Lawsuit Over Lime Scooter Accident Alleges Instruction To Ride in Streets Violate Local Laws

A Florida resident was hospitalized and left in a vegetative state after being struck by a car while riding a Lime scooter, according to a lawsuit that alleges the rental company provided dangerous instructions that indicated the scooter should be operated in the street, which is a violation of Florida’s law. 

According to a report published last week by the Washington Post, the mother of a 28-year-old Fort Lauderdale woman filed a lawsuit over the Lime scooter accident last week, claiming that her daughter was negligently instructed to operate the electric scooter on a public roadway.

In late December 2018, 28-year-old Ashanti Jordan had just ended her shift at Broward General Medical Center and decided to rent a Lime scooter to make the four mile journey home. Roughly half way home, Jordan was struck by a Toyota Corolla at an intersection of a residential area, and thrown nearly 100 feet. As a result of the accident, she was left her with broken bones, rib fractures and a severe brain injuries.

Roughly six weeks after the accident, Jordan remains in a coma and has begun suffering from seizures, forcing her to remain in the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU).

Her mother, Tracy Jordan, told local news sources that the lawsuit was filed against the popular scooter ride-sharing service Lime, claiming the manufacturers terms of agreement instructed Ashanti to ride the scooter on the street, which is a violation of local laws, resulting in her daughters catastrophic collision.

The Lime scooter lawsuit alleges that the app includes language specifically instructing users “Do not ride on the sidewalk.” Users must agree to these terms before they can activate the scooters, forcing them to violate Florida laws prohibiting the use of electric scooters on the street.

The complaint notes that the instructions not to ride the scooters on a side walk appear three times within Lime’s terms of agreement, and also appears on a printed label located on the outside of the scooter.

Since scooter rental services became popular among almost every major city in the U.S. within the last two years, at least 1,500 electric scooter accidents have resulted in serious injuries, including a number of deaths nationwide.

There are growing concerns over rental scooter injury risks nationwide, as the devices are not as stable as bicycles due to shorter wheelbases and smaller wheels, which may make riders vulnerable to imperfections in concrete or pavement. Along with roadway imperfections, and other possible hazards, safety officials claim riders are not properly equipped with the right safety gear to protect them.

The electric scooters reach up to speeds of 15 miles per hour, which has taken some riders by surprise and can lead to a variety of injuries. A recent revealed that just over 40 percent of scooter-related injuries were to user’s heads, followed by fractures and soft tissue injury.

As a result of growing injury reports and concerns, several lawsuits have been filed against rental scooter companies, including an electric scooter class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of eight plaintiffs in the Los Angeles Superior Court in October 2018, claiming the scooters are being put on the streets nationwide without adequate risk warnings, instructions or safety measures. The complaint names Bird, Lime, as well as the scooter manufacturers Segway and Xiaomi, as defendants.