Legal Issues with Scooter and Moped Accidents

Nowadays it seems like everything has a small motor or miniature engine on them. Commonly called “scooters,” these devices, which may have 2 or 3 wheels, and which may look like no more than a skateboard moving on its own power, are being used commonly, and even, whether legal or illegal, may share the roadways with cars.

Making them even more dangerous, many are being used as “substitute cars,” often for young people too young to get a drivers license, or who don’t own an actual car.

Insurance Problems

As a general rule, if you are injured on a motor scooter by another car or vehicle, that driver’s personal injury protection or PIP may not pay the claim at all, the way that it would if you were a pedestrian, or in an actual motor vehicle.

That means that injured persons on a motor scooter, must pay their medical expense the way they would if they were in any other kind of personal injury accident; usually, either with their own health insurance, or by making a claim against the driver’s car insurance liability policy, something that requires proof of liability before that insurer will pay you any compensation for your injuries.

That can lead to delays in getting immediate compensation for medical care or lost wages, if there is a dispute over who caused the scooter accident.

Worse, even if you have health insurance, at the end of your case, health insurance often has what is known as a subrogation lien; that is, insurance expects to be paid back, from the proceeds of your verdict or settlement, whatever money the health insurance company paid towards your care and treatment.

Why don’t car insurance companies cover moped or scooter accidents, the way they cover other kinds of car accidents?

Because most car insurance policies, whether they insure you or other people that you may injure, only cover and include vehicles that must be registered with, or titled with, the state, as traditional motor vehicles are. Things like scooters, which aren’t registered and which the state doesn’t keep track of, are often excluded.

If you are the one in the vehicle that injured someone on a motor scooter, you may have coverage; that is, your car insurance may pay the injured person whatever you owe him or her, if you did in fact cause the accident. But that can vary from policy to policy.

Moped Safety

Generally, mopeds, defined as vehicles that have engines under 50cc and which cannot exceed 30mph, do not require adult riders to wear a helmet. Riders must use eye gear, unless the moped has a windshield.

But don’t let those lax requirements fool you into a sense of safety; even if not legally required, a Defendant being sued, and ultimately a jury, can lay blame on you for not having full and adequate protective gear on, while operating a scooter or moped.

Schedule a consultation with our Tampa personal injury lawyers at Barbas, Nunez, Sanders, Butler & Hovsepian today for help if you were injured by, or while on, a scooter or a moped.

Source:

progressive.com/motorcycle/scooter-moped-insurance/