State Laws Shorting Electric Vehicles

A 3-wheel electric vehicle with a standard car seat could not be registered as a motorcycle in Ohio, because state law said a motorcycle has to have a saddle.

So... if Ohio law predicates that a motorcycle has to have a saddle, just tack one on somewhere. I'll bet the law doesn't specify that the saddle has to be used by the rider/driver.

Back in the early 90's our state's (Montana) Fish, Wildlife, and Parks wardens started to write violation tickets to sailboard users, if they did not have a PFD either onboard or on their person. FWP did not care whether or not the PFD was available for use to the sailboard rider, only that a PFD had to be on the sailboard, 'cause that's how they interpreted law pertaining to vessels, and claimed that a sailboard was a vessel. Some of us attached masts to our boards through the arm holes of the PFD just to satisfy the requirement. This rendered the PFD unusable, but satisfied the law, so FWP was happy... so they no longer wrote tickets for this situation. Pretty stupid, but that's the way it was.

We had to go to the state legislature to request that sailboards not be classed as vessels in order to circumvent the law. Our plea was successful, and we gained the right to sail without PFDs.

Great story...it would doubtless be even better if I knew WTF a PFD was

PFD personal flotation device. Any form of approved anti-drowning device.

Brad

PFD = personal floatation device These are now mandated for use by children under 12 in NY. This happened after a nasty divorce in NYC where the hubby decided to live on the yacht in NY harbor rather than find a new place on land. He had visitation rights for the kids who used to play on the yacht when the parents were happily married. The mom wanted visitation rights recinded and so filed a complaint in court that the yacht was an inherently dangerous place for children and thus her ex was placing a child in danger. The court threw that out but mom decided to use her connections to force the PFD for kids law and thus balm her wounds.

This is how laws are made. Somebody with an axe to grind comes up with something that seems to make sense. Since logical thought and government are mutually exclusive the "common knowledge" becomes law....

That and a bunch of retirees sitting around with nothing to do.

At least Ohio is a freedom-of-choice state for those over twenty-one years of age so they may choose to don a protective motorbike helmet, or not don a protective motorbike helmet. It could be worse.

Ohio has a very active motorcyclists' rights organization, A.B.A.T.E. of Ohio. Perhaps they should be drawn into this debate so they can offer their expertise challenging silly, non-interpretable (word?) and non-enforceable statutes.

Even states that require helmet use for everyone usually do not specify where it must be worn, hence some activists wear the helmet on the elbow or knee as a form of mild civil disobedience to challenge such laws.

Ohio is not the only state that has much difficulty interpreting the difference between a motorbike, trike, or an automobile. I think some of us (Del, I know you have) seen some memorable three-wheeled automobiles such as the Morgan or the BMW Isetta that were titled and licensed as automobiles.

Enlist and help to change legislative debacles such as this one.

Best Regards,

Ing. Robert Forbus

I sure hope Del doesn't see this, he's going to pop a gasket soon if more stoopid regulations are brought to light....

good day, you better hope del NEVER makes his way to a place called etobicoke in canada. they have county agents who have the authority to go into a house and check out how hot the water in a bath tub is, if it is too hot by thier agents guideline standards the user and home owner both get fined. i think it was the equal of $50.00 per.

'da ber

eh to bi co. Yeah, been there. Never burned myself on hot water.

Then again I can't say that I ever have....

<...sure hope Del doesn't see this...>

Too late....

Don't expect the auot parts industry to give up easy. They have a lot invested in keeping people driving. Car have 1000's of parts. Electric vechile only have a few hundred.

Those in Calif that they took away and destoryed only had 56 parts total.

A lot of jobs depend on auto parts.

I live in OHIO, and actually, the legislature is working on a fix.

The problem is if its still calssed as a motorcycle, even with seat, then mandatory motorcycle endorsement on your license and Helmet for first year are required.

milo

So much fuss over a big tricycle! I am sure some laws will have to be re-evaluated to become more applicable to the times. I mean, after all, times are changing and as we grow towards newer, greener technologies; laws will have to be either changed or new laws formed to encompass these electric vehicles.

I don't think that the re-working has to come before the technology, but perhaps after enough people complain about the 'old ways' and start composing better solutions, changes will occur in the law system as necessary.