You may have noticed that over the past few years, rental e-scooters are being made available in your town or city. E-scooter trials are currently taking place in over 50 areas across the country and whilst convenient for the user, e-scooters are becoming an increasing safety concern, not only for the users of e-scooters but for drivers and pedestrians. Government statistics taken from June 2021 show that there were 931 casualties in accidents involving e-scooters. Although e-scooters are eco-friendly, affordable and very convenient for users, the statistics indicate that they can also be very dangerous.
Legality
Whilst privately owned e-scooters are illegal, rental e-scooters are permitted to be ridden on UK roads providing the user possesses a UK driving licence (provisional or full licence). Companies that rent the e-scooters must provide their insurance policy as a part of the rental agreement for the scooter but privately owned e-scooters will not be covered by any insurance company. Rental e-scooters are similar to bicycles as they must be ridden on designated cycle lanes or at the side of the road travelling along with traffic. When an individual rents an e-scooter, they are not provided with any training to ride it. This can cause many problems as the individual may not always be aware of where they can legally ride the scooter which could result in riding along pavements or running red lights which can lead to accidents. If you’ve been injured by a rental e-scooter, the company that rents out the scooter should have insurance so the process of claiming compensation from the insurance company would be the same as with any road traffic accident.
Types of e-scooter accidents
If you have been injured as a result of someone else’s negligence involving an e-scooter, you may be entitled to compensation. Here are some types of accidents involving e-scooters:
- Pedestrian – you may have been hit by an e-scooter being ridden negligently resulting in injury. If you’ve been hit by a rental e-scooter, we can make a claim on your behalf against the rental company’s insurer. If you’ve been hit by a privately owned e-scooter, the likelihood is that the rider will not hold insurance. However, we are still able to pursue claims against the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB). The MIB deal with road traffic claims involving drivers that are uninsured or who are untraced.
- E-scooter user – you may have been riding an e-scooter and you may have been hit by another vehicle that was being driven negligently. You can even bring a claim against your local authority if you have been injured after riding on a defective road, for example, you may have hit a pothole and fallen off the scooter.
- Other road user – you may have been driving a car, motorbike or bicycle. You may be entitled to claim compensation against the e-scooter company if you have been injured as a result of the e-scooter rider’s negligence.
Causes of Accidents
- Trips or falls over an incorrectly parked e-scooter. One sad story details of an elderly man that used an electric wheelchair who unfortunately passed away following a fall after attempting to move an incorrectly parked rental e-scooter out of his path.
- Collisions – e-scooter users are not required to wear protective gear resulting in serious injury following collisions with other road users or pedestrians.
- Defective road surfaces – such as potholes or stress fractures in the road.
- Faulty e-scooter – such as the breaks being faulty or battery problems.
Common types of Injury
- Head injuries – from £2,210 to £403,990
- Fractured bones
- Whiplash
- Psychological trauma
Special Damages
In addition to compensation for personal injury, an individual involved in an e-scooter accident may be owed additional special damages. Special damages include additional costs accrued because of the injury such as loss of earnings, prescription costs, damage to property, medical treatment costs (past and/or future) and care and assistance. If you’ve had to take time off work because of the injuries sustained in an e-scooter accident, you are owed the wages that you have lost even if you received sick pay.
The claims process
As stated, rental e-scooter companies have to have insurance, so when we make a claim on your behalf, we actually deal with the insurance company. Once we obtain those insurance details, we will upload your claim to the claims portal. When the insurance company receives the claim, they have 3 months to investigate before they make a decision on liability. When a decision has been made, we will begin to collate medical evidence; this can include obtaining medical records and arranging an appointment with a medical expert who will produce a report in support of your claim. The medical evidence is what we will use to value your claim. The medical expert may also recommend additional rehabilitation or treatment such as physiotherapy or may recommend that we refer you to another specialist such as a psychologist. After we have collated the medical evidence and valued your claim, we will start to discuss offers with the other side. We will also ask you about any special damages you may be owed such as lost wages, we will ask you to provide wage slips so that we may calculate your loss of earnings. We will provide evidence of special damages to the other side for their consideration also. When an offer has been put forward, we will discuss this with you and providing you feel the offer is appropriate we will accept it on your behalf.
Why choose GSR Solicitors?
- Personal Injury experts
- No Win, No Fee, with No Hidden Costs
- Awarded Best Top-Rated Personal Injury Solicitors in Preston 2022
- Awarded Best Nationwide Personal Injury Law Firm 2022 by the Northern Enterprise Awards 2022.
- Client driven and dedicated
We will deal with your claim on a no win, no fee basis so you don’t need to worry about any costs. To get started, simply fill in our contact form and someone from our team will be in touch for a free consultation. Or can also call 01772 356201 or email team1@gsrsolicitors.com.
