Editor's note: updated July 2026 for New York's 2026 tort-reform changes.
Fatal crashes involving motorcycles, scooters, e-bikes, and other motorized two-wheeled vehicles are up nearly 86% in New York City this year. That figure comes from the latest NYPD data, compared to the same period in 2024. Behind each number is a rider who left for work. A delivery worker trying to make rent. A teenager on a new e-bike. What the data cannot tell you is whether the people involved knew their legal rights. It cannot tell you whether they acted in time. It cannot tell you what the deadlines in New York law actually require. That is what this article is for.
What the Numbers Actually Show
The NYPD tracks fatalities involving motorized two-wheeled devices as their own category. The dynamics are simply different from a car crash.
Motorcycles, scooters, and e-bikes offer no structural protection. There is no crumple zone, no airbag, no door frame between the rider and the road. When these crashes turn serious, the injuries tend to reflect that.
The 86% year-over-year increase is alarming on its own. But the trend carries a legal dimension most riders and families do not see until it is too late.
New York City's streets sit at the intersection of Vision Zero enforcement policies, Department of Transportation infrastructure obligations, and traffic laws. Those systems interact with civil liability in ways that are not obvious. The law has a short memory, even when the injury does not.
The Legal Framework That Governs These Claims in New York
New York's no-fault system was built for four-wheeled vehicles. Motorcycles are expressly excluded from it. That exclusion means riders cannot access the Personal Injury Protection (PIP) benefits that cover up to $50,000 in medical costs and lost wages for car occupants. A motorcyclist injured in a crash with a car has no no-fault claim to file against their own insurer for immediate medical expenses. The stakes for anyone hurt on two wheels are higher from the start.
For motorcycle, scooter, and e-bike injury claims, the statute of limitations is three years from the date of the crash under CPLR § 214. Three years sounds like enough time. It is not. Surveillance footage disappears. Black box data gets overwritten. Eyewitnesses forget. Vehicle condition changes. The three-year window is a ceiling, not a comfortable waiting period.
A fatality changes the clock. Wrongful death claims run under EPTL § 5-4.1. Families have two years from the date of death, not three. Grief, medical bills, and financial disruption fill the first months after a loss. Two years passes faster than anyone expects. Courts do not extend the deadline because the circumstances were hard.
When a crash involves a defective part, product liability claims run alongside or instead of a standard negligence claim. The limit is still three years under CPLR § 214. But identifying who manufactured, distributed, or sold the defective component takes early investigation. The bike, the battery pack, the brake assembly all need to be preserved before they are discarded, repaired, or lost.
One more deadline applies when a city vehicle, a pothole, a broken traffic signal, or another municipal condition caused the crash. Under General Municipal Law § 50-e, a Notice of Claim must be filed within 90 days of the accident. Miss that window and the ability to sue a city agency is almost certainly gone. Ninety days is roughly twelve weeks. Most riders have not finished initial treatment by then.
The Serious Injury Threshold and Why It Matters
Motorcyclists are excluded from no-fault PIP coverage entirely. That exclusion has a practical upside. The serious injury threshold under Insurance Law § 5102(d) exists to limit tort claims by people inside the no-fault system. Riders are outside that system. The threshold does not restrict a motorcyclist's ability to bring a personal injury claim.
E-Bikes Occupy a Distinct Legal Category
E-bikes are everywhere in New York City and on Long Island. They are faster and cheaper to run than cars. The law has not kept pace with the technology.
New York's Vehicle and Traffic Law sorts e-bikes into three classes. Class 1 is pedal-assist. Class 2 is throttle-assist. Class 3 is higher-speed pedal-assist. Each class has its own rules about where the bike may be ridden, what safety equipment is required, and whether a license or registration applies.
When a crash happens, how the rider was operating the bike matters. A rider on a sidewalk, going against traffic, or exceeding the speed limit for their class hands the adjuster a ready argument on fault. In a motor vehicle accident case, that argument carries real weight. Under the 2026 tort reform, a claimant is barred from recovering non-economic damages when their share of fault exceeds the combined fault of all defendants. The adjuster has a direct incentive to push the claimant's fault share past that line.
Delivery workers on e-bikes and scooters face an additional layer. If the rider was working for a restaurant or an app-based platform at the time of the crash, the employer or platform may share liability. Respondeat superior, the legal doctrine that holds employers responsible for workers acting within the scope of their job, can reach those relationships. Whether a platform qualifies as an employer under that doctrine is often contested.
What Injured Riders and Families Should Do Now
Evidence does not preserve itself after a crash. Deadlines do not pause for recovery.
The NYPD accident report is the starting point, not the conclusion of the investigation.
Medical records are the foundation of any injury claim. They need to document the mechanism of injury, the diagnosis, and the full treatment course from the earliest possible date. A gap in treatment can raise questions about severity during any claim evaluation. That gap is not fatal to a claim, but it requires a clear explanation.
If the crash involved any possibility of a vehicle defect, the bike, its components, and its data system need to be preserved. A qualified engineer should examine them before anything changes hands or gets repaired. Courts can sanction parties who allow evidence to be destroyed once litigation is reasonably anticipated. Prevention is more effective than sanctions.
A government entity may have contributed to the crash through a poorly maintained road, a missing traffic control device, or a city vehicle. If so, the 90-day Notice of Claim deadline under General Municipal Law § 50-e applies. That clock runs regardless of how long medical treatment takes or how long the investigation requires.
How Schwartzapfel Holbrook Approaches These Cases
Schwartzapfel Holbrook handles serious personal injury and wrongful death cases involving motorcycle, scooter, and e-bike crashes across New York City and Long Island. Every evaluation starts with the evidence: the accident report, available surveillance footage, insurance coverage on every involved vehicle, medical records, and the vehicle itself. Every case the firm accepts is prepared as though it will go to trial.
The 86% increase in two-wheeled fatalities this year is not a fluke. These crashes are happening on streets in our own neighborhoods. The BQE, Flatbush Avenue, Route 110, the Northern State Parkway. The legal issues are specific to New York, and so is the approach.
