Canadians may be interested

[GoreWound]

http://www.vancouversun.com/Vancouv...+motorized+bicycle+tickets/6296114/story.html

a judge in BC recently threw a case out of court essentially because the laws in Canada regarding motor assisted bicycles are arcane and confusing.

there's a link to the court document at the bottom of the article, but it seems to be dead.
would love to read that.



for those not aware / who want to hear my two cents about it:
Canadian federal law describes motor assisted bicycles more than once. one of those times they are lumped in with motorcycles and require insurance and plates. the other time they are described they are lumped in with E-bikes and are unregulated.

in the description that collects them with motorcycles it describes "having gears" or "having a clutch" as part of the definition, it also mentions a maximum acceleration, maximum horsepower, maximum displacement.

the law where they are lumped in with E-bikes has nothing regulating that stuff at all.

so in theory a 99MPH electric bike is totally okay, but a two stroke that can barely to ten is a no-go.


this gets even more complicated if you try to register a motorized bike as a motorcycle because there is no legal framework to do so.

combine with all these factors the fact that there are no programs within the police to ensure individual officers are aware of the state of this law and you have a recipe for nonsense.

combine all of that with the near criminal car-insurance rates in Canada (mostly Ontario) and you have a system that basically punishes the poor with lack of mobility.
/rant


I mostly wanted to share the link because this is ultimately progress in this matter and anyone who may care should be able to read it.
(also anyone know another source for the ruling itself?)

 

[NEAT TIMES]

Gore

I just clicked on the link on top of your post and a blank page came up. As I was writing the newspaper name down the article loaded. Did take 3 pictures to get it all. Will check tomorrow to see if others can load it. Will post article with 3 pics if needed.

Ron

 

[GoreWound]

Thanks for the help! There's this link at the bottom of that article.
http://www.provincialcourt.bc.ca/judgments/pc/2012/00/p12_0067.htm
Not sure why I didn't post that before.

That's the public record of the ruling, but from what I can tell the .bc.ca site is broken (or at least the search function is)


Even without access to the ruling, any time a judge in Canada does anything about the quagmire of legislation that is Canadian law, no matter how small, I try to enjoy it.

I find it rather fascinating how I hear all the time about "going green" by developing new technologies and reinventing various wheels within the machine of society to be more efficient, but something that can actually help in a direct way based on decades old technology that is available already?
I will be lucky if it doesn't get impounded.

 

[gaffo]

I find it rather fascinating how I hear all the time about "going green" by developing new technologies and reinventing various wheels within the machine of society to be more efficient, but something that can actually help in a direct way based on decades old technology that is available already?
I will be lucky if it doesn't get impounded.

It called "Magical Thinking", I started noticing it about 15 yr ago - its really gotten out of control.

It why we don't have KEI Cars here because some nervous nelly always cries "small cars are deathtraps", while we have no problem with driving around on motorcycles (which are a **** of a lot more deadly).

or we have "15,000" buck that that "tiny penaltybox"!!??? why I can get a used blah blah blah blah for 15,000 bucks!

or the usual "that gas powered small car only gets 45 mpg?" why that nothing my GEO Metro got 50 mpg - or - why that's nothing there is this blah blah (compressed air engine), blh blah blha electric billionaire somethingro other that blah bnlah blah.

I'm so sick of this childish thinking. Technology is not magic - it does have limits (and no there is not going to be is magical battery to give electrics great range anytime soon).

there's no pragmatism anymore. we beomce a nation of losers/children.

 

[fasteddy]

If you look at the ruling the judge let him off primarily because he tried to find out what the law was and the people charged with telling him gave him the wrong information. He was lucky that he had proof of that.

Another Judge ruled in the spring of 2014 that another person who was stopped and was guilty despite what the other judge said.

Here is the official government web site for our province run auto insurance. Motorized bicycles with gas motors are illegal.

These are in line with the federal motor vehicle act.

Steve.

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j...F2AKAjukuHEX_bw&bvm=bv.85076809,d.cGU&cad=rja

 

[fasteddy]

Here is information on the other, more recent court case that I found. The judge mentioned this case but then mentioned two others in reaching her decision.
In B.C. the fine for being in control of an unlicensed, uninsured and unregistered motor vehicle can reach $5,000.

As I have said dozens of times before if you want to be Don Quito and tilt wind mills don't be surprised when you get knocked off your horse.

And as has been mentioned more than once here that B.C. laws don't count in Ontario you need to understand that I.C.B.C. was one of the main helpers in drawing up the federal laws when they legalized e-bikes and made gas bikes illegal.

Steve.


DriveSmartBC
Offline
Joined: 2008/03/21
Submitted by E-mail

In Vancouver Provincial Court today JJP Schwartz handed down a decision relating to a no insurance violation ticket for a gas powered bicycle being driven on a highway. In her decision (R. vs Al-Faouri) JJP Schwartz found the disputant guilty of driving without insurance contrary to section 24(3)(b) of the Motor Vehicle Act. The disputant had presented Case Law from a 2012 case R. vs. Ryan where JJP Gordon dismissed the charge on a similar fact case reasoning that the vehicle was uninsurable and therefore the disputant could not be found guilty of drving without insurance. JJP Schwartz referred to this case in her decision but determined that the inability to insure the vehicle is irrelevant. The Prosecution presented two similar fact cases that assisted in her decision R. vs. Rei BCSC and R vs. Fox Provincial court.

 

[GoreWound]

I am currently looking into solutions to quieten my bike before I start using it on the regular. loud may be safe, but quiet is respectable. unfortunately for canada there seems to be a general prejudice against new things.
that said, as oddly draconian as the new ruling seems to me, I am very happy that electric bikes are fully legitimate now.
ontarios rules regarding this subject are much more confusing, and open to interpretation.
The trick to a successful tilt (against any foe, imagined, masonry or otherwise) is to keep your head down, and your shield up. I would prefer armour over a lance.
Most commercially available mopeds you see are also within the legal grey area, as very few of the ones I see around have plates on them. the police have no reason to dive into the paperwork swamp of enforcing a confusing law on someone who is causing no trouble.
It's much easier to ride a two wheeled vehicle on a quiet road anyway.