E-Scooters and E-Bikes in Metro Atlanta: What Georgia Law Says About Safety and Liability

Shared electric scooters and e-bikes have become a fixture of getting around Atlanta — a quick way to cover the last mile from a MARTA station, a way to beat traffic downtown, or simply a fun ride on the BeltLine. Forsyth County has its own version of the trend on the Big Creek Greenway and in newer mixed-use developments, where personal e-bikes now share paths that used to see mostly pedestrians and traditional cyclists. The convenience is real. So is the injury risk, and most riders have no idea what Georgia law actually requires — or who is supposed to pay if something goes wrong.

A Fast-Growing Cause of Injuries

Micromobility injuries have climbed sharply nationwide. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, emergency-department visits tied to micromobility products — e-scooters, e-bikes, and hoverboards — rose from roughly 29,000 in 2020 to more than 115,000 in 2024, and the agency’s multi-year data (2017–2023) found e-scooters accounted for nearly half of all micromobility-related ER visits, with head injuries a leading category. Children under 14 make up a growing share of those injuries as well. Riders are colliding with cars, hitting potholes and curbs, and going down on wet pavement — often without a helmet, since Georgia law doesn’t require one for adult riders.

What Georgia Law Actually Requires

Under Georgia’s Uniform Rules of the Road, most shared stand-up scooters are classified as electric personal assistive mobility devices (EPAMDs). Georgia Code § 40-6-320 sets the basic rules: EPAMDs may only be operated on a road where the posted speed limit is 35 mph or lower, or in a designated bike lane, and riders must yield the right-of-way to pedestrians. A helmet is legally required only for riders under 16 (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-296) — adults can legally ride helmetless, even though a helmet is one of the few things that meaningfully reduces the severity of a head injury in a fall or collision. Georgia’s DUI law also applies to EPAMDs (O.C.G.A. § 40-6-326), so riding one while impaired carries the same criminal exposure as driving a car.

Locally, the City of Atlanta layers its own ordinance on top of state law: scooters and dockless e-bikes may not be ridden on sidewalks, operators must be permitted to deploy devices at all, and the Atlanta Police Department actively enforces both riding and parking rules. That combination of state and municipal rules trips up a lot of visitors and even longtime residents who assume a scooter is basically a toy with no rules attached.

Who’s Liable When a Scooter or E-Bike Rider Gets Hurt?

Liability after a scooter or e-bike crash depends heavily on how the crash happened, and Georgia’s modified comparative negligence rule means fault gets divided — and your recovery reduced — in proportion to your own share of the blame:

A driver hit you. This is treated like any other car accident or pedestrian accident claim — the at-fault driver’s auto liability insurance is the primary source of compensation.
A road or path defect caused the fall. A pothole, broken pavement, or a hazard on a path maintained by a government entity or private property owner can raise a premises liability claim, though claims against a city or county come with strict notice deadlines that don’t apply to an ordinary crash.
The scooter itself malfunctioned — brakes that failed, a throttle that stuck — which can point toward the rental company or a manufacturer.
The at-fault driver has no insurance, or not enough. This is more common than most riders expect, and it’s where your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage can matter most — many drivers don’t realize that UM coverage on their personal auto policy can apply even when they were riding a scooter, not driving their car, at the time of the crash.

Georgia doesn’t require scooter riders to carry their own insurance, and most people renting a scooter for a 10-minute ride have none. Rental companies typically carry some liability coverage and ask riders to accept a waiver when they open the app, but that waiver generally doesn’t bar a claim against a negligent driver or a defective device — it mainly limits claims against the company itself.

If You’re Hurt on a Scooter or E-Bike

A few steps protect both your health and any later claim: get medical care right away, even for injuries that seem minor at first (head and wrist injuries in particular can be worse than they initially feel); call police to the scene so there’s an official report, especially if a car was involved; photograph the scene, the scooter or e-bike, and any road defect before it’s repaired or the device is removed; and save the rental app’s trip data and any in-app photos, since that record can disappear once the ride is closed out. Georgia generally gives injured people two years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit, but evidence like skid marks, road conditions, and witness memory fades fast — the earlier a claim is looked at, the stronger it tends to be.

Free Consultation — We’re Here When You Need Us

If you were hurt while riding — or by someone riding — an e-scooter or e-bike in the Atlanta area, Diana Swain has handled Georgia injury cases from both sides of the courtroom, having worked as a Fulton County prosecutor before representing injury victims. Swain Injury Law works on a contingency basis — no fee unless we win — and if we miss your call, an attorney will call you callback within 10 minutes during business hours for injury inquiries. Reach us anytime at (470) 213-5095, learn more on our Cumming personal injury lawyer page, or reach out through our contact page.

Sources

This article is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every situation is different — talk to a lawyer about yours.