Injured in a Kentucky E-Scooter Accident?

E-Scooter Accidents in Kentucky

An e-scooter accident case in Kentucky carries rules that a car or bicycle case does not, because Kentucky law treats an electric scooter as its own category of vehicle. KRS 189.289 sets a minimum rider age of 16, requires a headlamp and a rear red light after dark, and makes any rental company follow local ordinances alongside the rider. KRS 189.340 tells a driver how to pass a scooter, with at least 3 feet of space where the road allows.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimated 51,700 emergency department visits for e-scooter injuries in 2022, up 22 percent from 2021 and 169,300 from 2017 through 2022. In the agency’s follow-up study of 309 injuries, 63 percent of the injuries happened on paved roads, and 23 percent of the injured riders said the cause of the accident was darkness or difficulty seeing. The agency also counted 111 e-scooter deaths from 2017 through 2022 and named motor vehicle accidents and control issues as the top hazards.

KRS 189.010 Scooter Definition

A scooter case starts with a question of category. KRS 189.010 defines an electric low-speed scooter, and a device that misses any one element falls outside the scooter rules in KRS 189.289. The same section excludes electric low-speed scooters from the definition of a motor vehicle in Chapter 189.

The neighboring categories carry different rules. KRS 189.285 defines a moped by engine size and top speed. A four-wheeled low-speed vehicle needs a federal safety standard, a 17-character identification number, and a road posted at 35 miles per hour or less under KRS 189.282. An electric bicycle fits none of these definitions, because Kentucky’s statutes do not define one.

Rider Rules Under KRS 189.289

An e-scooter accident case is measured against KRS 189.289 for the rider and KRS 189.340 for a driver who passes the scooter.

Rider Age and Traffic Laws

Subsection (1) of KRS 189.289 lets a person 16 or older operate an electric low-speed scooter on a highway, bicycle lane, or bicycle path. Subsection (2) subjects the rider to the traffic regulations of Chapter 189 and to KRS 189.520, so a scooter rider answers to the same traffic laws as a driver.

Night Lighting Requirement

Subsection (3) requires at least 1 headlamp and at least 1 rear red light, both illuminated, from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise. The rule also applies at any other time when atmospheric conditions make visibility as low as or lower than it ordinarily is during that period. Whether it applied at the moment of the accident is answered by the sunset time and the weather record for that evening.

In the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s 2022 follow-up study, 42 percent of the injured riders were wearing blinking lights or a headlamp.

Sidewalks and Safe Operating Standards

Subsection (4) allows a scooter to be parked on a sidewalk in a way that does not impede the reasonable movement of pedestrians or other traffic. Subsection (6) directs the Transportation Cabinet to write safe operating standards for scooters by regulation and bars those regulations from including any equipment or helmet use requirements. KRS 189.289 itself contains no helmet requirement.

Drivers Passing a Scooter

A passing driver in an e-scooter accident is measured against subsection (2) of KRS 189.340, which applies to scooters the passing rules that protect bicycles. On a road with more than 1 lane in the same direction, a driver overtaking a scooter must move to the immediate left when that lane is available and moving into it is safe. On a road with only 1 lane in that direction, the driver must pass to the left with at least 3 feet between any part of the vehicle and the scooter, and keep that distance until safely past. Where the road has no room for 3 feet, the driver must use reasonable caution in passing.

The same subsection limits the rider. A scooter operator may not ride more than 2 abreast in a single lane unless on a part of the roadway marked exclusively for bicycle use, and riders abreast may not impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic.

KRS 189.290 adds the general rule for every operator on a highway: operate the vehicle in a careful manner, with regard for the safety and convenience of pedestrians and other vehicles, and never in a reckless or negligent manner that endangers persons or property. Because KRS 189.010 defines a vehicle to include all vehicles passing over or upon the highways, the rule reaches scooters.

Impaired Riding Under KRS 189.520

Because a scooter is not a motor vehicle under Chapter 189, impairment is governed by KRS 189.520, the section for vehicles that are not motor vehicles, and subsection (2) of KRS 189.289 names it directly. The section bars anyone under the influence of intoxicating beverages or any substance that may impair driving ability from operating such a vehicle anywhere in Kentucky.

In a criminal prosecution under the section, an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more gives rise to a presumption that the person was under the influence. A concentration under 0.05 gives rise to a presumption that the person was not, and a concentration from 0.05 up to 0.08 raises no presumption either way and is weighed with other evidence.

Impairment in an e-scooter accident can run in either direction. A rider can be impaired, and so can the driver who struck a sober rider. A bar or restaurant that served an already intoxicated customer can share responsibility: KRS 413.241 shields a licensed seller from liability for injuries off its premises unless a reasonable person would have known the customer was already intoxicated when served, and the intoxicated person stays primarily liable. Those dram shop cases run alongside the case against the rider or driver.

Rental Company Duties

Subsection (5) of KRS 189.289 puts the duty to comply with all local government ordinances on the scooter operator and on any company or entity that provides scooters for rental. When the scooter was rented, the company’s compliance with the city’s ordinances is a question in the case, and the company is a possible defendant beside the driver and the rider. In the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s follow-up study, 37 percent of the injured riders were on a rental scooter.

A rental case is built from the rental agreement and the app terms the rider accepted, the company’s trip and maintenance records for that scooter, the ordinance that governed the company in that city, and the scene evidence any e-scooter accident produces, such as the police report and nearby camera footage.

Insurance Coverage Sources

Coverage in an e-scooter accident case comes from more than one place. When a driver caused the accident, the driver’s liability policy responds first, and KRS 304.39-110 sets Kentucky’s minimum limits at $25,000 for bodily injury to 1 person, $50,000 for bodily injury to all persons in 1 accident, and $25,000 for property damage. The limit on that policy is the first number to confirm.

When the driver has no insurance or too little, uninsured motorist coverage may respond for the persons insured under a policy, and under KRS 304.20-020 a named insured can reject it in writing. Whether a scooter rider is an insured person under an auto, renter’s, or homeowner’s policy depends on that policy’s language, so each policy is read for coverage.

A rental company, a bar that served an intoxicated driver, and the owner of the property where the accident happened can each bring another policy into the case. Where another vehicle caused the accident, the other driver’s negligence is the basis for the case, and when a scooter accident is fatal, the case becomes a Kentucky wrongful death case.