at the same time.
Traffic Is Fully Stopped
Traffic in your lane and in the adjacent lanes going the same direction is at a complete stop.
The Lane Is Wide Enough
The lane is wide enough to fit both the vehicle and the motorcycle while passing.
15 MPH or Less
The motorcycle is traveling 15 miles per hour or less.
Safe and in Control
You pass safely and keep control of the motorcycle.
Pass on the Left
You pass on the left and do not enter a lane of oncoming traffic.
Where you cannot do it: not on the right shoulder, and not to the right of a vehicle in the farthest right lane on a road that is not limited access.
The Details That Decide a Filtering Claim
The Adjacent Lane Condition Is the One That Decides Cases
Read the first condition again, because it is the one riders miss and the one that determines fault. It is not enough that the car in front of you was stopped. The traffic in the lanes beside you, moving in your direction, has to be stopped too. If the lane next to you was still rolling, you were not filtering within the law, even if everything else about the maneuver was careful.
The other one riders miss: you must pass on the left. Filtering up the right side of a stopped vehicle is not what the law authorizes.
If you were filtering when you were hit, the questions that matter are whether the adjacent lanes were stopped, which side you passed on, and how fast you were going. Those are not details. They are the entire case.
Filtering Is Not Splitting, and the Difference Decides Claims
Lane splitting, moving between cars that are still rolling, is illegal in Colorado and riders can be ticketed for it. Lane filtering, moving past cars that are stopped under the five conditions above, is legal.
An adjuster who does not know the difference, or who does and is counting on you not knowing it, will call a legal filtering maneuver splitting and use it to assign you fault.
This Law Expires September 1, 2027
The filtering authorization repeals itself on September 1, 2027. Before then, CDOT is required to collect safety data and report to the legislature.
What that means for you: the law that applied on the day of your crash is the law that governs your claim. If you were riding during the filtering window and your case is still open after the repeal, that does not change what was legal when it happened.
The Helmet Argument, and the Gear Rule Most Riders Do Not Know
Colorado Does Not Require a Helmet After 18
A helmet is required only for riders and passengers under 18 years old, and it has to meet the federal standard at 49 CFR 571.218. If you are an adult and you were not wearing one, you broke no law.
Eye Protection Is Required at Every Age
This one surprises almost everyone. No person may operate a motorcycle on a public highway in Colorado unless that person and any passenger is wearing goggles or eyeglasses with lenses made of safety glass or plastic. It applies at any age, unless the helmet you are wearing has eye protection built in.
We mention it because it is the kind of detail an insurer will find in the crash report and you will not have thought about.
How the 50 Percent Bar Turns Your Gear Into a Money Argument
Colorado uses modified comparative negligence with a 50 percent bar. If you are assigned part of the fault, your recovery drops by that share. If you are assigned 50 percent or more, you recover nothing.
That rule is why the gear conversation is never really about safety. Every percentage point of blame an insurer can move onto you is money it does not pay. No helmet, dark jacket, no endorsement, aftermarket exhaust, all of it gets raised for the same reason.
If you were not wearing a helmet, expect the insurer to bring it up. How much weight that argument actually carries depends on your injuries and the facts of your crash, so it is worth asking about your own case instead of assuming the worst.
Why Motorcycle Claims Get Undervalued
Rider Bias Starts at the Scene
Riders get blamed. It happens in witness statements, it happens in how the crash gets written up, and it happens again when the claim lands on an adjuster desk. The assumption is that the motorcycle was going too fast or came out of nowhere.
The Statute That Answers It
Colorado law does not treat you as a lesser road user. Every person operating a motorcycle is granted all of the rights and is subject to all of the duties that apply to the driver of any other vehicle, apart from the rules written specifically for motorcycles and the ones that by their nature cannot apply.
That is a one sentence answer to the assumption, and it is in the traffic code, not in a brochure.
What Colorado Own Numbers Show
CDOT reported a record 165 motorcycle fatalities in Colorado in 2024. That was about 24 percent of all traffic deaths in the state that year, from vehicles that make up only 3 percent of registrations. In 2025 the figure came down 11 percent, to 147.
Riders are not a small part of this problem. They are a fifth to a quarter of the people dying on Colorado roads, on 3 percent of the vehicles.
When the Driver Who Hit You Has No Insurance, or Not Enough
This matters more in motorcycle cases than in any other kind, and it is the part riders find out too late.
Colorado minimum liability coverage is 25/50/15. A single surgery and a few days in the hospital can pass 25,000 dollars on their own, and motorcycle injuries are rarely at the minor end. When the at fault driver carries only the state minimum, the size of your claim stops being the question and the size of their policy becomes the question.
Colorado does not require you to carry uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, but insurers must offer it at limits no lower than your liability coverage, and it can only be declined in writing. A lot of riders have UM and UIM and MedPay on their policy without knowing it, because they never signed a rejection.
If the driver who hit you had no insurance or too little, your own policy may be where your recovery comes from. That also means your own insurer now has a financial reason to dispute how badly you were hurt.
Bring us your declarations page. Reading it is free and it is often the first thing that changes the outlook of a case.
What to Do in the First Week
- Get evaluated, even if you walked away. Adrenaline hides injuries, and a gap between the crash and your first medical visit is the single most common argument an insurer uses to cut a claim.
- Get the Colorado crash report and read it. Errors in the narrative are common and they are much easier to address early.
- Photograph the bike before it is repaired or sold for salvage. The damage pattern is evidence about speed and angle of impact.
- Keep the gear, damaged as it is. Helmet, jacket, gloves, boots. Do not clean it and do not throw it away.
- Write down what you remember this week, including where traffic was stopped, which lanes were moving, and which side you passed on if you were filtering.
- Do not give the other driver insurer a recorded statement before you know how badly you are hurt.
Should You Hire a Lawyer at All?
Sometimes the honest answer is no.
Probably not, if all of this is true
You had no injuries, the property damage is small, fault is not in dispute, and the insurer is paying. Handling that yourself is reasonable, and a firm that tells you otherwise is selling.
A lawyer changes the outcome if any of this is true
- You were treated at a hospital or are still treating
- Fault is being disputed
- The other driver was uninsured or underinsured
- A commercial vehicle was involved
- The insurer has raised your helmet, your gear, your endorsement, or lane filtering
One free call is usually enough to tell which situation you are in.
What Is a Motorcycle Case Worth?
Nobody can give you a number on a first phone call, and you should be careful with anyone who does. What the number actually depends on is this:
- The full cost of your medical treatment, including what you still need
- The income you lost and the income you will lose
- Whether the injury is permanent
- How much insurance coverage exists on the other side
- Whether your own policy has uninsured or underinsured coverage
- What share of fault ends up assigned to you under the 50 percent bar
The last two do more work than people expect. A serious injury caused by a driver carrying a minimum policy is limited by that policy unless there is other coverage to reach. That is a coverage question, and it is one of the first things worth checking.
Where We Represent Riders
Zobel Personal Injury Law has offices in Denver and Greeley and takes motorcycle cases across Colorado, including the mountain corridors where out of state drivers, weather, and grade change the analysis.
If your crash happened in the metro area, in Weld County, or in Boulder County, we have pages with the local detail for those markets: our Denver motorcycle accident lawyers, our Greeley motorcycle accident lawyers, and our Longmont motorcycle accident lawyers. If it happened somewhere else in Colorado, call anyway. The law is the same statewide.
Wade Zobel is fully bilingual and represents clients in Spanish himself. That is not a staff member translating. It is the attorney.
The firm is small by design. Free consultation, contingency fee, and virtual meetings so you do not have to ride or drive to Denver to get started.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I not tell my lawyer?
Nothing. Tell your own attorney everything, including the parts that make you look bad, whether that is speed, a drink earlier in the day, a missing endorsement, or gear you were not wearing. What you tell your lawyer is confidential, and surprises later are what damage cases. The conversation to be careful about is the one with the other driver insurance company.
How much does a motorcycle accident lawyer charge?
Zobel Personal Injury Law works on contingency. There is no fee for the consultation and no fee unless we recover money for you. The percentage is set out in writing before you sign anything.
The driver says I came out of nowhere. Does that end my case?
No. It is close to the default statement drivers give after hitting a motorcycle, and it is an account of what the driver noticed, not of what happened. Crash reconstruction, the damage pattern on both vehicles, and independent witnesses regularly contradict it.
I was lane filtering when I was hit. Am I at fault?
Not automatically, and the details decide it. The questions are whether traffic in your lane and the adjacent same direction lanes was fully stopped, whether the lane was wide enough, whether you were under 15 miles per hour, and whether you passed on the left rather than the right or the shoulder. If all of that holds, you were doing something Colorado law allows. Expect the insurer to argue otherwise anyway.
The lane next to me was still moving. Does that sink my claim?
It makes the filtering defense harder, but it does not decide the case by itself. Colorado reduces your recovery by your share of fault and only bars it entirely at 50 percent or more. A driver who turned across your path or rear ended you may still carry most of the blame. This is exactly the situation worth a free call rather than a guess.
How long does a motorcycle case take?
It depends on how long your treatment lasts and whether the insurer disputes fault. Straightforward claims can resolve in months. Serious injuries or contested liability take longer, sometimes well over a year. Settling before you know the full extent of an injury is usually the more expensive mistake.
Do I have to come to Denver?
Usually not. Most of the process is handled by phone, email, and video.
What Clients Say
Talk to a Colorado Motorcycle Accident Lawyer Today
If you were injured riding anywhere in Colorado, the consultation is free and there is no obligation. Call (720) 434-6674 or send us your information through our contact form. Se habla español.