Fatal crashes involving motorcycles, scooters, e-bikes, and other motorized two-wheeled devices are up nearly 86% in New York City this year compared to the same period in 2024, according to the latest NYPD data. 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, acted in time, or understood 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 a distinct category because the dynamics are different than a car accident. Motorcycles, scooters, and e-bikes offer no structural protection. There is no crumple zone, no airbag, no door frame between the rider and the pavement or the vehicle that struck them. When one of these crashes is serious, it tends to result in significant injury.
The 86% year-over-year increase is significant on its own. But the trend carries an additional legal dimension: New York City's streets are governed by a unique combination of Vision Zero enforcement policies, Department of Transportation infrastructure obligations, and traffic laws that interact with civil liability in ways that most injured riders and their families do not realize until they are already past certain deadlines. 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 insurance system was designed for four-wheeled vehicles, and its application to motorcycles creates an important and often misunderstood gap. Under New York Insurance Law, motorcycles are expressly excluded from the no-fault Personal Injury Protection (PIP) system that provides up to $50,000 in first-party medical and wage benefits to injured occupants of standard motor vehicles. A motorcyclist injured in a crash with a car cannot file a no-fault claim against their own insurer for immediate medical expenses the way a car occupant can. Because of that exclusion, the stakes for people injured on a two-wheeled vehicle are higher.
For personal injury claims arising from motorcycle, scooter, or e-bike crashes, the governing statute of limitations is CPLR § 214: three years from the date of the accident. Three years sounds like a long time. It is not, because the evidence that determines whether a case succeeds — surveillance footage, black box data, eyewitness recollections, vehicle condition — degrades quickly. The three-year window is a ceiling, not a comfortable waiting period.
If the crash resulted in a fatality, the clock changes. Wrongful death claims in New York are governed by EPTL § 5-4.1, which imposes a two-year statute of limitations running from the date of death. Families who lose a rider frequently spend the first months after the loss dealing with grief, medical bills, and financial disruption. Two years passes faster than anyone expects, and the courts do not extend the deadline because the circumstances were difficult.
When a crash involves a defective vehicle — a malfunctioning throttle, a brake failure, a battery fire on an e-bike — product liability claims operate alongside or instead of the standard negligence claim. The statute of limitations for product liability claims in New York is also three years under CPLR § 214, but the analysis of what happened and who manufactured, distributed, or sold the defective component requires early investigation. Physical evidence — the bike, the battery pack, the brake assembly — needs to be preserved before it is discarded, repaired, or lost.
One more deadline governs situations where the crash involved a city vehicle, a pothole, a malfunctioning traffic signal, or another condition attributable to a municipal entity: 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 — the City of New York, a public transit authority, or another governmental body — is almost certainly foreclosed. Ninety days is approximately twelve weeks. It arrives before most injury victims have finished their initial treatment.
The Serious Injury Threshold and Why It Matters
Because motorcyclists are excluded from no-fault PIP, the serious injury threshold analysis under Insurance Law § 5102(d) operates differently for riders than it does for car occupants in one important respect: motorcyclists are not required to clear the serious injury threshold to maintain a personal injury action. The threshold applies only to the no-fault system's limitations on tort recovery. Motorcyclists are outside that system entirely, which means the threshold does not restrict their ability to bring a claim.
E-Bikes Occupy a Distinct Legal Category
Not every two-wheeled crash involves a traditional motorcycle. E-bikes are very popular across New York City and Long Island, largely because they are faster and less expensive to operate than cars. The law has not kept pace with the technology.
Under New York Vehicle and Traffic Law, e-bikes are classified by class — Class 1 (pedal-assist), Class 2 (throttle-assist), and Class 3 (higher-speed pedal-assist) — and each class carries different rules about where the bike can be operated, what safety equipment is required, and what licenses or registrations apply. When a crash occurs involving an e-bike operating outside its legally authorized context — on a sidewalk, against traffic, or at a speed exceeding its class limit — that conduct becomes part of the liability analysis. New York applies pure comparative fault under CPLR Article 14-A, which means the injured party's recovery is reduced in proportion to their own share of fault. A rider who was operating illegally at the time of the crash does not lose the right to recover entirely — but the damages award will reflect their proportional responsibility.
For delivery workers operating e-bikes or scooters on behalf of a restaurant or app-based platform, a separate question arises: whether the employer or the platform bears any liability for the crash. Respondeat superior principles can extend liability to employers whose workers are operating vehicles in the course of employment.
What Injured Riders and Families Should Do Now
The legal process following a serious motorcycle, scooter, or e-bike crash requires work. Evidence does not preserve itself. Deadlines do not pause. The NYPD accident report is the starting point, not the conclusion of the investigation.
The medical record is the foundation of any personal injury claim. It must accurately document the mechanism of injury, the diagnosis, and the treatment course from the earliest possible date. A gap in treatment can be viewed during any claim evaluation as a question about the severity of the injury. It is not insurmountable, but it requires explanation.
If the crash involved any possibility of a vehicle defect, the physical evidence — the bike, its components, its data system — needs to be preserved and examined by a qualified engineer before it changes hands or is repaired. Courts have the authority to sanction parties who permit evidence to be destroyed after litigation is reasonably anticipated, but prevention is more effective than sanctions.
And if there is any possibility that a government entity contributed to the crash — through a poorly maintained road, a missing traffic control device, or a city vehicle — the 90-day Notice of Claim deadline under General Municipal Law § 50-e applies 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. The firm's evaluation of a case begins with the evidence: the accident report, the available surveillance footage, the insurance coverage on every involved vehicle, the medical records, and the vehicle itself. Every case the firm accepts is prepared as though it will go to trial, because the there is no replacement for being preparted.
The 86% increase in two-wheeled fatalities this year is not a fluke. These are crashes happening on streets the in our neighborghoods — the BQE, Flatbush Avenue, Route 110, the Northern State Parkway. The legal issues are specific to New York, and so is the approach.