Introduction
Bicycle and e-scooter accident compensation claims in Turkey have become increasingly important as urban mobility habits change. Bicycles, electric bicycles, and shared electric scooters are widely used in major cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Antalya, Bursa, and other urban areas. They are practical, affordable, environmentally friendly, and useful for short-distance travel. However, riders are physically exposed to vehicles, road defects, pedestrians, sudden obstacles, poor infrastructure, and unsafe traffic behavior. As a result, bicycle and e-scooter accidents may cause fractures, head trauma, facial injuries, spinal injuries, nerve damage, permanent disability, psychological trauma, or even death.
Under Turkish law, an injured cyclist or e-scooter rider may claim compensation if the accident was caused by another person’s fault, a motor vehicle driver, unsafe road conditions, defective infrastructure, a shared e-scooter operator’s failure, a defective product, or another legally responsible party. Compensation may include treatment expenses, loss of earnings, permanent disability compensation, future medical expenses, loss of economic future, care expenses, and moral damages. In fatal accidents, family members and dependants may claim funeral expenses, loss of support compensation, and moral damages.
The legal framework is not limited to one statute. Bicycle and e-scooter accident claims may involve the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098, the Highway Traffic Law No. 2918, compulsory motor vehicle liability insurance rules, the Electronic Scooter Regulation, municipal road and infrastructure duties, product liability principles, consumer law, and sometimes criminal law. Article 54 of the Turkish Code of Obligations recognizes bodily injury damages such as treatment expenses, loss of earnings, reduction or loss of working capacity, and disruption of economic future; Article 56 allows moral damages where bodily integrity is harmed.
Bicycle and e-scooter claims require careful legal analysis because the liable party may not be obvious. The accident may be caused by a negligent car driver, a taxi, bus, motorcycle, delivery vehicle, municipality, road contractor, scooter-sharing company, defective scooter part, or the rider’s own partial fault. A strong compensation claim must therefore establish the accident mechanism, fault ratio, causation, injury, insurance coverage, and the amount of damages.
1. What Is a Bicycle or E-Scooter Accident Claim in Turkey?
A bicycle or e-scooter accident claim is a legal compensation claim filed by an injured rider, passenger where legally relevant, pedestrian, or family member after an injury or death involving a bicycle or electric scooter. These accidents may occur on roads, bicycle lanes, scooter lanes, sidewalks, pedestrian areas, intersections, parking areas, coastal roads, campuses, hotel zones, touristic areas, or shared mobility routes.
Common accident scenarios include a car hitting a cyclist, a taxi opening its door into a bicycle lane, a bus passing too closely, a motor vehicle turning without yielding, a rider falling because of a pothole, an e-scooter malfunctioning during use, a shared scooter failing to brake, a pedestrian being struck by an e-scooter, a rider losing balance due to broken pavement, or a collision between two micro-mobility users.
The purpose of a compensation claim is to make the injured person financially whole as far as possible and to recognize non-economic harm through moral damages. In serious cases, compensation is not limited to immediate hospital costs. It may include long-term disability, future medical treatment, loss of professional capacity, psychological consequences, and reduced quality of life.
2. Legal Status of Bicycles and E-Scooters in Turkey
Turkish traffic law distinguishes between different types of vehicles. Bicycles are generally treated as non-motorized vehicles moved by human muscular power, while certain electric bicycles may also fall within the bicycle category if they meet specific power and speed criteria. E-scooters were expressly brought into the Turkish traffic law framework through legislative amendments and specific regulations.
The Highway Traffic Law definition of an e-scooter refers to a vehicle that can reach a maximum speed of 25 km/h, may have wheels, a footboard and handlebar, may include a vertical steering mechanism, and is used standing. Turkish sources summarizing the 2020 amendments also note that the concept of a bicycle lane was expanded to include bicycle and e-scooter use.
The Electronic Scooter Regulation applies to e-scooters used on highways, shared e-scooter operators, users of shared e-scooter services, and e-scooters used in these services. The consolidated regulation states that its purpose includes regulating shared e-scooter operation, ensuring order and safety, supporting sustainable mobility, and defining rights, obligations, and responsibilities of service providers and users.
This matters because rule violations may affect fault analysis. If a rider uses an e-scooter where it is prohibited, carries a passenger, rides on a pedestrian path, or ignores bicycle-lane rules, the defendant may argue contributory fault. Conversely, if a motor vehicle driver violates traffic rules and injures a lawful cyclist or e-scooter user, the driver and related responsible parties may be liable.
3. Main E-Scooter Traffic Rules Relevant to Accident Claims
E-scooter users in Turkey must comply with specific traffic rules. Article 5 of the Electronic Scooter Regulation prohibits e-scooter use on pedestrian roads, highways, intercity roads, and roads with a maximum speed limit above 50 km/h; it also prohibits riding on the carriageway where a separate bicycle road or bicycle lane exists, riding more than two e-scooters side by side in one lane, and riding by attaching to or holding onto another vehicle.
The same regulatory framework also prohibits carrying passengers or loads other than personal items that can be carried on the back, and prohibits one-handed riding except for signaling maneuvers. These rules are important in compensation litigation because violation of a safety rule may affect fault ratio, causation, and reduction of compensation.
The e-scooter regulatory framework has also continued to evolve. A regulation amending the Electronic Scooter Regulation was published in the Official Gazette dated December 2, 2025 and numbered 33095; public summaries of the amendment mention new geofencing, data-sharing, authorization, call-center, accident and complaint reporting, and operational supervision obligations for shared e-scooter operators.
For injury claims, these operational obligations may become relevant where the accident involves a shared e-scooter. If an operator fails to comply with safety, data, maintenance, geofencing, user information, or accident-reporting obligations, those failures may support liability arguments depending on the facts.
4. Who Can Claim Compensation?
The primary claimant is the injured bicycle or e-scooter rider. If the rider survives, they may claim compensation for medical expenses, temporary loss of income, permanent disability, future care, loss of economic future, and moral damages.
A pedestrian injured by an e-scooter or bicycle may also have a claim. In such cases, the rider’s conduct, pedestrian conduct, location of use, speed, warnings, and applicable traffic rules must be examined. If the incident involves a shared e-scooter, operator duties and technical condition of the scooter may also be relevant.
If the accident causes death, the deceased rider’s dependants and close relatives may claim compensation. Under the Turkish Code of Obligations, death-related damages include funeral expenses, treatment expenses if death was not immediate, losses arising before death, and losses suffered by persons deprived of the deceased’s support. Moral damages may also be awarded to relatives in death cases.
Foreign tourists, international students, expatriates, and foreign workers injured while cycling or riding an e-scooter in Turkey may also pursue claims if Turkish courts have jurisdiction and the legal conditions are met.
5. Potentially Liable Parties in Bicycle and E-Scooter Accidents
Several parties may be liable depending on how the accident occurred.
A motor vehicle driver may be liable if they caused the accident through speeding, unsafe passing, failure to yield, red-light violation, opening a car door without checking, unsafe lane change, distracted driving, drunk driving, or failure to respect bicycle and e-scooter users.
The vehicle operator, owner, employer, or enterprise owner may also be liable where a motor vehicle is involved. Article 85 of the Highway Traffic Law provides liability rules for motor vehicle operation causing death, injury, or damage, including operator and enterprise-related responsibility. This is especially relevant where the accident involves taxis, buses, delivery vehicles, company cars, shuttles, or commercial vehicles.
A compulsory traffic insurer may be responsible within policy limits if a motor vehicle caused the bicycle or e-scooter injury. This is often one of the most important recovery sources when a car, taxi, bus, truck, or motorcycle hits a cyclist or e-scooter rider.
A municipality, road authority, or contractor may be relevant if the accident was caused by dangerous infrastructure such as a pothole, defective bicycle lane, unmarked roadwork, missing signage, poor lighting, unsafe curb design, drainage defect, or broken pavement.
A shared e-scooter operator may be relevant where the accident was caused by defective brakes, poor maintenance, failure to provide necessary user information, improper parking systems, malfunctioning speed controls, inadequate geofencing, or other service-related issues.
A manufacturer, importer, seller, or maintenance provider may be liable if the bicycle or e-scooter was defective as a product.
6. Compensation Items Available After Bicycle and E-Scooter Accidents
Treatment Expenses
Treatment expenses may include ambulance costs, emergency care, hospital bills, surgery, intensive care, medication, physical therapy, rehabilitation, prosthetics, orthopedic devices, psychological treatment, follow-up examinations, and future medical costs. Bicycle and e-scooter accidents often involve head, face, arm, wrist, shoulder, knee, and spine injuries.
Temporary Loss of Earnings
If the injured person cannot work during recovery, they may claim temporary income loss. Employees may rely on salary slips, bank payments, employment contracts, SGK records, medical rest reports, and employer letters. Self-employed persons may use tax records, invoices, contracts, accounting documents, and bank statements.
Permanent Disability Compensation
Permanent disability compensation may be claimed if the injury causes long-term impairment. A fractured wrist, nerve injury, spinal injury, traumatic brain injury, facial injury, leg injury, or chronic pain may reduce working capacity. The calculation usually considers age, income, occupation, disability rate, fault ratio, life expectancy, and actuarial assessment.
Loss of Economic Future
Even if the injured person can still work, the injury may reduce career opportunities. This may be especially relevant for riders whose work requires physical ability, such as couriers, athletes, musicians, surgeons, mechanics, designers using hand function, service-sector workers, drivers, and manual laborers. Article 54 of the Turkish Code of Obligations expressly recognizes losses arising from disruption of economic future as bodily injury damages.
Moral Damages
Moral damages compensate pain, suffering, fear, anxiety, psychological trauma, permanent scars, loss of life quality, and emotional distress. Article 56 of the Turkish Code of Obligations allows the judge to award an appropriate amount of moral compensation where physical integrity is harmed.
Fatal Accident Compensation
If the accident causes death, dependants may claim funeral expenses, pre-death treatment expenses, loss of support compensation, and moral damages. These claims require family records, income evidence, dependency documents, medical documents, accident records, and actuarial calculation.
7. Insurance Claims After Bicycle and E-Scooter Accidents
Insurance analysis depends on the accident type. If a motor vehicle causes the accident, the injured cyclist or e-scooter rider may claim against the compulsory traffic insurer of the responsible vehicle within policy limits. This can apply where the accident is caused by a car, taxi, bus, motorcycle, truck, delivery vehicle, or shuttle.
Before initiating legal proceedings against the compulsory traffic insurer, Turkish law generally requires a written application to the relevant insurer within compulsory traffic insurance limits. Article 97 of the Highway Traffic Law provides that if the insurer does not respond in writing within 15 days from the application date or the response does not satisfy the claim, the injured party may file a lawsuit or apply to arbitration under insurance legislation.
If the accident involves a shared e-scooter service, the user agreement, operator insurance, platform terms, maintenance records, and regulatory obligations should be reviewed. Some shared mobility operators may have liability arrangements, but coverage depends on policy terms, accident facts, and legal responsibility.
If the rider has private health insurance, travel insurance, personal accident insurance, or liability insurance, those policies may also be relevant. However, private insurance does not automatically replace claims against the liable party.
8. Evidence Needed in Bicycle and E-Scooter Accident Claims
Evidence is decisive in bicycle and e-scooter claims because fault is often disputed. The injured person should preserve evidence immediately.
Important evidence may include:
- Police or gendarmerie accident report
- Traffic accident report
- Vehicle plate and driver identity
- Insurance policy information
- Photographs of the scene, bicycle, scooter, injuries, road defects, and vehicle damage
- CCTV footage from shops, apartments, public cameras, hotels, metro stations, or parking areas
- Dashcam footage
- Witness names and contact details
- Hospital records and emergency reports
- Surgery notes, prescriptions, imaging results, and discharge summaries
- Disability reports and medical board assessments
- Income documents
- Shared e-scooter app records, ride history, location data, payment receipts, and user agreement
- Scooter serial number, QR code, ID, or plate information
- Maintenance records, if obtainable
- Municipality or road authority complaints
- Criminal investigation documents
- Expert reports
For shared e-scooter cases, digital data can be extremely important. App records may show trip start and end times, location, speed, route, user ID, scooter ID, and operator information. The 2025 regulatory amendments strengthened e-scooter operator data-sharing and accident/complaint reporting obligations, which may increase the importance of platform data in future disputes.
9. Fault Analysis in Bicycle and E-Scooter Accidents
Fault analysis determines liability and compensation amount. A motor vehicle driver may be at fault for failing to yield, passing too closely, driving in a bicycle lane, opening a door into a rider’s path, ignoring traffic lights, speeding, or failing to adapt to road conditions.
The rider may be found partially at fault if they violated traffic rules, rode on a pedestrian path where prohibited, carried a passenger on an e-scooter, used the wrong road, rode against traffic, ignored signals, used a phone while riding, attached to a vehicle, rode one-handed without signaling reason, or used an e-scooter on roads where use is prohibited.
However, fault should not be assessed mechanically. A rider’s minor violation may not have caused the accident. For example, failure to wear a helmet may be relevant to head injury causation but not necessarily to a leg fracture caused by a car’s red-light violation. Similarly, an e-scooter rider’s presence on a road must be evaluated together with bicycle lane availability, traffic signs, municipal restrictions, road design, driver conduct, and actual accident mechanism.
Expert reports may be necessary to determine speed, impact point, vehicle movement, road layout, traffic signs, visibility, braking distance, road surface condition, and avoidability of the accident.
10. Accidents Caused by Road Defects or Poor Infrastructure
Many bicycle and e-scooter accidents are caused not by another driver but by unsafe infrastructure. Potholes, broken asphalt, unmarked speed bumps, missing drain covers, loose gravel, damaged bicycle lanes, poor lighting, sudden curb drops, roadworks without warning, slippery surfaces, and defective pavement may cause severe falls.
In such cases, the responsible municipality, road authority, contractor, or maintenance entity must be identified. These claims may follow a different procedural route if a public authority is responsible. Evidence should include photographs, videos, location details, weather conditions, witness statements, prior complaints, municipality records, and medical records.
The claimant should act quickly because road defects may be repaired after the accident. Once repaired, proving the dangerous condition becomes harder. Photographs from different angles and location data are essential.
11. Shared E-Scooter Operator Liability
Shared e-scooter claims may involve additional legal issues. A user may be injured because the scooter’s brakes fail, the accelerator malfunctions, the handlebar is unstable, the battery catches fire, the scooter shuts down suddenly, or the operator fails to warn users about restricted zones, parking rules, safety equipment, or hazardous areas.
The Electronic Scooter Regulation governs shared e-scooter operations and user obligations. It covers service providers and users, and its 2025 amendments introduced or expanded obligations related to geofencing, data reporting, accident and complaint data, operator information, support channels, and operational control.
A claim against an operator may require examination of the user agreement, service terms, maintenance logs, scooter inspection history, accident reports, app warnings, location data, geofencing functions, customer complaints, and whether the operator complied with regulatory duties. The claimant should take screenshots of the app, ride history, scooter ID, error messages, route, payment receipt, and customer support correspondence immediately after the accident.
12. Bicycle and E-Scooter Accidents Involving Couriers
Bicycle and e-scooter accidents may involve delivery riders and couriers. These cases may have both traffic accident and workplace accident dimensions. If the rider was working at the time of the accident, issues such as employment status, platform relationship, delivery pressure, equipment provision, occupational safety, insurance, and employer responsibility must be examined.
A courier injured by a motor vehicle may claim against the at-fault driver and insurer. If the rider was working under an employment relationship, workplace accident procedures and employer liability may also apply. Where the platform treats the rider as independent, the actual working relationship may still require legal analysis based on control, instructions, payment, dependency, and organization of work.
Evidence may include delivery app records, route data, order details, messages, employment documents, payment records, witness statements, accident reports, medical records, and insurer information.
13. Claims by Foreigners and Tourists Injured While Cycling or Riding E-Scooters
Foreign tourists and residents may be injured while renting bicycles, using shared e-scooters, cycling in coastal areas, riding near hotels, using city transport, or participating in guided tours. Foreigners may claim compensation if Turkish courts have jurisdiction and legal conditions are met.
Foreign claimants should collect Turkish records before leaving the country. These include police reports, medical records, photographs, witness contacts, scooter app records, rental receipts, vehicle plates, insurance information, hotel or tour documents, and travel records. If treatment continues abroad, foreign medical reports, disability documents, income records, and invoices may support the claim. These documents usually require sworn Turkish translation and sometimes apostille or consular legalization.
A foreign claimant can usually appoint a Turkish lawyer through a valid power of attorney, allowing the claim to continue after the claimant returns home.
14. Limitation Periods
Limitation periods must be checked immediately. Under Article 72 of the Turkish Code of Obligations, tort compensation claims are generally subject to a two-year period from the date the injured person learns of the damage and liable person, and in any event a ten-year period from the wrongful act; if the act also constitutes a criminal offence with a longer limitation period, that longer period may apply.
Where the accident involves a motor vehicle, the Highway Traffic Law’s limitation framework may also be relevant. For motor vehicle accident compensation claims, Article 109 provides a two-year period from learning the damage and liable person and a ten-year period from the accident, with a longer criminal limitation period applying where the act requires criminal punishment and criminal law provides a longer period.
In practice, injured riders should not wait until all treatment is completed before seeking legal advice. Permanent disability may become clear later, but evidence and limitation rights should be protected early.
15. Practical Steps After a Bicycle or E-Scooter Accident in Turkey
An injured cyclist or e-scooter rider should take immediate practical steps:
Seek medical treatment and obtain written medical records.
Call law enforcement and ensure an official accident report is prepared.
Photograph the accident scene, road conditions, vehicle plates, bicycle or scooter damage, injuries, traffic signs, bicycle lanes, potholes, and obstacles.
Identify witnesses and obtain phone numbers.
Request CCTV footage from nearby shops, apartments, hotels, public buildings, fuel stations, metro stations, or road cameras.
Preserve bicycle or scooter evidence without repair where possible.
For shared e-scooters, save app screenshots, scooter ID, trip route, payment receipt, location data, customer support messages, and user agreement.
Obtain the at-fault vehicle’s driver, registration, and insurance details.
Preserve hospital invoices, prescriptions, surgery notes, and physical therapy records.
Do not sign settlement or release documents without legal review.
Consult a Turkish personal injury lawyer if the injury is serious, fault is disputed, or permanent disability is possible.
16. Settlement Offers and Legal Risks
Insurers, drivers, operators, shared scooter companies, or other responsible parties may offer settlement. Settlement can be useful if liability is clear and the amount is fair. However, early settlement is risky in serious injury cases.
Before accepting payment, the injured person should ask whether the settlement covers treatment expenses, future treatment, temporary incapacity, permanent disability, loss of income, loss of economic future, moral damages, care expenses, interest, and legal costs. A small payment for immediate hospital bills may be far below the full value of the claim.
A release document may prevent future claims. This is especially dangerous if permanent disability or future surgery becomes clear later.
17. Why Legal Representation Matters
Bicycle and e-scooter accident claims in Turkey require legal, technical, medical, insurance, and sometimes digital-data analysis. A lawyer can identify liable parties, obtain accident records, request CCTV footage, preserve app data, apply to insurers, evaluate operator liability, challenge unfair fault findings, calculate compensation, request disability assessment, object to insufficient expert reports, and represent foreign claimants.
Legal representation is especially important in cases involving permanent disability, death, foreign tourists, shared e-scooter operators, courier riders, road defects, uninsured vehicles, disputed fault, missing CCTV footage, or low insurance offers.
Conclusion
Bicycle and e-scooter accident compensation claims in Turkey protect riders, pedestrians, couriers, tourists, and families affected by micro-mobility accidents. Turkish law allows injured persons to claim treatment expenses, loss of earnings, permanent disability compensation, future economic loss, care expenses, and moral damages. In fatal cases, dependants and relatives may claim funeral expenses, loss of support compensation, and moral damages.
The legal framework combines the Turkish Code of Obligations, Highway Traffic Law, Electronic Scooter Regulation, compulsory traffic insurance rules, municipal infrastructure duties, product liability principles, and civil litigation. E-scooter users must comply with specific rules, including restrictions on pedestrian roads, high-speed roads, passenger carrying, load carrying, and riding where bicycle lanes exist. Shared e-scooter operators are also subject to regulatory duties, including obligations that have been updated through the 2025 amendments.
The success of a bicycle or e-scooter accident claim depends on fast evidence collection, accurate fault analysis, complete medical documentation, proper insurance application, and careful compensation calculation. Accident reports, CCTV footage, app data, scooter ID, witness statements, medical records, disability reports, income documents, road-condition evidence, and expert opinions may determine the result.
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