That's a big jump down. I think state DOTs look for consensus from other states and 50cc is pretty common.
Electric bicycle or moped?
- Thread starter motorbiker
- Start date
Can you point out the current statute about gas powered bicycles and/or the "cc" limits?
Actually, I just looked up all the statutes for OK.. Even though they changed the "cc" limit from 150 to 50cc for a motorized bicycle (gas powered bike), they still require(d) you to have a valid license. Just not a motorcycle endorsement.
If you look, they require you to have a license for an electric bike, so it would seem reasonable to expect them to require you to have one powered by gas.
Unless you can show us a (current) statute that states no license required, I don't see a gray area.
Actually, I just looked up all the statutes for OK.. Even though they changed the "cc" limit from 150 to 50cc for a motorized bicycle (gas powered bike), they still require(d) you to have a valid license. Just not a motorcycle endorsement.
If you look, they require you to have a license for an electric bike, so it would seem reasonable to expect them to require you to have one powered by gas.
Unless you can show us a (current) statute that states no license required, I don't see a gray area.
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Ultimately it's going to be up to a judge and/or a jury eventually. How S/He, they interpret the 'grey areas' in the statutes may depend on if the defendant is a scofflaw trying to usurp a court ordered driver's license suspension or other form of punishment or if the defendant is a citizen in good standing and just misinterpreted or correctly interpreted the statutes and making an argument before the court in good standing.
Personally I don't see any grey areas in Idaho's moped laws and since Oklahoma's laws are almost identical I don't see any grey area there either. Then again I'm not trying to split hairs with the statutes looking for any possible 'grey areas' to get around a court ordered driver's license suspension either.
Personally I don't see any grey areas in Idaho's moped laws and since Oklahoma's laws are almost identical I don't see any grey area there either. Then again I'm not trying to split hairs with the statutes looking for any possible 'grey areas' to get around a court ordered driver's license suspension either.
My license was revoked for failure to pay child support, I had to have surgery and was unable to work, therefore unable to pay.
It was not revoked for DUI or stupidity behind the wheel.
Buses don't run in my area, but I still need to work to pay the child support, straight bicycles are not an option when you are my age and needing to cover miles to get around. (Try that after two surgeries and let me know how it goes LOL)
There are a lot of people in the same condition as yourself. The solution is to go back to court and explain your hardships to the judge and work on a case plan for getting your license reinstated or at least with certain conditions such as for employement only or find a job within walking distance so you can pay your obligations. I understand how frustrated you and others in your situation are but to risk more legal issues with law enforcement by getting busted for driving on a suspended license is not going to help you at all. It's just going to make it worse and end up costing you time and money in the end. Fact is that your debt is not going to go away. Your'e going to have to take care of it sooner or later.
The courts don't suspend people's driver's licenses and professional licenses like contractor's, law, MD, etc. to ensure they lose their jobs and all but guarantee non-payment of child support, the courts do so to cause enough disruption in a person's livelihood in order to force them back into court and coerce them into taking care of their obligation. It's much cheaper and causes less stigma than having a warrant issued for their arrest and being hauled off to jail however a suspended driver's license is on the low end of punishment for non-compliance of a court order. Those who don't make an effort to take care of business will eventually end up in jail and have many $1000s of additional fines, fees, and court costs added to what they already owe. And more and more county jails are now actually charging a daily fee to pay for the incarceration. They do here.
Here is the problem... Just about everyone with a suspended license that lives in a state where MABs require a license, will always want there to be a gray area, even when one doesn't exist. This is just my opinion. Unfortunately for those in states like OK and NJ, even electric bikes require a license.
Luckily for those in OK, they have a "restricted license",(not in NJ tho
) so you CAN get a license with a suspension... BUT!! you can ONLY use a car for back and forth to work. Problem solved!!
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That's what I mean by splitting hairs with the statutes. It's easy for one to do that and convince themselves that they are legally riding but unfortunately law enforcement and the courts may be less inclined to see it that way especially if someone is trying to usurp a court order by driving with suspended privileges.
Short answer none wants aloop hole except those who are already in it .
Long answer every poorly worded law that leaves room for a grey area is still the law...
Will we reach a national law or at least some kind of understanding on the whole revoked issue, i'm not sure when you have the court useing those tactics to evoke an action from people who realy aren't gulity of anything ? What you got revoked for does matter ,but so does getting to work. Were do we find a balance that leaves mb' s legal for others ?who are legal .
Long answer every poorly worded law that leaves room for a grey area is still the law...
Will we reach a national law or at least some kind of understanding on the whole revoked issue, i'm not sure when you have the court useing those tactics to evoke an action from people who realy aren't gulity of anything ? What you got revoked for does matter ,but so does getting to work. Were do we find a balance that leaves mb' s legal for others ?who are legal .
LOL! You must be a cop, or don't care about how hard life can be for others.
For your information, before I got sick and had to have the first surgery, the court actually reduced my back child support obligations because I was catching it up at a very rapid rate.
It takes money to try to deal with the courts to get a license back, and I have only been able to go back to work a couple of weeks ago, so there has not been enough time to try to start getting my child support back on track as well as other obligations, let alone trying to have enough money to try for reinstatement of my license.
When I was in the hospital, one of the doctors tried to help me by sending the medical records to DHS to show them I wasn't refusing to pay the child support, after I was notified by mail my license was revoked, I called them and they verified that they had my medical records on file, but chose to not only make my life harder to get a job, but also to get to the doctors for the continued medical care I required to survive at all.
I take my obligations seriously, and I really don't need anyone making my life harder to make me "see" the error of my ways.
For the courts to take away what is needed to make a living today is NOT an incentive, it is just plain power balling someone because you can.
I got the bicycle so I could try to survive, just that simple.
I was trying to make the effort to get some money for the child support by filing for temporary disability (You must be disabled at least 12 months to qualify and I do)
I reported this to DHS so they could see I was trying to do something even though I couldn't work, but after seeing the way you responded so far, I assume it only sounds like excuses to you, and not effort.
I also don't agree with you about the courts not suspending someones license to ensure payments, or else they would do it to ALL people who are in debt to anyone who files a complaint.
They make it harder, not easier to collect money at that point.
If you really believe that having a license is a low end priority for living, then give yours up and after a year or two, tell me then how it "helped" you to do better please.
I happen to not have a drivers license and have not for 8 years, and I've been able to live..
However, I was lucky enough to have buses and trains in NJ when I lived there and have an electric bike here in Florida where you don't need a license.
Why not take my advice and GET A RESTRICTED LICENSE?
Don't complain about what you don't currently have.. Take the initiative and take my advice.
In that respect, you're even better off than I am..
(My license is suspended in NJ and FL won't give me one.. You're in OK where you CAN get one.. So go do it!!)
However, I was lucky enough to have buses and trains in NJ when I lived there and have an electric bike here in Florida where you don't need a license.
Why not take my advice and GET A RESTRICTED LICENSE?
Don't complain about what you don't currently have.. Take the initiative and take my advice.
In that respect, you're even better off than I am..
(My license is suspended in NJ and FL won't give me one.. You're in OK where you CAN get one.. So go do it!!)
Sorry I didn't get back to you, I didn't see where you asked for the statute about what I was referring to.Here is the problem... Just about everyone with a suspended license that lives in a state where MABs require a license, will always want there to be a gray area, even when one doesn't exist. This is just my opinion. Unfortunately for those in states like OK and NJ, even electric bikes require a license.
Luckily for those in OK, they have a "restricted license",(not in NJ tho
It is Oklahoma Chapter 47 O.S. 1-104
It reads:
A. A bicycle is a device upon which any person or persons may ride, propelled solely by human power through a belt, chain, or gears, and having two or more wheels, excluding mopeds.
B. An electric-assisted bicycle is any bicycle with:
1. Two or three wheels; and
2. Fully operative pedals for human propulsion and equipped with an electric motor:
a. with a power output not to exceed one thousand (1,000) watts,
b. incapable of propelling the device at a speed of more than twenty (20) miles per hour on level ground, and,
c. incapable of further increasing the speed of the device when when human power alone is used to propel the device at a speed of twenty (20) miles per hour or more.
An electric-assisted bicycle shall meet the requirements of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards as set forth in federal regulations and shall operate in such a manner that the electric motor disengages or ceases to function when the brakes are applied.
C. A motorized bicycle is any bicycle having:
1. Fully operative pedals for propulsion by human power;
2. An automatic transmission; and
3. A combustion engine with a piston or rotor displacement of fifty cubic centimeters (50 cu cm)or less, regardless of the number of chambers in the engine, which is capable of propelling the bicycle at a maximum design speed of not more than thirty (30) miles per hour on level ground.
D. As used in this title, the term "bicycle" shall include tricycles, quadcycles, or similar human-powered devices, electric-assisted bicycles, and motorized bicycles unless otherwise specifically indicated.
It is the (D.) section I think might be able to help me here, unless I am just wishing it to say something it don't.
It seems to me that it says that my bicycle is classified as a bicycle, not a motored vehicle, or moped.
I couldn't find anything that said a license is required for a "bicycle", it may grasping at straws, but then I have nothing to lose by trying.
P.S. I tried checking into the restricted license, but because it was revoked by the court for non-payment, I was told they could not help me until the court released it.
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"As used in this section" is the part that kills you...
It's only for that section...
The drivers license sections specifically states that electric AND motorized bicycles require a license. (class D at a minimum)
And they're full of chit about clearing it up first with the court... (if you "clear it up" then you would HAVE your license and NOT NEED a restricted license)
The ENTIRE point of the restricted license is BECAUSE your license is suspended..
Keep fighting for it.. Contact your state congressman or senator for help.
It's only for that section...
The drivers license sections specifically states that electric AND motorized bicycles require a license. (class D at a minimum)
And they're full of chit about clearing it up first with the court... (if you "clear it up" then you would HAVE your license and NOT NEED a restricted license)
The ENTIRE point of the restricted license is BECAUSE your license is suspended..
Keep fighting for it.. Contact your state congressman or senator for help.
I'll fight it alright, like I said, I have nothing to lose by trying.
But you might also look at:
"Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry signed HB2926 into Law.
That is what puts the limit of citations on bicycles at $25.00
So I still have that to try and at least reduce the expense.