Electric Scooters and Personal Injuries in Los Angeles

Everywhere you look, e-scooters like Bird and Lime have become a fixture on the streets of Los Angeles and other cities in Southern California. The City of Los Angeles has allowed deployment of thousands of scooters and will ultimately permit the release of 10,500 e-scooters and electric bicycles. Residents and tourists alike can unlock these shareable scooters using their smartphones and ride them on roads in California with speed limits no greater than 25 miles per hour. Though e-scooters can be fun and are more environmentally friendly than cars, they present significant risks to riders and those around them. To protect yourself, you need to understand the laws around scooters, the risks they pose, and how to minimize your risk. If you were hurt in a Los Angeles scooter accident from another’s negligence, contact a Los Angeles personal injury attorney to see if you may be entitled to compensation.

Los Angeles E-Scooter Laws

The City of Los Angeles has sanctioned use of e-scooters, but due to numerous complaints and issues arising has passed several regulations to try and ensure the safety of riders as well as the public.

• Riders must have a valid driver’s license
• Riders must wear helmets
• Riders may not operate on sidewalks
• Riders may not operate an e-scooter when intoxicated
• Riders must use bicycle lanes when available
• Riders must obey any posted speed limits and should never driver faster than 15 miles per hour
• Scooter companies have 2 hours to remove e-scooters from sidewalks or other places they are improperly parked between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. and pose hazards

Dangers of E-Scooters

Unsafe or illegal operation of an e-scooter can put riders, motorists, and pedestrians at risk. Riders are not required to have any e-scooter training prior to operating one on busy public streets. Some riders disregard the law and ride on sidewalks, which endangers unsuspecting pedestrians. Many riders disregard the mandate to wear helmets and have no other protection in an accident. If roads do not have bicycle lanes, e-scooters must share the road with standard motor vehicles, putting largely unprotected riders at risk of accidents involving much larger vehicles that may not see them. In a one-year period, 249 people in West Los Angeles and countless unreported individuals went to emergency rooms due to e-scooter injuries. Head injuries, fractures, lacerations, and internal injuries are all common injuries when accident do occur.

Though e-scooter accidents and injuries can result from any number of scenarios, some are more common than others. Riders, pedestrians, and motorists are often hurt in:

• Intersections – motorists may be distracted and not stop to allow e-scooters to cross, or they may fail to notice riders in the crosswalks when turning onto another street.
• Dooring accidents – bicyclists, and, more and more, e-scooter riders are at risk of colliding with car doors opened by motorists parked on the sides of streets who fail to check for oncoming vehicles before opening them.
• Sidewalk accidents – pedestrians and stationary objects can pose a risk of collision and injury to both riders and pedestrians alike.
• Road hazard encounters – potholes, gravel, broken or uneven payment, and swerving to avoid hazards can cause riders to fall or collide with vehicles and other e-scooters and suffer injuries.

Recovering for E-Scooter Injuries

Though companies producing these e-scooters require riders to accept liability waivers, victims of another party’s negligence may be able to recover compensation for their injuries. Even if a rider was partly to blame for the accident, California’s comparative negligence standard may allow them to recover. Courts will assign each party involved a percentage of fault, and a victim’s recovery will be reduced by that percentage.

If you were a pedestrian hurt by an e-scooter rider, you may file suit for your damages. Evidence such as violating laws on riding while intoxicated or riding on sidewalks may help establish negligence. If you were a rider injured due to a road defect, you may be able to sue the government entity responsible for road maintenance; winning these claims requires showing negligent maintenance of the roadway.

Contact a Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorney

E-scooters are convenient, green, and enjoyable, but they also come with risk. If you were hurt in an e-scooter accident, contact the experienced Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorneys at Daneshrad Law today to preserve your legal rights, look after your health, and fight for maximum recovery. Attorney Alan Daneshrad has been delivering comprehensive, aggressive representation for victims like you and his clients have been awarded millions in compensation for their injuries. Call us 24/7 at (888) 881-3529 or complete our case evaluation form to schedule your appointment today. Let us use our knowledge and resources to secure the best possible outcome for you from an unfortunate situation.