Pedestrian Victim of Bird or Lime Scooter Collision in Austin

Austin, Texas, is home to international music, film, tech festivals, and more. Getting around downtown Austin without a car used to be difficult for tourists and residents alike, but the newly arrived Bird and Lime companies believe they have introduced an innovation to urban transportation: the rentable electric-powered scooter.

Bird and Lime are the only electric-powered scooter companies who have released their rentable vehicles to major cities everywhere.

Especially popular in cities like Austin that attract young professionals, these scooters are purported to be an environmentally-friendly, easy-to-ride, and economically-efficient vehicle, getting riders to their “first and last mile.” In other words, the scooters make getting to areas too far to get to on foot, as well as places where public transportation won’t go. However, Austin lawyers have recently warned these scooters can end in a pedestrian’s injury or death.

With several recent accidents demonstrating the point, Austin accident lawyers are telling the public the biggest danger falls on one demographic: the innocent pedestrian. Any experienced attorney will tell you companies like Bird and Lime are too good to be true.

The scooters are easy to find because they are left in well-populated areas at what their companies call “dockless stations.” and at only a $1 per half-hour, the service is incredibly attractive to its customers. However, the City of Austin is only beginning to regulate these locations. Scooters could be broken, vandalized, or worse, and Bird and Lime wouldn’t know until an accident happens. This puts the innocent pedestrian at high risk because unregulated motor-vehicles are loose on the streets.

This type of motor vehicle transportation is so new that accident attorneys at Carabin Shaw and other law firms all over the Austin are starting to receive frantic calls about pedestrians involved in electric scooter accidents. As long as these companies can run without stricter regulations by the city, you and anyone else could become a pedestrian victim of Bird or Lime scooter collision in Austin.

There are a number of ways a pedestrian could be involved in a scooter accident:

• A defect in the scooter causes vehicle to malfunction mid-operation, such as inoperable breaks, acceleration, and steering.
• A reckless, inebriated, untrained, or naïve scooter driver crashes into a pedestrian.
• A pedestrian falls while jumping out of the way to avoid a scooter collision.
• Pedestrian falls into street to avoid a scooter collision and is hit by a car.
• A vandalized scooter’s motor is compromised, making the scooter crash into pedestrians
• A pedestrian trips over an improperly parked scooter or falls while trying to get around one blocking an access point.

Our lawyers at Carabin Shaw have heard too many pedestrian victims of Bird or Lime scooter collisions say there was no way for them to control what happened to them. This isn’t right; that’s why our Austin firm’s lawyers are helping pedestrian victims of Bird and Lime scooter collisions to know their rights and claim their due compensation.

An injury from a scooter collision could result in head trauma, broken bones, and internal bleeding. If your injury results in a long-term disability, this could take you out of work for 6 months to a year, or even longer. Along with the loss of income, you and your family would have to find quality medical care, not to mention afford it.

If you are a pedestrian victim of Bird or Lime scooter collision in Austin, the Austin personal injury lawyers at Carabin Shaw want to make sure you are compensated for injuries incurred by a reckless scooter company and driver. The pedestrian always has the right of way. Let our electric scooter accident attorneys in Austin make it right; call us at 512.832.1101 for a free consultation today.