Folsom E-Bike Accident Lawyer

Child & Jackson can help you after a bicycle accident in Folsom. The vast majority of bicycle accidents involve your traditional bikes. In recent years, though, electric bicycles (e-bikes) have become more popular. Unfortunately, the differences that come with e-bikes don’t prevent accidents from happening, and like regular bicycle accidents, they can be serious when you’re the one riding. We can help you understand your options and what’s ahead. Set up a free consultation today to learn more.

Why a Lawyer Makes Sense After an E-Bike Accident in Folsom

An e-bike accident has a lot of similarities with a regular bicycle accident. But with an e-bike, there’s usually other factors at play. There’s higher speeds and different physics, which means that injuries and other problems are only increased with an e-bike accident.

If that’s happened to you, it makes sense to talk to our Folsom bicycle accident team. When you decide to sit down with us, we’ll help you with:

Understanding your rights so you know what to expect.
Figuring out what caused the accident and who might be responsible.
Handling the back-and-forth with the insurance company so you don’t have to.
Helping you get pictures, witness statements, police reports, medical records, and other evidence to support your claim.
Guiding you through the claims process, whether that’s outside of court or at trial.

Just like a regular bicycle accident, the last thing you need after an e-bike accident is more stress. Our goal is to make things easier for you while you focus on getting better. That’s not always easy, but with our team, you don’t have to go through it alone.

How E-Bike Accidents in Folsom Are Different

It’s pretty easy to understand why e-bikes are different from regular bicycles. They have a motor, battery that’s usually rechargeable, navigation, and control systems that give you, the rider, more of a push than a regular bike.

Because of this, they’re approached a bit differently in terms of rules and regulations. Namely, California divides e-bikes into three different classes:

Class 1. These are pedal-assist e-bikes. The motor provides assistance only while the rider is pedaling and stops providing assistance when the bike reaches 20 MPH.
Class 2. These e-bikes have a motor that can provide assistance without pedaling, generally through a throttle. The motor stops providing assistance once the bike reaches 20 MPH.
Class 3. These are pedal-assist e-bikes that can provide motor assistance up to 28 MPH. California places additional rules on Class 3 e-bikes, including age and equipment requirements, and their use on certain lanes and paths can be restricted.

These differences matter after an accident. What class your e-bike is, where you were riding, what other drivers or riders were doing, and how you were riding are all going to play into a potential claim. Everything starts with getting good information, though.

Information That Can Help After an E-Bike Accident

The seconds and minutes after an e-bike accident in Folsom can be important when it comes to preserving evidence. The problem is that you’re also dealing with pain, confusion, and possibly serious injuries. Your first priority should always be your health and safety, so call 911 to report the accident. That should get an ambulance and police to the scene to help, but from there, it’s a good opportunity to try get a few basic things:

Pictures and videos of:
- Damage to your e-bike, the vehicle involved, and damaged gear such as your helmet or phone
- Where your e-bike, the vehicle, and any debris came to rest
- Skid marks, broken bike parts, debris, or dangerous road conditions
- Bike lanes, shared-use paths, traffic signals, crosswalks, and road signs
- Weather, lighting, and road conditions
- Any visible injuries

Contact information from other drivers, pedestrians, riders, or people nearby
The driver’s name, driver’s license information, contact information, and insurance details

While that largely takes care of the scene, you have to also think about information that’s going to start coming in later, like:

Medical records that connect your injuries to the accident
The police report from the responding officer that officially documents it
Camera footage from nearby traffic cameras, security cameras, doorbell cameras, or dashcams.
Repair estimates for your e-bike or any other property damage.

You might not be able to collect all of this evidence yourself, and that’s okay. Most people leave an e-bike accident focused on getting medical treatment, not documenting every detail. That’s where we come in. These pieces of evidence can become the foundation of your claim, and our team can help collect records, track down footage, and investigate what caused the accident.

Who Pays For My Injuries in an E-Bike Accident?

This is an important question to answer when you’re in an e-bike accident, because it’s likely that you’re looking at pretty serious injuries and other challeneges—just like you would in a regular bicycle accident.

And just like a regular bicycle accident, the way you figure out who has to pay for your injuries and other losses comes down to negligence, or showing that:

Someone either did something or failed to do something that led directly to the accident and your injuries.

In the context of an e-bike accident, that usually falls on:

Drivers who were distracted, speeding, driving under the influence, failed to yield, or simply weren’t paying attention to an e-bike rider.
Government agencies or property owners if a dangerous road, trail, bike path, or other unsafe condition played a role in the accident.
Other cyclists, pedestrians, or e-bike riders whose careless actions caused the collision.
Companies that made the e-bike or its parts if a defective motor, battery, brake, tire, or other part caused the accident.

In real life, there isn’t always one obvious cause to an e-bike accident. But one way or the other, this is the starting point in the process of getting financial help relating to the accident itself.

What Financial Help Can I Get After an E-Bike Accident

With an e-bike accident, you’re going to need help dealing with the aftermath. Thinking about all the doctor’s appointments, missed work, e-bike repairs, and general changes that come after one of these accidents is pretty overwhelming, but these things are also exactly what the claims process is designed to help with.

But the way you actually get this help isn’t any different than a normal bike accident. You can either:

File an insurance claim outside of court.
File a personal injury lawsuit.

Basically, your rights and options don’t change. So once a claim is filed, the focus turns to your damages. With a typical e-bike accident, your damages might include costs associated with your:

Medical expenses, both current and future
Lost income
Reduced earning capacity
E-bike repairs or replacement
Damaged riding gear
Pain and suffering
Emotional distress
Reduced quality of life
Funeral and burial expenses in fatal accident cases

In California, you generally have two years from the date of an accident to file a personal injury lawsuit. Claims involving a government agency can have different and much shorter deadlines, so it’s important to act quickly if a public roadway, trail, facility, or government vehicle was involved. One way or the other, though, we want to be there to help you from the beginning.