In cities and college campuses all over the nation, pedestrians are competing for sidewalk space with motorized scooters. Unfortunately, this means that accidents with e-scooters are also on the rise. Many of these accidents involve the riders of e-scooters themselves, which companies like Lime and Bird recommend wearing a helmet while riding. However, a fair few of the accidents also involve collisions between scooter riders and pedestrians as well as pedestrians tripping over discarded scooters. There are no concrete numbers regarding the number of pedestrians who are injured due to Bird or Lime scooters, but Emergency Department physicians say that pedestrians injured by scooters have surged.
11 Alive reports that police are looking for a man who allegedly caused a woman’s broken ankle with a Bird scooter.
On April 27, Allison Pearce was riding her bicycle in the two-way bike lanes on 10th Street. She called out to a man occupying the lanes with his friend. The man had a Bird scooter. The only reason that she called out to him was to ask them to move out of the way. Instead, the man deliberately blocked her way with his scooter.
She was forced to veer out of the way and into traffic, where she fell from her bike and broke her ankle.
Atlanta Police Department investigators are looking for the man who caused the accident. However, Bird is refusing to release information that would identify the man. Bird states that the man’s attorney has filed a motion with the court not to release the man’s information.
Witnesses caught a photo of the man; which Atlanta police have released. Police are searching for the the scooter driver.
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