Electric Scooter Accident liability is a growing claim in North America and thanks to the spread of electric scooters; it has become its legal niche.
Electric small vehicles such as two-wheeled mobile platforms and electric scooters are known for their energy-saving and eco-friendly operations. However, the last few years have seen a small surge in accidents involving these portable electric vehicles, especially electric scooters.
And the sole reason for this growth in accidents involving them is the unfamiliarity on how to operate them. The streets and the people are mostly used to gas vehicles (four-wheelers) or motorbikes. However, having these child-like designed mopeds on the street doesn’t seem to be a wise decision as it’s causing people to trip over or collide with pedestrians, causing the only nuisance.
What Is An Electric Scooter Accident Lawsuit?
People in Los Angeles united under the intent that they were to file a class-action lawsuit against electric scooter companies such as Lime and Bird. Gross negligence was the most common reason given for this. While some of the plaintiffs were the riders of these scooters, others were pedestrians.
Although electric scooters have gained popularity throughout Southern California because of the high proportion of the hippy-liberal population, these people are now realizing that electric scooters may be environment-friendly, but not safety friendly.
What Are The Stats Surrounding Electric Scooter Accidents?
After collecting various incidents pertaining to electric-scooter accidents, it has been observed that many people have had accidents such as minor fractures on their chin and nose and even broken bones. These people included both the scooter riders as well as pedestrians. The most commonly observed injuries were fractures to the limbs and head injuries.
The injuries due to electric scooters were common due to all-pervasiveness of their use and they also ranged in their severity. However, the main reasons were people mostly not adhering to the existing regulations regarding these electric scooters. Electric Scooter Accident Stats:
- Head injuries constituted around 40% of e-scooter accidents
- Among those who faced head injuries, only 4% were wearing helmets
- According to CBS News, head injuries and fractures are common in e-scooter crashes.
- Electric scooters are said to be one of the newly emerging public health issues in North America.
Who Bears The Liability In An Electric Scooter Accident?
Here, we need to understand two terminologies, namely, product liability and premises liability. Product liability refers to issues such as brake failures; the difficulty faced with the controls and damaged parts like stuck throttles are some of the most common examples of scooter defects. Product liability applies under different circumstances whether the scooter is defective inherently or due to a single mechanical error. This directly implies that the scooter rental company is a responsibility for the injuries that are being caused by the defect in the scooter.
What Exactly Is Premises Liability?
Premises liability refers to the responsibility of a property owner to keep their area or premises safer for their visitors. This means that if a person were riding the electric scooter on someone else’s property and if the property was not good enough to maintain safety, the property was unsafe due to the owner’s irresponsibility and this you can take them to the court if you wanted to.
The best thing about premises liability is that if other people have suffered the same fate as others, you can join their case and consolidate a stronger single case. This can be very helpful since you can share your resources with a make your case stronger.
And When The Case Is The Other Way Around?
There can also be cases when the irresponsibility can take place the other way around. For example, if you were walking down the road and suddenly you find a bumbling electric scooter riding person collide with you, you can file a legal electric scooter accident lawsuit against them too. And there have been enough such events where the electric scooter riders have been responsible for causing accidents.
Many people have reported this happening with them in areas where e-scooters are abundantly used, such as California and Oregon.
We Know What Happens, We Can Help You!
Shamis & Gentile, P.A has been one of the most instrumental attorney services in relegating justice to people who have been affected by electric scooter-related accidents. We have handled a good number of cases that arise from the latest technologies such as A.I, facial recognition and of course, electric vehicles such as electric scooters.
Delivering swift justice has been one of the most instrumental functions that we have provided for years.
