Florida’s Crash Data Cannot Tell You How Many E-Bike Crashes Happen

The Word Does Not Appear

FLHSMV publishes the Florida Traffic Crash Facts Annual Report, the state’s official statewide account of what happened on its roads. The 2024 edition runs to 131 pages.

Search it for “e-bike.” Then for “electric bicycle,” “micromobility,” “e-scooter,” “electric scooter.” Every one of them returns nothing. The word “electric” appears exactly once in the entire report — and that single appearance is the whole problem, because it sits inside a definition.

This is not an oversight to be indignant about. It is a fact to plan around, and it is the reason this site publishes no e-bike crash statistics: there are none to publish.

The Definition Stops at 200 Watts

Here is the report’s definition of a bicycle, in full, from its definitions section:

“A vehicle propelled solely by human power, or a motorized Bicycle propelled by a combination of human power and an electric helper motor rated at 200 watts or less. Pedalcycles are included under this definition. This term does not include a vehicle with a seat height less than 26 inches from the ground when the seat is adjusted to its highest position, or a scooter or similar device.”

Now set that beside the statute. Fla. Stat. § 316.003(23) defines an electric bicycle as one fitted with an electric motor of less than 750 watts. The crash data stops at 200.

The gap is not a rounding error. A 500-watt e-bike is squarely lawful in Florida and squarely outside the definition the state’s crash statistics are built on. Most of what is sold as an e-bike in this state falls into that gap.

So Where Do They Actually Land?

Somewhere. That is the honest answer, and it is worse than a clean absence would be, because the crashes are in the totals without being identifiable in them.

The report describes the coding an officer works with. A Vehicle Body Type code of ‘11’ is a Pedalcycle; ‘12’ is a Moped, defined there as “a motor-powered cycle with a pedal-activated motor and a maximum of two brake horsepower.” Separately, a rider is given a Non-Motorist Description code of ‘3’ for Bicyclist or ‘4’ for Other Cyclist.

Two brake horsepower is far above 750 watts, so a throttle-equipped e-bike can be read into the Moped code without much strain — or into Pedalcycle, or into “Other Cyclist.” Nothing in the form makes that choice for the officer, and nothing in the published data lets you separate the results afterwards.

• An e-bike crash coded 11 is inside the bicyclist totals below.
• One coded 12 is inside the moped totals, alongside actual mopeds.
• One coded 4 is in neither, under “Other Cyclist.”

What the Data Does Show

What Florida can tell you is what happened to bicyclists — a group that includes some e-bike riders, excludes others, and identifies neither. These are the statewide figures from the 2024 report’s vulnerable road user tables.

Crashes and injuries rose by more than a tenth in a single year while deaths fell. It is tempting to read the rise as the e-bike boom arriving in the data. That reading may well be right — but the data cannot confirm it, and this site will not assert it. The figures above are bicyclist figures and nothing more.

The current year, so far. FLHSMV also publishes a live Crash Dashboard. Filtered to 2026 and to all Florida counties, it states that it covers crashes occurring from 1 January 2026 and that the data “is considered preliminary as of 08/29/2026.” On that basis it reported 5,447 bicycle crashes, 102 bicycle fatalities and 5,198 bicycle injuries.

Two cautions come with those, and both matter more than the numbers. They are preliminary: a crash report can reach the department after the dashboard has counted the month, so recent figures rise as the file fills in. And they are, again, bicycle figures. The dashboard offers a tile for bicycle crashes, one for motorcycle crashes and one for pedestrians. It offers no tile for e-bikes, because there is no field behind one.

Why This Matters on Your Own Crash Report

The statewide gap is an abstraction. The same coding decision on your own report is not.

A Florida Traffic Crash Report is the first document most insurers read. If the officer recorded a Class 2 e-bike as a moped, the file starts with a description of a motor vehicle — and Florida’s PIP question turns on whether the rider was an occupant of a “self-propelled vehicle,” a phrase chapter 627 never defines. The roadside description is not the law, but it frames the argument that follows.

1. Get the crash report and read the vehicle and non-motorist coding, not just the narrative.
2. Photograph the classification label required by Fla. Stat. § 316.20655(3) — class, top assisted speed, and motor wattage — before the bicycle goes anywhere.
3. Keep the receipts for anything fitted to the motor or controller. What the machine was on the day is the question.

Florida Nearly Fixed This in 2026

None of the above is a secret, and the Legislature acted on it. CS/SB 382 (2026) would have placed crash reporting duties on the Florida Highway Patrol and on local police and sheriff’s departments, requiring granular e-bike crash data to be maintained and reported — the precise thing whose absence this post is about.

It passed the Senate 37–0 and the House 112–0 and was vetoed on June 25, 2026. Until something like it returns, Florida will keep counting e-bike crashes without being able to see them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Legally Reviewed By

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.

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