Fresno E-Bike & Electric Scooter Accident Lawyer

The Wagner Law Group represents e-bike and electric scooter riders who were hit by drivers in Fresno and across the Central Valley. Call (833) 200-7111 for a free consultation, or contact us below and we will reach out to you.

An e-bike or a stand-up scooter puts you in traffic with nothing around you, at speeds a regular bicycle rarely reaches. When a driver turns across a bike lane, pulls out of a driveway without looking, or opens a door into your path, you absorb the entire collision. Fresno is seeing more of these crashes every month, and a growing share of the people being hurt are kids on their way to school.

These are not bicycle claims with a motor attached. The Vehicle Code treats e-bikes and scooters differently, insurers have learned to use those rules against riders, and the injuries are consistently worse. Our firm has handled injury cases in Fresno since 1983, and when an insurer’s offer does not match the harm, we try the case. If you were hurt anywhere in the region, our Fresno personal injury lawyers handle the full range of accident claims.

On This Page

• E-Bike and Scooter Crashes Are Rising in Fresno
• Where Riders Get Hit in Fresno
• Who Can Be Held Responsible
• California E-Bike and Scooter Laws That Shape Your Claim
• What Makes These Cases Different
• Common E-Bike and Scooter Injuries
• What to Do After the Crash
• Deadlines That Apply
• What You Can Recover
• Why Choose The Wagner Law Group
• Frequently Asked Questions

E-Bike and Scooter Crashes Are Rising in Fresno

Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera, the trauma center that receives most of the region’s injured kids, reports that e-bike and e-scooter injuries climbed from 11 in 2023 to 41 in 2025. In the first four months of 2026 the hospital had already treated nearly as many e-bike trauma cases as it did in all of 2025. Only about one in four of those riders was wearing a helmet, and riders under 18 account for roughly a third of the hospital’s e-bike trauma even though they are about a fifth of the population. Trauma physicians there describe the injuries as markedly worse than what they used to see from ordinary bicycles: traumatic brain injuries, facial fractures, and internal bleeding. (Valley Children’s, May 2026)

The spring of 2026 made the numbers concrete. In a two-week stretch, a 13-year-old was killed near Bullard and Palm, teenagers were hit at Shields and West, at Mayfair and Weldon, outside Edison High, and in downtown Fresno, and a man riding an e-bike was killed at Millbrook and Gettysburg. In July a Sunnyside High School student died after an e-scooter crash while leaving football practice. By the start of the 2026–27 school year, Fresno-area campuses were restricting e-bikes and scooters on school grounds. (ABC30, August 2026)

Most of the public conversation has been about rider behavior. That framing follows the crash into the insurance claim: the first thing an adjuster looks for is a reason to put the fault on the person on the scooter. Our job is to establish what the driver did, and to make the insurer answer for it.

Where Riders Get Hit in Fresno

Where the crash happened shapes the liability picture and tells us what evidence to go after first.

The arterials. Shaw, Blackstone, Bullard, Herndon, Cedar, and Kings Canyon carry 40–45 mph traffic alongside painted bike lanes with no physical separation. Every driveway, shopping center exit, and right-turn lane is a conflict point. The two crash patterns we see most on these streets are the right hook, where a driver turns right across a rider who is going straight in the bike lane, and the left cross, where a driver turning left misjudges how fast an e-bike is closing.

School corridors. The streets around Bullard, Edison, Sunnyside, and the other high schools see the highest concentration of young riders, usually in the 7–8 a.m. and 3–5 p.m. windows when traffic is heaviest. After-practice rides home in the fall happen at dusk, when a rider in dark clothing on a bike with a small rear light is close to invisible.

Campus and entertainment districts. Fresno State, Fresno City College, the Tower District, and downtown produce a different mix: rental and personal scooters, more pedestrians, more parked cars, and more doors opening into the bike lane.

Two-way stop intersections in residential Fresno. Many neighborhood crashes happen where a side street meets a through street with no signal. Sight lines are blocked by parked cars and fences, and a driver on the through street is often going well over the posted limit. Who had the right of way is rarely the whole story.

Who Can Be Held Responsible

The driver who hit you is the obvious defendant. In most of these cases there are others.

The driver. Turning left across your path without yielding (Vehicle Code §21801), cutting across a bike lane to turn right instead of merging into it first (§21717), passing an e-bike with less than three feet of clearance (§21760), opening a door into traffic (§22517), speeding, texting, or driving impaired. A DUI crash can also support punitive damages on top of ordinary compensation.

The vehicle’s owner or the driver’s employer. If the driver was working — a delivery van, a farm labor van, a company pickup — the employer is generally liable for the driver’s negligence, and a commercial policy with far higher limits comes into play. An owner who lent a car to someone they knew was unfit to drive can be liable for negligent entrustment.

A public entity. A bike lane that disappears without warning, a pothole that throws a rider into traffic, a signal that does not detect bicycles, or an intersection with a known sight-line problem can make the City of Fresno, the County, or Caltrans a defendant. These claims run on a six-month clock, covered below.

The manufacturer or seller. Brakes that fail, throttles that stick, forks or frames that snap, and lithium-ion batteries that ignite are product defect cases. As of January 1, 2026, every e-bike and battery sold in California must be certified to recognized safety standards, which gives us a clear benchmark. Our Fresno product liability attorneys handle these claims alongside the crash claim.

A rental or shared-scooter company. If you were on a rental scooter with worn brakes, a loose stem, or a dead headlight, the operator’s maintenance is on the table. Rental agreements usually contain arbitration clauses and waivers; we review them before advising you whether the company is a realistic defendant.

We also represent pedestrians who were hit by e-bike riders. The rider’s homeowner’s or renter’s policy often responds to those claims, and a parent’s policy may respond when the rider is a minor.

California E-Bike and Scooter Laws That Shape Your Claim

Insurers know these rules and will comb your file for a violation. You should know them first.

E-Bikes (Vehicle Code §312.5)

California recognizes three classes of electric bicycle, all limited to a 750-watt motor and fully operable pedals. Class 1 is pedal-assist up to 20 mph. Class 2 adds a throttle, still capped at 20 mph. Class 3 is pedal-assist up to 28 mph. An e-bike rider has the same rights and duties as a bicyclist. No license, registration, or insurance is required.

• Class 3: the rider must be at least 16, and every rider and passenger must wear a helmet regardless of age (§21213).
• All classes: anyone under 18 must wear a properly fitted helmet (§21212).
• Not an e-bike: anything over 750 watts, anything that assists past 28 mph, or a throttle-only device that goes past 20 mph. The Attorney General issued a consumer alert on these devices in April 2026. Many of the “e-bikes” sold to Fresno teenagers are actually electric motorcycles that legally require a license, registration, and a motorcycle helmet.

Electric Scooters (Vehicle Code §§407.5, 21235)

• The rider must hold a driver’s license or instruction permit of any class, which effectively sets a minimum age of 16.
• Riders under 18 must wear a bicycle helmet.
• No riding on the sidewalk, no passengers, and a 15 mph maximum (§22411) regardless of what the scooter can do.
• Use the bike lane where there is one. Where there is none, scooters may ride in the street only where the posted limit is 25 mph or less.
• Scooter DUI is a real offense (§21221.5).

What a Violation Means for Your Case

It does not end it. California uses pure comparative fault: your recovery is reduced by whatever percentage of fault a jury assigns to you, and it is never barred. A scooter rider on the sidewalk who is hit by a driver backing out of a driveway without looking still has a claim against that driver.

Helmet arguments are the most common. An adult on a Class 1 or Class 2 e-bike or on a scooter is not required to wear one, and even where a helmet was required, the insurer has to prove with medical evidence that the helmet would have prevented the specific injury. That is a damages argument, not a defense to the crash.

When the rider is a child, California generally measures their conduct against what a reasonably careful child of the same age and experience would have done, not against an adult standard. Insurers routinely ignore this. We do not.

What Makes These Cases Different

There is usually no insurance on your side of the crash. E-bikes and scooters carry no liability policy, so the at-fault driver’s auto insurance is the first source of recovery. California’s minimum policy is $30,000 per person, which a single night at Community Regional can exceed. When the driver’s limits run out, we look at every other policy that might respond: the employer’s commercial coverage, an umbrella policy, and the uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage on your own auto policy or a household member’s. UM/UIM coverage generally protects you and the relatives living with you even when you were on a bike or on foot, not in the insured car. Most riders do not know this.

Hit-and-run has its own rules. If the driver fled, your UM coverage can stand in for the missing driver, but the policy will require physical contact with the vehicle, a police report within 24 hours, and written notice to your insurer within 30 days. Miss those and the coverage can disappear. Our Fresno hit-and-run attorneys handle these claims, and our page on uninsured driver accidents explains the coverage in more detail.

The evidence is different. Rental scooters log GPS, speed, and timestamps for every trip; that data can prove you were in the bike lane at 12 mph when the driver says you shot out of nowhere, but the company will not hand it over without a demand. Many e-bikes and their companion apps keep ride data too. Business cameras along Blackstone, Shaw, and Bullard record most of what happens on those streets and overwrite within days. The device itself is evidence: do not repair it, sell it, or throw it away.

The insurer will try the case against you. Speed, helmet, sidewalk, the legality of the device, whether a teenager should have been riding at all. We expect every one of those arguments and build the file to answer them before the adjuster raises them.

Common E-Bike and Scooter Injuries

A rider hit at 35 mph has no crumple zone. The injuries we see most:

• Traumatic brain injury, including concussions without loss of consciousness, subdural hematomas, and skull fractures. Symptoms often surface days later. Our Fresno brain injury lawyers handle these claims.
• Fractures of the wrist, forearm, collarbone, hip, femur, and pelvis, frequently requiring surgical hardware.
• Facial and dental injuries from going over the handlebars.
• Road rash and degloving, which can require skin grafts and leave permanent scarring.
• Spinal injuries, from herniated discs to partial or complete paralysis.
• Internal bleeding and organ damage, which can be life-threatening and are easy to miss at the scene.

When a crash is fatal, surviving family members have a separate claim. Our Fresno wrongful death attorneys handle those cases with the care they demand.

What to Do After an E-Bike or Scooter Crash in Fresno

1. Call 911 and get a report. Fresno Police or CHP will document the scene. Give the facts you know and nothing more; do not speculate about your own speed or fault. Get the report number.
2. Get checked out, even if you think you are fine. Adrenaline hides head and internal injuries. A gap between the crash and your first medical visit is the first thing the adjuster will use against you.
3. Get the driver’s information — name, license, plate, insurance — and the contact information of every witness. Witnesses leave; get it before they do.
4. Photograph everything. The car, the point of impact, the bike lane, the driveway, the signal, your bike or scooter, your injuries, your clothing.
5. Preserve the device. Do not repair, sell, or discard the e-bike or scooter. If it was a rental, screenshot the trip in the app before you close it.
6. Do not give a recorded statement to the driver’s insurer, and do not accept a quick offer. The first offer arrives before anyone knows what the injuries are.
7. Stay off social media about the crash. Insurers look.
8. Call us at (833) 200-7111. Camera footage and rental data disappear on their own schedule, not yours.

Deadlines That Apply

California gives you two years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit (Code of Civil Procedure §335.1). If a public entity shares fault — a city bus, a county truck, a dangerous road condition — you must first file an administrative claim with that entity within six months (Government Code §911.2). Missing it can end the claim against the government regardless of how strong it is.

For an injured child, the two-year deadline on claims against private defendants generally does not begin to run until the child turns 18. The six-month government claim window is not extended the same way. When a child is hurt, we treat the government deadline as live from day one.

What You Can Recover

• All medical costs — emergency care, surgery, rehabilitation, and future treatment
• Lost income and diminished earning capacity
• Pain and suffering, emotional distress, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life
• Replacement of the e-bike or scooter and any damaged gear
• For families, wrongful death damages when a crash is fatal

Getting full value depends on documenting every loss, valuing future care and non-economic harm accurately, and being ready to try the case when the offer falls short.

Why Choose The Wagner Law Group

Nicholas “Butch” Wagner has been trying cases in California courts since 1983 and remains personally involved in the cases this firm takes. Insurance companies track which attorneys try cases and which ones settle everything. That reputation changes a negotiation before it starts.

• No fee unless we win — nothing upfront, ever
• 42+ years representing California injury victims
• $300 million+ recovered for clients
• Rated 4.7 stars across 90+ verified Google reviews
• A local Fresno firm — we know these streets, these courts, and these juries, and we can meet with you in person

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is unique and must be evaluated on its own facts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I still recover if I wasn’t wearing a helmet?

Yes. Adults are not required to wear a helmet on a Class 1 or Class 2 e-bike or on a scooter. Where a helmet was required, the most the insurer can do is argue that your head injury would have been less severe with one, and it has to prove that with medical evidence. Even then, your recovery is reduced, not eliminated.

My child was hit while riding an e-bike. Do we have a case?

Very likely. A parent or guardian can bring the claim on the child’s behalf. Insurers often argue the child should not have been riding at all; California measures a child’s conduct against what a reasonably careful child of that age would do, and the driver’s duty to look before turning does not change because the rider is 14. Settlements for minors are reviewed and approved by the court, which we handle.

I was on a rental scooter. Who pays?

The driver who hit you and their insurer, first. If the scooter itself malfunctioned, the rental company’s maintenance becomes part of the case, though rental agreements usually contain arbitration clauses that we review before deciding how to proceed. The company’s trip data is valuable evidence either way and we request it early.

I was riding on the sidewalk when a car hit me. Does that end my claim?

No. Sidewalk riding is a violation for scooters, and the insurer will assign you some percentage of fault for it. But a driver pulling across a sidewalk out of a driveway or parking lot is required to look, and most of the fault usually lands on the driver. Under California’s comparative fault rule your recovery is reduced by your share, not barred.

The driver took off. What are my options?

Report to police within 24 hours, get medical care, and notify your own auto insurer in writing within 30 days. The uninsured motorist coverage on your policy, or on the policy of a relative you live with, can pay for your injuries as if the fleeing driver had been insured. We also pursue camera footage and witness leads to identify the driver.

The e-bike’s brakes failed or the battery caught fire. Is that a case?

Yes. Those are product liability claims against the manufacturer, distributor, and seller, and they can be brought together with a claim against a driver. Keep the bike, the battery, the charger, and every receipt.

I don’t own a car or have auto insurance. Does that matter?

The at-fault driver’s insurance still covers your injuries. If you live with a relative who has auto insurance, their uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage may also protect you. If neither exists, we look at the driver’s assets, the employer, and any other responsible party.

The bike I was riding may not have been a legal e-bike. Does that hurt my case?

It can complicate it, because a device over 750 watts or faster than 28 mph is treated as a motorcycle, with different licensing and equipment rules. It does not excuse the driver who failed to yield. Tell us exactly what you were riding so we can plan for the argument before the insurer makes it.

I’m a pedestrian who was hit by someone on an e-bike. Can you help?

Yes. The rider is responsible for injuries their negligence causes, and their homeowner’s or renter’s policy, or a parent’s policy if the rider is a minor, may cover the claim.

What does it cost to hire an e-bike accident lawyer?

Nothing upfront. We work on contingency: no attorney’s fees unless we recover for you, and our fee comes out of the settlement or verdict. We advance the case costs.

How long do I have to file?

Two years from the crash for most claims. Six months to file an administrative claim if a government entity is involved. Evidence disappears far faster than either deadline, so the useful answer is: call now.

Serving Fresno and the Central Valley

We represent injured riders throughout Fresno — including the 93701, 93702, 93703, 93704, 93705, 93706, 93710, 93711, 93720, 93721, 93722, 93723, 93725, 93726, 93727, 93728, and 93730 ZIP codes — and the surrounding region, including Clovis (93611, 93612, 93619), Madera, Visalia, Hanford, Tulare, Reedley, Selma, Sanger, and Kerman.

Call (833) 200-7111 or contact us below. Your consultation is free and confidential, and you owe nothing unless we win.

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