BLOGS

Over the last few years, electric scooters have been flooding city streets more and more. From the perspective of the public, the scooters appear seemingly from nowhere, and have no apparent home.

Their emergence is a great convenience for people who are looking to find an alternative mode of transportation. Most electric scooters run at $1 to unlock, plus 15 cents per minute of use. All users have to do to unlock them is download the company’s app. This is far more convenient and cost effective for a lot of people trying to navigate the city.

What are the dangers of electric scooters?

Despite the ease of use, convenience, and cost-effectiveness of using an electric scooter to get around, clear risks exist both to the rider of the scooter and to others in the community. In fact, some accidents have been catastrophic, including at least 8 deaths. Other scooter related injuries include:

• Broken and fractured bones
• Traumatic brain injury
• Injury to the spinal cord
• Lacerations, scrapes, and bruises

A study done by Consumer Reports Investigations found that in an 18-month period, there were a total of 1,500 reported scooter-related injuries.

Hazards for electric scooter riders

• Scooters may malfunction during use.
• Moving obstacles may be present; including pedestrians, bicyclists, vehicles, other scooters, balls, and animals. The rider of the scooter may collide with another moving person or object, or crash while trying to avoid a collision.
• There is no clear space for scooters. Scooters do not belong on busy sidewalks as they travel much faster than pedestrians, but they do not belong in the street with vehicles and bicycles either.
• Other vehicles may hit the scooter, or a car door may open causing the rider of the scooter to collide with the door.
• Potholes, unused scooters, branches, trash, and other debris may pose a hazard to the person operating a scooter.

Hazards electric scooters pose for the community

• Pedestrians, skateboarders, and slow bicyclists may be hit by fast moving scooters.
• Scooters, which are often left haphazardly on sidewalks, pose a collision and tripping risk for people utilizing the sidewalks.
• Car drivers may be involved in an accident while trying to avoid collision with a scooter.

What can you do if you have a scooter-related injury?

90% of electric scooter-related injuries affect the person who was riding the scooter. The companies that own these scooters try to make it difficult for those operating the scooters to file a claim by putting language in their user agreements that take all responsibility off the company. In essence, those who choose to ride an electric scooter are assuming the risk and liability associated with their use.

Because of this, it may be tricky to navigate the legal system to get compensation for your injury. Often, the operator of the scooter was not at fault, and sometimes people who are not riding electric scooters are injured. Personal injury attorneys can investigate the true cause of the accident that led to injury and represent your case in court to insure the responsible party is held liable.