Florida Injury Lawyer Blawg
As Ira Leesfield, Founder and Managing Partner of Leesfield & Partners, continues to sound the alarm on e-bike-related injuries, the trend shows no signs of slowing in South Florida.
“This isn’t about banning innovation, it’s about protecting people,” said the National Board of Trial Advocacy–certified attorney.
Data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission showed that there were 117,600 injuries from these devices treated in emergency rooms from 2017 to 2021. In that time, 25% of these incidents involved young people from 15 to 24 years old. From 2020 to 2021, the agency found that there was a 66% increase in injuries as the popularity of these devices continued to soar.
Mr. Leesfield has been raising concerns related to e-bikes and related devices since at least 2019 — just before their pandemic-era popularity boom. His concerns about e-bikes and e-scooters reflect many of the issues lawmakers are grappling with today. Currently, there are few meaningful regulations governing who can operate e-bikes, and there are no consistent requirements for licensing or insurance — creating a significant gap in public safety, according to Mr. Leesfield.
“From viral videos of riders topping 30 miles per hour in traffic, to statistics showing children injured at disproportionate rates, the need for meaningful regulation is urgent,” he said. “We must do more than hope people act safely — we must enact laws that ensure it.”
The Sun Sentinel reported a spike in e-bike accidents at Memorial Healthcare System in southern Broward County with more severe injuries. There was a 178% increase in e-bike and e-scooter trauma alerts from 2024 to 2025. Helmet use among those who were injured is low with 82% of those injured reporting that they were not wearing helmets at the time of their accident.
At 30 mph, these micromobility devices are causing far more injuries than a traditional bicycle, posing a risk not only to those who are using them but also to unsuspecting pedestrians on the sidewalk. A well-known Coconut Grove couple. The husband and wife were hit from behind by an e-dirt-bike rider, causing life-long injuries.
While Florida lawmakers passed Senate Bill 382, which now awaits the governor’s signature to become law, the new rules are not expansive enough to protect pedestrians. It will create statewide rules for micromobility devices, including data collection on crashes and the creation of a task force to study this issue for further safety measures. It will also create speed limits near pedestrians. It does not impose a statewide minimum age to operate micromobility devices, nor does it require operators to have a driver’s license, insurance, or vehicle registration. Local governments, however, may adopt their own requirements to combat a growing number of injuries and accidents involving young people and minors by imposing age limits or ID requirements by ordinance.
“If they are trying to pass legislation in Tallahassee, I think it has to be more expansive than this,” Mr. Leesfield previously told reporters with Coconut Grove Spotlight. “I think the legislation needs to include safety provisions and rules for the users.”
Leesfield & Partners
Leesfield & Partners is a 50-year law firm handling all manner of personal injury cases throughout Florida. Operating out of a state with some of the highest crash rates in the country, our attorneys have seen just about every injury that can occur on the road.
In five decades of practice, the firm has secured millions on behalf of injured cyclists and pedestrians. In a bid to raise awareness about road and pedestrian safety, Mr. Leesfield has periodically posted public safety advisories on the digital board outside of the firm’s Miami office, which sits on U.S. 1 and is seen by thousands of commuters each day. Additionally, Mr. Leesfield has also teamed up with organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and Friends of The Underline through his charitable organization, The Leesfield Family Foundation.
The firm is currently representing a 21-year-old man who was severely injured on an e-scooter. As a result, he suffered a serious gash to his forehead and fractured his left arm.
This case is being handled by Partner Justin B. Shapiro.
Trial Attorney Bernardo Pimentel II is representing a man who was ejected from his bicycle following a Monroe County crash with a commercial truck driver.
“This driver’s one moment of inattention has left my client with life-altering injuries,” Mr. Pimentel said. “This frightening incident has left him in severe pain, causing a disruption to his daily life and happiness.”
Previous Cases
A case involving a bicyclist who was hit while stopped on the shoulder of the Overseas Highway in Key West resulted in a $5,350,000 settlement for the client. In that case, the bicyclist who was stopped on the side of the road was hit by a driver who was distracted by their car’s GPS.
A pedestrian-involved incident handled by the firm resulted in the maximum recovery amount of $6 million awarded to our injured client. In that case, a woman was walking back to her office following a mid-day break when she was struck by a truck making an illegal left turn whose driver claimed not to see her in the marked crosswalk. The woman had severe injuries including skull fractures and brain hemorrhages as a result of the driver’s negligence.
For a Toronto family, a vacation to Fort Myers turned into a nightmare after a pickup truck driver failed to see a young wife and mother attempting to cross the street. Leesfield & Partners attorneys recovered an $8.5 million settlement for the family following a $27 million arbitration award.
Another pedestrian-involved incident handled by the firm resulted in a $2.9 million recovery.
The firm previously recovered $3 million for a mother and son injured in a bicycle incident.
