Electric Bird scooters and other ridesharing scooter services have cropped up almost overnight in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Monica, and other major cities around the state. Just as quickly as they showed up, personal injury law firms like Omega Law Group Injury & Accident Attorneys started getting flooded with calls about electric scooter accidents. Riders are getting seriously injured in crashes caused by reckless drivers who aren’t used to sharing the road with Scooters.The risk of electric scooter rideshare use is quite prevalent in Los Angeles, where automobiles clog the streets at all hours and bicyclists are hard to come by. As Attorney Robin Saghian of Omega Law Group told to Bloomberg in a recent interview, “Local drivers aren’t used to sharing the road […]” This does not stop businesses like Bird Rides Inc. and Lime from offering up their services to locals, though. Bird is even expecting massive expansion in the near future as investors continue to pour funds into the ambitious yet risky project.Why Are Rental Scooter Riders at Risk?A ridesharing scooter can be unlocked and used by anyone with a smartphone and a couple bucks in their bank account. People pick up the scooter where they find it, and leave it wherever they want. Drivers are not used to having to share the road with scooter riders, putting the rider at unfair risk. In traffic-heavy areas like LA, the likelihood of being hit by a car is high.Law firms like ours are already hearing cases and complaints from people all around California who were hurt while riding an electric rideshare scooter. Indeed, as Attorney Saghian also remarked in his interview, our law firm is getting up to five calls a week for accidents and injuries related to ridesharing scooters ever since we first talked about this issue in April 2018. Most of the calls come from riders hit by reckless motorists who are not used to sharing the road with the small scooters.
Bird has seemingly acknowledged the dangers of its own vehicles, too. After a rider crashed into an automobile, the company released a statement that advised riders to wear helmets, possess a valid driver’s license, and be at least 18 before using their scooters. It is worth noting that California law already required all of these “requests” to be met before riding such a motorized scooter.
If you or a loved one get hurt while riding an electric scooter, please do not hesitate to call us at 866-942-3881 to discuss your legal options. During a free consultation, we may be able to determine if you have valid grounds to file a claim against a driver if you are struck by a car.
