E-scooter compensation claims are in the spotlight during Injury Prevent Week, an awareness campaign run by APIL, the Association of Personal Injury lawyers.
APIL have highlighted the worrying rise of e-scooter accidents in the UK. While e-scooters are growing in popularity thanks to their ease of operation, wide accessibility and environmentally friendly credentials they do come with a significant degree of risk. Statistics show that there were over 1,200 collisions involving e-scooters on British roads last year, with 9 people tragically killed.
At present it is illegal for anyone to ride a private e-scooter on a public road, but this is set to change with the government announcing that expanding the legal use of e-scooters is a priority for the upcoming year. This will involve regulating what kinds of scooters are to be allowed on public roads and cracking down on the sale of those that do not meet these specifications.
APIL are therefore eager to ensure that there are proper provisions in place to ensure the safety of not only e-scooter riders themselves, but those they may injure.
This is of particular concern for blind or partially sighted people, with a spokesperson for the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) saying:
“E-scooters are fast-moving, operate quietly, making them difficult to detect, and are often ridden on pavements despite rules prohibiting this. Because of this, they pose particular risks for blind and partially sighted pedestrians”.
Our injury lawyers are receiving an increasing number of enquiries from people who have been struck by an e-scooter and sustained nasty injuries as a result. However at present their prospects for recovering compensation for their injuries and losses is restricted where private e-scooters are involved, as insurance is not currently available for them. It is therefore greatly hoped that with pressure from APIL and other organisations supporting the rights of those injured through no fault of their own that the issue of insurance will be included in the government plans for expanding e-scooter use.
If you have been injured in an e-scooter accident, whether as a pedestrian or rider, and would like to discuss your options for claiming e-scooter compensation, contact us for a free confidential case assessment.
Call 0808 139 1606 or send a brief details of your case to us by email at [email protected].
