A driver who causes a crash with an e-scooter rider can be held responsible for the rider’s injuries, the same as a driver who crashes into anyone else on the road. Whether the rider was following every scooter rule is a separate question from whether the driver was negligent, and either one, or both, can end up responsible depending on the facts.
Who Is Responsible When a Driver Hits an E-Scooter Rider?
A driver who negligently hits an e-scooter rider can be held responsible for the rider’s injuries in much the same way as a driver who hits someone driving a car, whatever the specifics of where the crash happened. Separately, California law gives a person operating a motorized scooter on a highway the same rights as the driver of a vehicle, and holds the scooter rider to many of the same rules, except for provisions that by their nature cannot apply to a scooter. How fault actually gets determined in any given crash depends on the specific facts, but the driver’s responsibility does not depend on what the person hit was riding.
Fault is not always one-sided. A driver and a scooter rider can each be found partly responsible for the same crash, depending on what each of them did leading up to it. Because of this, insurance companies will often look closely at the rider’s own conduct, which is part of why the specific rider rules below tend to come up early in these claims.
What Rules Apply to Riding an E-Scooter in California?
California law sets specific rules for where a motorized scooter may be ridden, who must wear a helmet, and how fast it may go. Riding on a sidewalk is prohibited, except as necessary to enter or leave adjacent property. A motorized scooter may not be ridden on a highway with a speed limit above 25 miles per hour unless it stays within a Class II or Class IV bikeway, though a local authority can raise that to 35 miles per hour by ordinance; regardless of any of that, the maximum actual operating speed for a motorized scooter is 15 miles per hour on every highway, including bikeways, no matter what speed limit applies to the road. A rider under 18 must wear a properly fitted and fastened bicycle helmet, and operating a scooter also requires a valid driver’s license or instruction permit.
These are rules for how a scooter is supposed to be ridden, not a ruling on who caused a particular crash. A rider who was violating one of these rules at the time of the crash can still have a valid claim against a driver who hit them, and whether that rule violation had anything to do with the crash is a separate, fact-specific question.
Rental Scooters: What Do the App’s Trip Records Show?
A rental e-scooter company’s app typically keeps a trip record for each ride, often including when and where the ride started and ended and which scooter was used, and that record is a specific, obtainable piece of evidence tied to the company’s own systems rather than to either side’s memory of events. Unlike a bicycle accident on your own bike, where there is usually no app and no company maintaining a trip log, a rental scooter crash often comes with a record that neither the rider nor the driver created themselves.
Because this record belongs to the rental company, it is worth asking the company directly to preserve it as soon as possible after a crash, rather than assuming it will still be available later. A trip record like this can help confirm details such as timing and location that might otherwise depend on memory alone.
Have you asked the rental company to preserve your trip data?
That record usually exists whether or not you saved anything yourself, but companies do not keep it forever.
When Is the Scooter Itself the Problem?
If the scooter itself malfunctioned, for example the brakes failed or the throttle stuck, and that contributed to the crash, the rider can have a separate claim against the company that owns, rents out, or made the scooter. This is a distinct question from whether the driver was at fault for the collision, and the two can exist side by side.
Do Deadlines Apply to These Claims?
Yes, deadlines apply to a claim like this, and they are worth treating as urgent. The deadline that applies is not the same in every case, so the safe move is to ask a lawyer early rather than assume. If you think a deadline may have already passed, that is still worth asking about rather than treating it as the end of your claim.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can both the driver and the e-scooter rider be responsible for the same crash?
Yes, fault is not always one-sided, and a driver and a rider can each be found partly responsible for the same crash depending on what each of them did. This is part of why insurers often look closely at the rider’s conduct and the rules that applied to the ride. Whether and how much each side is responsible depends on the specific facts of the crash.
Do you have to wear a helmet to ride an e-scooter in California?
A helmet is required for a motorized scooter rider who is under 18 years old, and it has to be a properly fitted and fastened bicycle helmet. The law does not set that same requirement for a rider who is 18 or older. Not wearing a helmet where required is a rider rule, not a decision on who caused a crash with a car.
Can e-scooters be ridden on the sidewalk in California?
No, riding a motorized scooter on a sidewalk is prohibited, except as necessary to enter or leave adjacent property. This is a rule about where a scooter may be ridden, separate from who is responsible if a driver hits the rider.
Is Bird or Lime responsible if their scooter malfunctions?
A rental company can be responsible if a defect in the scooter itself, such as failed brakes or a stuck throttle, contributed to causing a crash. That is a separate claim from any claim against the driver who hit the rider, and the two can exist at the same time. Whether a specific malfunction supports a claim depends on the facts of what went wrong.
What happens if an e-scooter hits a pedestrian?
Because a person operating a motorized scooter on a highway has the same rights and is held to many of the same rules as the driver of a vehicle, a scooter rider who hits a pedestrian can be held responsible in a similar way to a driver who does. This page focuses on a scooter rider who was hit by a car, which is a different situation with its own facts.
Sorting out who is responsible after a crash like this often means looking at the driver’s conduct, the rider rules that applied, and sometimes the scooter itself, together rather than one at a time. Speaking with a lawyer can help you figure out which of these apply to your situation, and there is no fee unless we win. If there is no recovery, no case costs are charged either. Call 310-600-7881 for a free case review, or send us the details and we will call you back.
