[md2be]

In Los Angeles, Motorized vehicles are not permitted on sidewalks and paths. As a rider, you are liable for all personal injuries that result from your riding. Without insurance, you are putting your financial life in jeopardy. Think about it!

[will_brown]

>Without insurance, you are putting your financial life in jeopardy. Think about it!

In addition to riders, if the scooter is a rental, I think there is a pretty solid claim to be made against the tech companies who scatter these scooters throughout cities (often times illegally) and allow them to be rented by anyone (with no training, no education of rules of the road, no offering of helmets, I’m not sure these thing come equipped with safety lights of any kind, etc...).

[masklinn]

> I think there is a pretty solid claim to be made against the tech companies who scatter these scooters throughout cities (often times illegally)

I don't know about that, the device itself is not illegal, only its use on public way. And technically ignorance of the law is not a valid excuse.

[will_brown]

It’s not just use of these devices on certain roadways, bike paths and sidewalks that may be illegal from jurisdiction to jurisdiction...but leaving them all over public spaces the way they do is also illegal in multiple jurisdictions (hence why city’s/counties began confiscating them and the scooter companies pulled out of a number of markets).

It’s not about ignorance of the law, if I get hurt by one I can sue both the rider and the scooter company.

[lightbritefight]

The law is concerned with both actions and their intent. While placing the scooters on the street may not be illegal, the entire reason for doing so is for people to ride them. Its pretty clear intent to incite people to break the law for profit.

That very much makes the company involved with what happens when people do just that.

[HillaryBriss]

I agree, but, the practical reality in LA is that the police very rarely ticket people for riding these vehicles on the sidewalk. The insurance angle you mention is interesting, but let me ask the question: practically speaking, how would any pedestrian who is injured by a scooter rider in LA actually hold the scooter driver financially responsible? What is the mechanism? Will police actually even respond to a call for such an incident?

[masklinn]

> how would any pedestrian who is injured by a scooter rider in LA actually hold the scooter driver financially responsible? What is the mechanism?

Same way they would if they were injured by a car, or by someone punching them in the face.

[HillaryBriss]

> Same way they would if they were injured by a car

oh. interesting. do these scooters have something like a license plate that one could use to trace back to the rider? do scooter companies service requests from random injured pedestrians for info about the rider of a particular scooter? does the DMV have a database of these vehicles? will the police help a pedestrian who tells them she was hit by a scooter and the rider just took off? if so, how do they find the rider? I mean, how does all that work?

[smileysteve]

> As a rider, you are liable for all personal injuries that result from your riding.

As a walker, you're liable for all personal injuries that result from your walking

As a dog owner, you're liable for all personal injuries that result from your dog.

> Without insurance, you are putting your financial life in jeopardy.

Most drivers are underinsured if they send a few people to the hospital. On a scooter though, covering the average cost of a scrape or the beyond costs of a broken bone isn't nearly as peril.

[smileysteve]

Let me restate my point;

Very few people have bicycle liability insurance, yet scooter liability insurance is a concern?