Electric bicycles have long been a common and recognizable part of the Israeli transportation landscape. Until now, the Magistrate Courts that dealt with bodily injury claims related to road accidents involving electric bicycle riders have reached conflicting decisions regarding the status of bicycles under the Road Accident Victims Compensation Law and their definition as a “motor vehicle.”
As early as 2014, during a discussion in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, a bill was proposed to regulate the legal status of electric bicycles, but this proposal did not advance and was not anchored in legislation as required.
Recently, Judge Kamal Saab of the Haifa District Court ruled on this issue and determined in a precedent-setting decision that electric bicycles are indeed motor vehicles and therefore must be insured, and the rider must have mandatory insurance. Despite this ruling, as of today, insurance companies are not willing to insure electric bicycle riders, and the Israeli legislature has avoided regulating this important issue in legislation.
The implication of this precedent-setting ruling is that electric bicycle riders are not entitled to compensation in the absence of a mandatory insurance policy, even though it is not possible to insure the bicycles with mandatory insurance. They must direct their claims to the Road Accident Victims Compensation Fund “Karnit,” the state, and the Ministry of Transportation.
Despite the ruling, it does not constitute a final or binding precedent, and it is likely that the case will eventually reach the Supreme Court for a final decision on the matter.
