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Hit on an e-scooter or e-bike in NJ: whose insurance pays my doctors?

By Sandra H. Brown, Injuries Cases Autos research. Updated

Often not your own car insurance. New Jersey's Supreme Court ruled in 2024 that a person riding a low-speed electric scooter is not a "pedestrian," so the medical part of their car policy (PIP) owed nothing. Your health insurance and the insurance of the driver who caused it are the usual routes.

Hit by a car on a scooter or e-bike in New Jersey? A short questionnaire checks whether a lawyer's office may review what happened for free.

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Does my car insurance pay if I was on a scooter or e-bike?

It depends on what you were riding. NJ PIP pays people in a car or "as a pedestrian," and a pedestrian is anyone not on a vehicle "propelled by other than muscular power" built mainly for roads.1

Does a household car policy's PIP pay your medical bills?1
What you were onPIP as a "pedestrian"?
Pedal bicycleYes. NJ courts treat a bicycle rider as a pedestrian (Darel, 1989).
Low-speed electric scooterNo (Goyco, 2024): a scooter with a motor, headlight and speedometer is a road vehicle.
Moped or motor bike under motor powerNo (Nunag, 1988; Lane, 1984).
Pedal-assist e-bikeNot decided in the rulings we read. Expect the insurer to ask whether the motor was helping.
Walking beside your scooterBy the statute's wording, yes: you were not on it.

In Goyco, the rider had his own car policy and still got no PIP. The Court said widening "pedestrian" to scooter riders is a choice for the Legislature, not the courts.

What did the 2026 NJ e-bike law change?

Registration and licensing, not who pays your doctors. The Motor Vehicle Commission splits e-bikes into two kinds, with new rules effective July 2026.2

  • Low-speed electric bicycle: pedal assist only, up to 20 mph. Must be registered; no insurance required.
  • Motorized bicycle: throttle models and faster pedal assist, up to 28 mph. Must be registered and insured.
  • Every rider: at least 15, with an e-bike license or a driver's license.

The insurance a motorized bicycle needs is liability insurance. It pays people the rider hurts, not the rider's own bills.3

What went wrong for two NJ riders?

Two of the four riders in our set of returned cases, in short.

What went wrong: three things at once. No PIP to pay a doctor, no medical record, and a fault finding against him. The lawyer handed it back.

The NJ rule: being partly at fault does not end a claim unless you were more to blame than the driver.4

What to do: see a doctor even without insurance, and get the police report before accepting "your fault" as final; see the NJ 51 percent rule.

What he didn't know: no car was involved, so this was never a car claim. It was a claim about something hanging over a public road, and he signed with a lawyer 324 days later.

The NJ rule: a claim against a town, county or the state needs written notice within 90 days. A judge may allow it up to one year late only for "extraordinary circumstances."5

What to do: find out who owns the thing that threw you (town, county, state or a utility) and put it in writing fast; see the NJ tort claim notice.

What if nobody has car insurance, or the driver drove off?

Check your household first. In NJ crash calls we reviewed, 42% of people did not know whether they had uninsured motorist (UM) coverage.6

  • Ask the insurer of any car policy in your home, in writing, whether its UM part covers you as a rider. Our sources do not settle that.
  • If the driver fled and cannot be found, the state fund (UCJF) can sometimes be sued, but written notice is due within 180 days.7
  • A scooter rider with a broken leg and no insurance on either side waited over a year to call; his story is on what the UCJF is.

What should I do in the first week?

Build the record a car occupant would get without trying.

  1. Get a police report. Only 28% of NJ callers we reviewed had a witness's name and number, so ask anyone who stopped.6
  2. See a doctor and say how it happened.
  3. Keep the scooter or e-bike unrepaired, with its model, motor size and top speed noted.
  4. Photograph the spot, any wire, hole or broken pavement, and the car.
  5. Find the declarations page of every car policy in your home.

Plain bicycle crashes, where PIP does pay, are covered in NJ bicycle accident claim help.

Questions people ask

What happens if you are hit by an e-scooter?

If you were on foot, your PIP pays only for injuries "caused by an automobile," and a scooter is not one. The claim is against the rider; a motorized bicycle rider must now carry liability insurance.

Do e-bikes have to be insured in NJ?

Only motorized bicycles, meaning throttle models and pedal assist faster than 20 mph. Low-speed pedal-assist e-bikes must be registered but need no insurance, per the Motor Vehicle Commission.

Can I still sue the driver who hit me?

Yes. A claim against the driver who caused it does not depend on PIP. You have two years to sue, and a road-defect claim against a public body needs notice within 90 days.5

Does a pothole crash on a scooter count?

It is a claim against the road's owner, not a car claim. Notice, proof and limits are in can I sue the town for a pothole in NJ.

Hurt on a scooter or e-bike by a driver in New Jersey? Answer a few questions and a lawyer's office may review it for free.

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Advertisement. Opens the New Jersey questionnaire. Review its policies and contact consent before submitting your details. No legal advice or guarantee of acceptance or compensation.

How the other driver's fault and your PIP fit together is on our guide to New Jersey no-fault insurance, and the general first steps are in what to do after a New Jersey car accident.

Sources

  1. NJ Supreme Court, Goyco v. Progressive Insurance Co., A-12-23 (May 14, 2024), quoting N.J.S.A. 39:6A-2(a), 39:6A-2(h) and 39:6A-4, and citing Darel v. Pa. Mfrs. Ass'n Ins. Co., 114 N.J. 416 (1989), Nunag v. Pa. Nat. Mut. Cas. Ins. Co., 224 N.J. Super. 753 (App. Div. 1988) and Lane v. Prudential, 196 N.J. Super. 504 (App. Div. 1984).
  2. NJ Motor Vehicle Commission, E-Bike Requirements, "New E-bike Requirements Effective July 2026".
  3. DOBI, Buyer's Guide 2026, p. 2 (what liability coverage pays).
  4. N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1 (comparative negligence), as verified in our NJ primary-source fact base.
  5. N.J.S.A. 59:8-8 and 59:8-9 (notice of claim against a public body), Justia 2025 edition; N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2 (two years).
  6. Injuries Cases Autos analysis of 584 NJ car-accident intake conversations, 2023 to 2026, and 138 signed NJ cases a lawyer later handed back.
  7. N.J.S.A. 39:6-65 and 39:6-78 (UCJF notice within 180 days; suit when the driver cannot be identified), Justia 2025 edition.
How we counted
  • Rider cases: 4 of 138 signed cases a lawyer later handed back (2023 to 2026) involved an e-scooter, a scooter, an e-bike or a gas-powered bike. Returned cases are failed cases, not typical ones.
  • The 2024 ruling covers a low-speed electric scooter; how courts treat pedal-assist e-bikes was not decided in the rulings we read.
  • General information, not legal advice.