Segway and e-bike tours have become one of the most popular ways to explore Washington, DC, Alexandria, and other parts of Virginia. For many tourists, they offer a faster and more interactive way to experience local landmarks without spending an entire day walking between them.
The flip side of this convenience is that, unlike traditional walking or bus tours, these experiences place riders directly into traffic, bike lanes, crowded sidewalks, and unfamiliar streets while operating equipment they may have never used before.
Since many participants are first-time riders, injuries during Segway and e-bike tours often raise questions about training, supervision, route selection, and whether the company adequately accounted for inexperienced riders navigating crowded city areas.
E-Bike and Segway Injuries Have Increased in Recent Years
As Segway tours and e-bike rentals have become more common in cities like Washington, DC, and Alexandria, injury rates involving these devices have also increased nationwide.
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), emergency departments treated an estimated 448,600 micromobility-related injuries between 2017 and 2023, including roughly 87,400 injuries involving e-bikes. The agency also reported 193 e-bike-related fatalities during that same period.
These findings reinforce that many riders use Segways and e-bikes without fully understanding the risks involved or the conditions they may encounter during a tour or rental. Riders are using devices that operate more like vehicles than recreational equipment, often at speeds and in conditions that leave little room for error.
Common Legal Questions After a Segway or E-Bike Tour Accident
With injuries involving e-bikes, Segways, and other micromobility devices continuing to rise, visitors injured during guided tours are often left with questions about waivers, negligence, and who may ultimately be responsible for what happened. We asked Rakin Hamad, a personal injury attorney with Curcio Law, to explain how these cases are commonly evaluated under Virginia and DC law.
Q: What kinds of injuries and accidents happen during Segway or e-bike tours?
Rakin Hamad: A lot of people assume Segway and e-bike accidents involve dramatic crashes, but many injuries happen during fairly routine situations on a tour.
Some incidents happen during the initial training process, especially when riders are unfamiliar with how a Segway balances or responds to movement. Others involve falls caused by abrupt stops, uneven pavement, curbs, potholes, wet surfaces, crowded pedestrian areas, or interactions with vehicle traffic in busy parts of DC or Northern Virginia.
We also see situations where riders lose control while turning and collide with pedestrians or other fixed objects. In some cases, riders report problems with braking responsiveness, steering, or batteries unexpectedly losing power during longer tours.
The injuries themselves can range from fairly minor road rash and sprains to much more serious trauma. Injuries from Segways and e-bikes frequently involve fractures, wrist and arm injuries, facial injuries, and dental trauma. Research involving standing electric scooters and similar devices has shown a significant percentage of head injuries following crashes, particularly when riders are thrown forward and hit the pavement. The research also shows low helmet use rates among injured riders, and that unfortunately leads to more serious injuries.
What makes Segway and e-bike tours different is that participants are often focused on the sightseeing itself while operating unfamiliar equipment in crowded urban environments. Riders may be listening to a guide, looking at landmarks, taking photographs, or trying to keep pace with the group while navigating unfamiliar streets.
Q: When can a Segway or e-bike tour accident become a negligence claim?
Rakin Hamad: Not every fall or accident on a Segway or e-bike tour automatically turns into a personal injury claim. An attorney will need to evaluate the totality of the facts in order to make a determination on whether there is another party that is at fault. In order to have a pursuable personal injury claim, the plaintiff, or the person who was injured, has to prove that they were injured due to another’s negligence. Negligence is the failure to act reasonably.
In cases involving injuries arising from Segway or e-bike tours, there are several different parties that can act negligently and cause injury. This makes it hard to give a blanket statement on when these types of cases become viable personal injury cases. At the end of the day, given the complexity of these cases, it is important to reach out to an experienced personal injury attorney for a free consultation so we can evaluate your claim.
Q: Can I still sue after signing a Segway or e-bike tour waiver?
Rakin Hamad: This is one of the biggest misconceptions people have after an accident.
Most Segway and e-bike tour companies require participants to sign a waiver before they can participate, often electronically during the booking process. Many people assume that means they automatically lose the right to pursue a lawsuit if they’re injured.
That is incorrect.
Whether someone can still pursue a claim after signing a waiver depends on where and how the waiver was signed, as well as the conduct that caused the injury. The short answer is that in Virginia, these pre-injury waivers are unenforceable, meaning that the injured party can pursue a claim. The reasoning is simple, as Virginia Courts have ruled that allowing pre-injury waivers to be enforceable would be against public policy, as it would remove all incentives for the business to act reasonably and to ensure their patrons' safety.
Waivers are more susceptible to being enforceable in Washington, D.C. However, several factors will determine whether the waiver is enforceable and to what degree.
Due to waiver enforceability being heavily dependent on the method of signing, facts of the accident, and the laws of the jurisdiction involved, having a lawyer evaluate the specific language of the waiver and the circumstances surrounding the injury can be important.
Q: What happens if I’m injured during a tour while visiting from another state?
Rakin Hamad: If someone is injured during a Segway or e-bike tour, the laws where the accident occurred will apply. Virginia and DC follow strict contributory negligence rules that may affect whether an injured person can recover compensation. However, D.C.’s contributory negligence rule has an exception for vulnerable users, which would include people on Segways or e-bikes.
Guided Segway and e-bike tours often create disputes over rider behavior. Companies may argue that a participant ignored instructions, lost control of the equipment, operated too aggressively under the circumstances, or otherwise contributed to the accident that caused an injury. Since those arguments can directly affect whether compensation is available, it becomes important to work with a lawyer who understands how contributory negligence defenses are commonly raised and evaluated in Virginia and DC injury cases.
Segway and e-bike tour injuries also involve many of the same liability issues seen in other transportation and bicycle accident cases, including questions involving equipment operation, rider conduct, and roadway conditions in busy urban areas. At Curcio Law, we see a lot of these types of cases since we are based in Old Town, Alexandria. We have immense experience handling these types of claims and understand the additional challenges that can arise when someone is trying to manage an injury claim after returning home from a trip.
Q: Will I have to return to Virginia or DC to handle an injury claim?
Rakin Hamad: Not necessarily. One of the biggest concerns injured visitors usually have is how they would handle a legal claim after returning home.
Today, the majority of the process can be managed remotely. Curcio Law regularly works with people who were injured while visiting Washington, DC, or Virginia and understands that many clients return home shortly after the accident happens. Medical records, photographs, travel documentation, and other evidence can often be gathered and shared electronically throughout the claims process, while communication with clients commonly happens through phone calls, video meetings, text messaging, and email.
Most personal injury claims also resolve through settlement negotiations without a trial becoming necessary. If appearing in person ever becomes necessary later in the case, those logistics can be discussed at that point, including whether returning to Virginia or DC makes practical and financial sense under the circumstances.
Q: What compensation may be available after a Segway or e-bike tour injury?
Rakin Hamad: People often think only about immediate medical bills after an accident, but the impact of a Segway or e-bike injury could have a long-lasting impact. Depending on the circumstances, a claim may involve medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and ongoing treatment costs. There may also be significant travel-related losses connected to the injury itself.
Extended hotel stays, canceled flights, missed activities, transportation changes, and interrupted vacation plans can all be part of the overall damage assessment.
Q: What should someone do after a Segway or e-bike tour injury?
Rakin Hamad: The priority after any Segway or e-bike tour injury should be getting appropriate medical attention, even if the injuries initially seem minor. Falls involving these vehicles can result in concussions, fractures, wrist injuries, and other trauma that may not fully appear until hours later.
Once immediate medical concerns are addressed, it is important to preserve as much information as possible about what happened. That may include photographing the scene or equipment, reporting the incident to the tour company, keeping receipts and records related to medical treatment or disrupted travel plans, and, if possible, obtaining witnesses' contact information.
Since these cases often involve waivers, rider-conduct disputes, and out-of-state legal issues, it can also be helpful to speak with a lawyer familiar with handling transportation-related injury claims in Virginia and Washington, DC.
Curcio Law regularly works with visitors injured while traveling throughout Virginia and the DC area. If you have questions about your legal options after a Segway or e-bike tour injury, contact us online, through live chat, or by calling or texting 703-836-3366 for a free case review.
