Electric scooters have taken over many cities around the world as an innovative, efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally-friendly form of transportation. These scooters operate on convenience and riders enjoy the many benefits while failing to consider the potential risks or hazards associated with this largely unregulated form of transportation. In fact, many injured individuals are speaking out about the deadly risks associated with e-scooters in addition to the lack of information and safety training for riders. Riders who escape death often land in emergency rooms with serious injuries. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched a full study of electric scooter accidents in response. Bird and Lime are two leading electric scooter companies trailblazing this largely uncharted territory. Riders can drop off these scooters virtually anywhere, after unlocking one for about $1 and paying only up to 15 cents per minute to ride. The sheer ease and convenience have made them impossible to avoid on city streets and the National Association of City Transportation Officials estimates just under 39 million trips taken in the U.S. alone. It’s no surprise cities, lawmakers, and emergency rooms are struggling to keep pace.
Skipping Your Helmet Is A Recipe for Disaster
This industry is relatively new and thus unable to be uniformly regulated, opening the door for potential disaster. Some places, such as New York and the U.K., have prohibited these scooters from public roads and sidewalks despite a lack of compliance from riders, and the mayor of Paris announced regulations to enact speed limits in traffic-heavy areas. The CDC’s findings revealed further details regarding the nature of electric scooter injuries and fatalities, including the fact that less than 1% of injured riders wore a helmet. Tragically, despite restrictions limiting use to those 18 and up, one fatality notably occurred when a 5-year-old boy was struck and killed after falling from a scooter.
E-Scooters Put Everyone’s Lives at Risk
Bird and Lime both officially recommend their riders wear helmets and have freely distributed helmets for riders, though Bird maintains these regulations are unnecessary and off-putting because many riders prefer to forgo the use of a helmet, especially a communal one. Both companies believe their products are a progressive and positive form of transportation, one that is safer than vehicles. Victims vehemently disagree and are fighting to hold these companies responsible. Providing millions of electric scooters without warning riders of potentially devastating consequences or ensuring their protection is utterly reckless.
Injured in an Electric Scooter Accident? Our Devoted Attorneys Will Protect You
The electric scooter craze is one we at Williams DeClark Tuschman Co., L.P.A. are familiar with and our impressive legal team has the skills to ensure your needs are met. If you have been injured in an electric scooter accident, either as a rider or pedestrian, we are ready to help you seek the compensation you deserve. Our aggressive injury lawyers refuse to back down in the face of a challenge. Contact us at your earliest convenience by calling (419) 719-5195.