The E-Scooter and E-Bike Injury Guide

If you were just hurt on a scooter or e-bike

• Call 911 and get a police report. Ask which agency is responding (the Metropolitan Police Department, a county or city police department, or U.S. Park Police on federal parkways and trails) and get the report number.
• Get the driver's name, insurer, and plate, and the names and phone numbers of anyone who saw it.
• Photograph everything: the car, the scooter or e-bike and its ID number, the lane or sidewalk, the road surface, and your injuries.
• Report the crash in the rental app if you were on a rental, and take a screenshot of the trip. Lime's posted terms, for example, ask for an in-app report within two hours (or as soon as reasonably practicable if you are hurt) and a police report within 24 hours.
• Keep your own device exactly as it is, including the battery and charger. Do not repair it, sell it, or throw it away.
• Get medical care the same day. Head, wrist, and facial injuries are common on scooters and often get worse over the next day.
• Do not give a recorded statement to the driver's insurer, and do not sign anything from the rental company, until you know which fault rule applies to you.

Key points

• In D.C., a person on an e-scooter, e-bike, or similar device is a "vulnerable user," and their own negligence does not bar recovery against a driver unless it was a proximate cause of the injury and greater than the combined negligence of the defendants (D.C. Code §§ 50-2204.51(13), 50-2204.52(a)).
• In Maryland and Virginia, contributory negligence still applies, so any fault the insurer can pin on the rider can end the claim unless an exception such as last clear chance applies.
• None of the three jurisdictions treats a standard e-scooter or e-bike as a "motor vehicle." That keeps riders out of registration and insurance requirements, and it also means some auto coverages do not apply the way riders expect.
• A rental company's release or arbitration clause does not protect the driver who hit you. It matters only for a claim against the company itself.
• Deadlines are short: three years to sue in D.C. and Maryland, two years in Virginia, and as little as six months to give written notice of a claim against the District or a Virginia city or county.

Which rule decides most scooter and e-bike cases in the DMV?

Contributory negligence decides most of them. In Maryland and Virginia, a rider whose own negligence contributed to the crash can be barred from recovering anything, subject to exceptions such as last clear chance (Coleman v. Soccer Ass'n of Columbia, 432 Md. 679 (2013); Coutlakis v. CSX Transportation, Inc., 293 Va. 212 (2017)). That is why the driver's insurer will ask whether you were on the sidewalk, how fast you were going, whether you ran a light, and whether you were wearing headphones.

D.C. is different. The District's Motor Vehicle Collision Recovery Act defines a "vulnerable user" to include a person using an electric mobility device (the District's term for a stand-up e-scooter), a motorized bicycle (an e-bike), a personal mobility device, a non-motorized scooter, a skateboard, "or other similar device" (D.C. Code § 50-2204.51(13)). A vulnerable user's own negligence does not bar recovery in a collision with a motor vehicle or another vulnerable user unless it was a proximate cause of the injury and greater than the combined negligence of all the defendants (D.C. Code § 50-2204.52(a)). The chapter on crashes with cars explains how each rule works.

Is an e-scooter or e-bike a motor vehicle?

No, not under the vehicle laws of any of the three jurisdictions. D.C. excludes personal mobility devices, electric mobility devices, and motorized bicycles from the definition of "motor vehicle" used for registration and insurance (D.C. Code §§ 50-1108, 31-2402(17)). Maryland excludes electric bicycles and electric low speed scooters, which it treats as bicycles (Md. Code, Transp. §§ 11-104, 11-135(b)). Virginia provides that an electric power-assisted bicycle or a motorized skateboard or scooter "shall be deemed not to be a motor vehicle" (Va. Code § 46.2-100). That classification shapes where you may ride and which insurance pays, as the where you can ride and insurance chapters explain.

The chapters

How we handle scooter and e-bike cases

We start with the question that decides the case: which jurisdiction's law applies, and what the insurer will say you did wrong. Then we build the answer from the record: the police report, the independent witnesses, nearby camera footage, the trip record from the rental app, the road and sidewalk layout, and the device itself. When the driver's insurance is too small, we look to every policy in your household. Our results include a recovery for a skateboarder struck by an illegal U-turn, which turned on the same fault and insurance questions this guide covers.

Related reading

• The e-scooter boom in D.C.: injuries, insurance gaps, and contributory negligence
• D.C.'s vulnerable user law: e-scooter and motorcycle riders
• Hit while walking or biking in D.C.: the contributory negligence exception
• Virginia's contributory negligence rule: the 1% problem
• Bicycle, scooter, and e-bike injuries
• The DC, Maryland & Virginia Bicycle Injury Guide

Responsible attorneys: Ryan C. Posey and Jacob M. Lebowitz. Posey Lebowitz PLLC, 3221 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20007.