Many people in cities are opting for more eco-friendly transportation options. An alternative for traveling by car is by electric scooter. Rideshare scooters, such as Bird or Lime, are establishing a presence in major cities, and Atlanta is no exception. They make their scooters easily accessible through an app and users can find and ride the scooters as long as they have the app. However, there are some drawbacks with the influx of scooters in the city. They can cause accidents when people aren’t careful. If you’ve been hurt in a similar situation, an Atlanta electric scooter accident lawyer from Bey & Associates can help you.
We represent those who have been wrongfully injured. While we’re based in Atlanta, we’re proud to help anyone in the state of Georgia. Our attorneys understand how confusing an accident can be, which is why we’re here to fight for your rights and get you the justice you deserve.
How Is Atlanta Handling Scooters?
The addition of scooter rideshare services has taken the city by storm, and Atlanta is working to establish regulations and laws to make it clear to citizens how they should be operating these scooters.
For example, scooter riders are strongly encouraged to wear a helmet, although those over the age of 16 do not have to wear one. For those wondering if they’re old enough to operate one of the rideshare scooters, Atlanta doesn’t have an age requirement, but the rideshare company may and users have to obey those rules.
In Georgia, there’s a law that prohibits motor vehicles from being on sidewalks. So, those who choose these scooters as transportation need to ride them in the street. While this is done for pedestrian safety, there is a risk of getting into an accident with a car when the riders are on the road.
Riders have to obey traffic laws and can ride in bike lanes. There is also a rule about having one person on a device at a time.
There are also rules for how to park the scooters. They can’t be left in a place where they block sidewalks, crosswalks, driveways, or entryways. Riders are also supposed to avoid leaving the scooters parked on narrow sidewalks.
While Atlanta can educate people about scooter use and what they can and cannot do, it doesn’t always prevent someone from acting negligently. Let’s look at what kind of hazards scooters can become when people make reckless decisions while riding them.
What Problems Do Electric Scooters Cause?
Rideshare scooters are relatively new to Atlanta—which means not everyone has gotten used to them yet. This could mean that riders aren’t aware of how to safely navigate while using a scooter, and other pedestrians or drivers won’t know how to share the road with them. Our scooter accident attorneys are familiar with the types of accidents that can occur with these devices.
While pedestrians shouldn’t have to share the sidewalk with scooters, people may need to use the sidewalk to get on the scooter and ride over to the road. If either person is distracted or not paying attention, they could collide.
Motor vehicle drivers may not know how to share the road with scooters. If the driver isn’t expecting to be on the road with them, they may not notice them because they’re much smaller than other cars. So, a person on a scooter could easily be in a car’s blind spot and the driver could accidentally change lanes in front of them.
There’s also the problem of passing. If a driver wants to get around a rideshare scooter, they may not know how to judge the distance around the person and could potentially sideswipe them.
Those on scooters are also at risk if the person driving the car is acting negligently. Distracted driving—looking at one’s phone, eating, applying makeup—could easily turn into a situation where the driver rear-ends a person on a scooter. Because the rider has nearly no protection, they can get severe injuries.
What Kinds of Injuries Can a Person Get?
Our attorneys understand that electric scooter accidents can cause a considerable amount of harm to people. There’s next to no protection when a person is riding a scooter. While a helmet can provide essential protection for the head, there isn’t a law to force people to wear them.
If a person is an accident, they can sustain major head or brain injuries without a helmet. A traumatic brain injury happens when someone suffers a violent blow to the head and affects how the brain functions. These injuries can cause permanent disabilities and death.
A scooter accident can also result in neck, spinal cord, or back injuries. Spinal cord injuries can be especially dangerous because they could cause loss of function below the injury site such as paralysis.
The crash’s impact can also cause broken bones or lacerations. A broken arm or leg will heal, but it can be painful and can take a long time before the person can use their limb again. Lacerations can cause permanent scarring.
When someone sustains catastrophic injuries, it often has permanent effects and can prevent someone from being able to work. They may also need extensive medical care to initially treat the injury, but they require more care to maintain afterward, such as physical therapy.
While these injuries can take a considerable amount of care, there is also the unexpected part of the recovery, where the person has to learn how to live with their injury. This can be a highly emotional time while they make this adjustment. Relearning how to do everyday tasks can be frustrating and severely affect the person’s mental health.
Having to readjust how you used to do things you didn’t have to think about before your injury is a lot to deal with and it may help to get guidance from a mental health care professional. Your Atlanta electric scooter accident lawyer will do everything possible to make sure your compensation covers what you need to get better. You shouldn’t have to choose between your physical and mental health.
Bey & Associates Can Represent You
When a rideshare company is involved in an accident, they may have teams of injury lawyers who will try to give you less than what you’re owed. But their tactics won’t work when we’re at your side. Through our investigation and evidence collecting, we’ll determine what happened and what the accident has cost you in damages.
Your compensation should allow you to recover without worrying about how you’re going to afford past medical bills or how you’re going to put food on the table. We’ll do everything we can to win you a settlement that will bring you peace of mind. Get in touch with us today so we can schedule a consultation.
