Good catch. That's the problem seeking refuge in 'gray areas' of the law, it can easily go from gray to black.
Maine laws... :(
- Thread starter chrisme
- Start date
It's a problem as you've mentioned before...
Someone goes far enough to try to turn their bike into something that's not specifically defined and pushed themselves right into "the black"..
At this point, he'll prolly change his 'story' and say "Oh, my bike is now this (whatever 'this' may be) as I now re-evaluate what I think the definitions are..", just to make it legal now... LOL
So I emailed Registrations @ maine . gov asking if mb needed to be registered and I got the following reply "No, Maine does not register bicycles with motors on them. However, you do need to have a current driver's licence to drive one.
Then I found this website:
http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/29-A/title29-Asec1254.html
Then I found this website:
http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/29-A/title29-Asec1254.html
The law in the Ste O' Maine is this...A motorised bike is not, and cannot be regisyered. You have to have a license to operate it. The bike may not be any larger than 49cc, and must have an automatic trans. Furthemore top swpeed is limited to 20 miles an hour.
You can thank the Bikers Coalition of Maine, they forced an emergency session to get this all passed.
But after operating bikes now for 11 years, nobody really care as long as you're not being an ass.
After losing my hat from a crosswind, I stopped to pick it up, and naturally there was a Damariscotta town cop, he asked me where my plate was, and I told him they don't register bikes in Maine.
At the time I was driving my Honda GX160 with a stage 2 kit. He just told me to take the 5.5 sticker off it.
They have never bothered me.
You can thank the Bikers Coalition of Maine, they forced an emergency session to get this all passed.
But after operating bikes now for 11 years, nobody really care as long as you're not being an ass.
After losing my hat from a crosswind, I stopped to pick it up, and naturally there was a Damariscotta town cop, he asked me where my plate was, and I told him they don't register bikes in Maine.
At the time I was driving my Honda GX160 with a stage 2 kit. He just told me to take the 5.5 sticker off it.
They have never bothered me.
One of the reasons I like these forums is that they provide opportunity for all, through respectful discussion, to work together to understand “laws” and what our rights as “Motor-Assisted Bicycle” operators are, here, in the State of Maine.
It is true that the ME MBV web site states, “if all criteria are not met in any category, the vehicle is considered an off-road vehicle.” But let’s fact-check that: go ahead and look up ME’s definition of “off-road vehicle”-- you’ll find it in M.S.R.A. Title 29-A §101, subsection 47-A. I’ll paraphrase it for you: an “off-road vehicle” is a MOTOR VEHICLE that does not meet INSPECTION STANDARDS. Note that THAT statute does not say anything about legality or restriction of operation of such a craft. Now look up ME’s definition of “Motor Vehicle”-- you’ll find that in M.S.R.A. Title 29-A §101, subsection 42. I’ll paraphrase that one for you too: a “motor vehicle” is a “SELF PROPELLED vehicle….” I don’t know how all of you have configured your Motor-Assisted Bicycles but I’m pretty sure that anything that is, by definition, “motor-ASSISTED,” literally means that your bike is NOT SELF-propelled— “Motor-Assisted” (which is a term not specifically defined in Maine Law) can reasonably be interpreted (and articulated in traffic court) as meaning that your craft is propelled by MUSCLE power but has a motor that augments that muscle-power. So, your MAB is NOT A MOTOR VEHICLE so it cannot be an “Off-Road Vehicle.” Just to hammer it home, refer to Maine’s legal definition of “Motorized Bicycle” (M.S.R.A. 29-A 101 subsection 41) and note that does NOT include the words, “motor vehicle” as the definition of “Motorcycle” does (M.S.R.A. 29-A §101 subsection 38); bicycles equipped with motors of less than 50ccs are NOT “motor vehicles.” Not there yet? See Maine’s legal definition of “Vehicle,” that’s M.S.R.A. 29-A §101, subsection 91. There, you’ll see the wording,” … does NOT include conveyances propelled or drawn by human power…” Yep, your Bicycles, including Motorized Bicycles (pedals or not) and Motor-Assisted Bicycles with engines less than 50ccs, according to the State of Maine, are not even VEHICLES thus TOTALLY not “Off-Road Vehicles!” Still not with me? Then I invite you to refer to Maine’s legal definition of an explicitly-referred “off-road vehicle:” an ATV. That one is M.S.R.A Title 12 § 13001, subsection 3. Again, I’ll paraphrase: “ATV” includes any motor-driven VEHICLE “…deriving motive power from a source OTHER THAN muscle.” Notwithstanding the fact Maine Law defines a MAB as NOT a “motor vehicle” or a “vehicle” at all, that one, I’ll admit, COULD be seen as a gray area because MABs do “derive motive power from a source other than muscle.” However, even though M.S.R.A. Title 29-A §101, subsection 41, does say that a “Motorized Bicycle” does not HAVE to have pedals (if yours does NOT have pedals then it probably IS self-propelled and therefore meets definition of a “vehicle,” etc.), “Motor-ASSISTED-Bicycles” generally DO have pedals and you HAVE to pedal them (using muscle-power) in order to operate them. The very fact your motorized craft DOES “derive motive power from muscle” disqualifies my/your craft from meeting the definition of “ATV,” or, termed loosely, “an ‘Off-Road’ vehicle, etc. etc..” Yah, there may be LOTS of “gray area” here but also oodles of example, anchored explicitly in Maine State Statute, proving that the verbiage the BMV’s IT-dude posted on their web-site is simply not accurate and that you, SpecialX, are a bit hasty to believe the words you read on a web-site rather than a an actual, physical book authored by the Maine State Legislature! (I don’t mean to be inflammatory when I say this to you, Special, but I have copies of M.S.R.A book for every year dating back to 2002, have you ever even picked one up?! )
Some of you out there may be scoffing at the statements I’ve made in the (admittedly obnoxiously long) previous paragraph and have totally written me off as being completely full of s**t and therefore feel compelled to warn others that my ideas are untrustworthy or legally dangerous. Without meaning any disrespect to THOSE people, the ones who think I’m just some lying idiot who gets off by recklessly operating in technicalities of law & are even OFFENDED that I would suggest that others should follow my lead, I say this to you: it should not take a 21-year veteran Police Officer of the State of Maine (me or not me) to tell you that “the law” is ALL ABOUT TECHNICALITY! If it weren’t, then OJ Simpson would’ve been sent to Prison for Double-Homicide instead of for Robbery 13 years later. DON’T take it from me, ask ANY law-professional you may know or research it yourselves: “statutes” are analogous to mathematical formulas. Unless EVERY “element” of the statute is met during any prosecution then the argument regarding violation of said statute DOES NOT stand.
We would not be having this discussion (or, at least I would not be involved in it and would not even have built my MAB) if there was a ME statute pertaining to Motorized Bicycles or MABs that contained wording even remotely similar to that defining a “Motorboat”… which you would find in M.S.R.A Title 12 §13001, subsection 16: "Motorboat" means any watercraft, including airmobiles, equipped with propulsion machinery of any type, whether or not the machinery is the principal source of propulsion, is permanently or temporarily attached or is available for propulsion on the watercraft.” But there ISN’T any wording like that in the context of “bicycles” (motorized or not) to be found in Maine Law.
HappyValey, I am not “promoting” exploitation of “gray area,” I am merely pointing out that it is there. Even YOU say so. But I am going further than that by explaining why/that “gray area” does not somehow supersede your liberty or freedom from operating even an “unclassified” MAB on a public way (and that the BMV site is wrong). I don’t know what you do for a living, Happy, or what makes YOU credible, but I disagree with your professing that “gray area” in the law should be something to be feared rather than seen as something that actually empowers you. (Yes, there does actually exist SOME Police Officers who actually DO support-- and risk their life daily-- to protect others’ human and civil rights and even argue with their colleagues when they see one of them treating someone unjustly.) And, SpecialX, contrary to your pitiful jab at me about the likelihood I may “change my story,” (seriously, don’t be such a Troll), I don’t need to change my position because everything I’ve told you is based on now 21 years of training and experience working specifically in this field as well as the actual, literal, “letters of the law.”
Credibility, skepticism of interpretation or explicit wording of laws aside, I’ll reinforce the bottom-line of what I said a few years back: we’ll ALL be FINE if we SIMPLY DON’T GIVE pedestrians or others with whom you share the road (including police) reason to complain about you. Obey all traffic laws (as they pertain to bicycles), ride safely and be VERY courteous to ALL others (especially police). Remain respectful even to the Spiderman-tights-wearing, weekend road-biker-elitist douchbag who curses at you when you pass him on your significantly less-expensive bike (yah, YOU know who you are…ass). AVOID participating in any other activity that could lead to the police having to become involved with you. But SHOULD you, despite all your efforts, encounter a [much lesser-informed and way more of a jerk-Officer than myself,] who is otherwise equally tough in enforcing (what he perceives to be) a violation of law, DON’T GIVE the JUDGE a reason to set new legal precedent in his/her legal finding by ruling against you simply because you had a disrespectful or arrogant attitude (then again, if the Judge has integrity and can remain objective, despite any bad attitude you may uncontrollably exhibit, the current wording of these Maine laws are no less “gray” thus he/she should rule in your favor).
In the meantime we can’t blame the IT-guy who built the ME BMV page or the government administrative employee who told him to input the “if not ‘this’ than your craft is automatically ‘that’” language- this stuff IS complicated. I do not blame you, SpecialX for your mistake and please know I am not meaning to sound disrespectful to you when I suggest that it is perhaps YOU who needs to check “the facts.” You can easily look yourself and see that the Statutes of the State of Maine, as they are currently written, simply do NOT support what is said in the BMV site. Sincerely, please DO educate me if I have somehow missed some fine-print in an actual LAW reference somewhere (the BMV’s Driver’s Ed. manual too is not an example of a legitimate law resource). There is good reason why, if you should ever call the Maine Secretary of State’s Office with questions about MAB laws they will be trying to look things up and transferring you to other offices, etc., making for a very long phone call: it is because they- like most Maine Police too- don’t actually deal with this set of laws very much. Until then, I am going to follow (to the letter) NOT the erroneous words of the BMV’s web-site but rather to the words written by the Maine State LEGISLATURE: the branch of Maine Government that is ACTUALLY responsible for writing these laws.
But after operating bikes now for 11 years, nobody really care as long as you're not being an ass.
Lots of thought and work in all the above. Thanks VERY much you guys.
Scroller Guy has nailed it.
Be safe, Be sure your wheels and pedals are reflectored. Big white one in front big red one in back and if your on the street flashers are required. Not required by Maine law but a helmet does show you to be safety conscious. I also wear a reflective vest early morn and eve hrs.
Been riding, building and selling these for 5 yrs now never had a prob. with law.
Sober, sane, and polite you will be alright.
Lots of thought and work in all the above. Thanks VERY much you guys.
Scroller Guy has nailed it.
Be safe, Be sure your wheels and pedals are reflectored. Big white one in front big red one in back and if your on the street flashers are required. Not required by Maine law but a helmet does show you to be safety conscious. I also wear a reflective vest early morn and eve hrs.
Been riding, building and selling these for 5 yrs now never had a prob. with law.
Sober, sane, and polite you will be alright.