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What the Driver Owed You
An e-bike rider is not a lesser road user in Florida, and the statutes say so directly. Fla. Stat. § 316.20655(1) gives an electric bicycle and its operator “all the rights and privileges, and … all of the duties, of a bicycle or the operator of a bicycle, including s. 316.2065,” and states that “an electric bicycle is a vehicle to the same extent as a bicycle.”
Fla. Stat. § 316.2065(1) then provides that a person propelling a vehicle by human power “has all of the rights and all of the duties applicable to the driver of any other vehicle under this chapter.” So a driver owes a rider what they owe any other vehicle on the road — and on top of that, § 316.130(15) requires every driver to “exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian or any person propelling a human-powered vehicle and give warning when necessary.”
One duty is written for e-bikes by name rather than reaching them through the bridge provision. Fla. Stat. § 316.083(2) and (3) require a driver overtaking “the bicycle or other nonmotorized vehicle or electric bicycle” to pass “at a safe distance of not less than 3 feet.” The words “electric bicycle” appear in the subsection itself, added when the Legislature revisited the passing rule.
How These Collisions Actually Happen
Most car-versus-e-bike collisions fall into a small number of patterns, and each has a statute attached to it. Knowing which pattern yours was is the fastest route to knowing which duty was breached.
| Pattern | The Duty It Engages |
|---|---|
| Unsafe pass | A driver overtakes with less than 3 feet of clearance, or at a speed that makes the gap meaningless. Fla. Stat. § 316.083(2), (3). |
| Left cross | An oncoming driver turns left across the rider's path. Fla. Stat. § 316.122 requires them to yield to any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction. See left-cross collisions. |
| Right hook | A driver overtakes and immediately turns right across the rider. Under Fla. Stat. § 316.151(1)(a)2. the turn is permitted only if the bicycle is at least 20 feet from the intersection. See right-hook collisions. |
| Dooring | A door is opened into the rider's path. Fla. Stat. § 316.2005 permits opening a door only when it is “reasonably safe to do so.” See dooring accidents. |
| Failure to yield at a driveway or intersection | A driver pulls out across a rider who had the right of way. The ordinary right-of-way rules of chapter 316 apply, because § 316.20655(1) makes the rider a vehicle operator. |
| Rear-end | A driver strikes a rider from behind, most often at night or where a bicycle lane ends. Lighting under § 316.2065(7) becomes part of the analysis. |
David I. Shiner, Esq.
Founder, Shiner Law Group · AV Preeminent® rated · Florida Bar member since 2002
David I. Shiner founded Shiner Law Group and has been a member of The Florida Bar since 2002. He is a graduate of Nova Southeastern University’s law school and holds an AV Preeminent® rating from Martindale-Hubbell. The firm represents injured people across Florida from offices in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Pierce, Orlando, Wellington, and Belle Glade, and handles these cases on a contingency basis with free consultations and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
What to Do After Being Hit by a Car
- Get medical care, even if you can walk away. Head, neck, and internal injuries often present hours later, and a gap between the crash and the first medical record is the most common argument an insurer makes against causation.
- Get law enforcement to the scene and get the report number. Under Fla. Stat. § 316.066(2)(a) the crash report is confidential for 60 days, but § 316.066(2)(b) lets you obtain it as a party within that window.
- Photograph the vehicle's final position, your bicycle, and the lane. Where an unsafe pass is alleged, the width of the lane and the position of the debris field are what make the 3-foot question answerable.
- Photograph the classification label on your bicycle. Fla. Stat. § 316.20655(3) requires it to show the classification number, top assisted speed, and motor wattage. What the machine was becomes contested later.
- Get witness names and numbers before anyone leaves.
- Preserve the bicycle. Do not repair it. If any component failed in the impact, the machine is the evidence.
- Say nothing about fault to the other driver's insurer until you have spoken to a lawyer. See what to do after a crash.
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What Decides Fault, and What Cannot Be Used Against You
Under Fla. Stat. § 768.81(2) a rider's own share of fault reduces the award proportionately, and under § 768.81(6) a party “found to be greater than 50 percent at fault for his or her own harm may not recover any damages.” A defense does not have to prove the rider caused the crash. It only has to push the apportionment past halfway, which is why the arguments below get made in almost every case.
| The Argument | What the Statute Says |
|---|---|
| “No helmet.” | Excluded by statute. Fla. Stat. § 316.2065(18): helmet non-use “may not be considered evidence of negligence or contributory negligence.” |
| “Not far enough right.” | Fla. Stat. § 316.2065(5)(a) requires riding as close to the right-hand curb as practicable — debris, a door zone, and a right-turn-only lane all bear on what was practicable. |
| “Too fast for a bicycle.” | Class assistance cut-offs are 20 mph for Class 1 and 2 and 28 mph for Class 3 under Fla. Stat. § 316.003(23)(a)–(c). Those are the speeds at which the motor stops assisting, not speed limits. |
| “No lights.” | A real question where the crash was between sunset and sunrise. Fla. Stat. § 316.2065(7) requires a white front lamp visible at 500 feet and a rear lamp and reflector each visible at 600 feet. |
The seat belt analogy an adjuster may reach for does not work either. Fla. Stat. § 316.614(10) permits a seat belt violation to be considered as evidence of comparative negligence — but § 316.614(3)(a) excludes “a motorcycle, a moped, a bicycle, or an electric bicycle” from that section entirely.
Who Actually Pays
This is where an e-bike case diverges most sharply from a car case. No insurance attaches to the bicycle: Fla. Stat. § 316.20655(2) exempts an electric bicycle and its operator from financial responsibility, licensing, and registration requirements, and Fla. Stat. § 627.732(3) defines a PIP “motor vehicle” as having four or more wheels, so PIP can never be written on the machine.
- The driver's bodily injury liability coverage — the primary route where the driver is identified and adequately insured.
- Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage under Fla. Stat. § 627.727. It must be on a Florida policy unless a named insured rejected it in writing on a form whose heading is in 12-point bold type. Riders routinely assume they do not have it and are wrong.
- A product claim, if a component failed in or before the impact.
- PIP — genuinely unsettled. Fla. Stat. § 627.736(4)(e) pays a person injured “while not an occupant of a self-propelled vehicle,” a phrase chapter 627 never defines. Do not assume either answer.
Insurance after an e-bike crash works through the order worth checking these in.