No License or insurrance?

S

Stutter01

New Member
I just got my first uhh motor assissted bicycle :)
I love this thing, lots of fun! I have a good helmet and zoom around my street but I was told when I paid for it that I did not need a license because technically its a bicycle. either way I have fun with it but wanna know if I can actually ride this to work and back without being hassled by the fuzz
 
In Maine the law is your need to have at least a learner's permit... But it varies state to state. Check your DMV website.
 
I'm in Ontario too and the 'fuzz' has really cracked down on these bikes. Several people I know have been ticketed. Some got off and some had to pay. It's a grey area, cops aren't even sure of the legality of these bikes but a lot of the time even when in doubt will still ticket you and then it's up to you to argue in front of the judge if you decide to fight the ticket. It's no skin off the cop's back if he tickets you for an ambiguous situation and then it depends on your skills of persuasion and the attitude about these bikes of the judge you come before.

There's a few long threads in the archives somewhere on here about the legality of these bikes in Ontario and in Canada. I've read the threads several months ago and the bottom line is that there is no uniform consensus and "the jury is still out". Best thing to do I think is if you're going to ride keep your head on a swivel and watch out for cops and cut the engine if you see one until he passes.
 
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Disregarding what is or isn't legal with motor bikes. I've been wondering recently about what happens if where you live does not require insurance and you have an accident or hit a pedestrian and you are ruled at fault.
The police hand you a ticket at the scene of the accident or charge you with an offense. Then the person you hit takes you to court.

You don't have insurance because it's not required or can't be bought anywhere. Does this leave you open to being sued with no one to pay up but you/

Your thoughts on this?
 
fasteddy said:
Disregarding what is or isn't legal with motor bikes. I've been wondering recently about what happens if where you live does not require insurance and you have an accident or hit a pedestrian and you are ruled at fault.
The police hand you a ticket at the scene of the accident or charge you with an offense. Then the person you hit takes you to court.

You don't have insurance because it's not required or can't be bought anywhere. Does this leave you open to being sued with no one to pay up but you/

Your thoughts on this?
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Well, in my state at least. You aren't supposed to ride a motorized bicycle over 20mph. So assuming you're following that law, and hit someone, the damage won't be any worse than if you were just riding a normal bicycle. I can ride a bike over 20mph. So technically I could do more damage.

I really hope this country doesn't get to the point where we need insurance to ride a bicycle.
 
fasteddy said:
Disregarding what is or isn't legal with motor bikes. I've been wondering recently about what happens if where you live does not require insurance and you have an accident or hit a pedestrian and you are ruled at fault.
The police hand you a ticket at the scene of the accident or charge you with an offense. Then the person you hit takes you to court.

You don't have insurance because it's not required or can't be bought anywhere. Does this leave you open to being sued with no one to pay up but you/

Your thoughts on this?
Click to expand...

Not sure if this was directed at me or the forum in general but here are my thoughts. I'm certainly no lawyer but I would think you're still personally liable for causing bodily harm and the person could certainly take you to court to cover medical bills, etc. especially if you were in some way negligent whether the law requires insurance or not. And without any personal or liability insurance your savings and personal assets would be at risk of being converted to cash if you were found guilty to compensate the hurt party. This is getting off topic slightly but there are insurance companies that will insure you for whatever you can think of such as insuring a singer's voice or a boxer's hands and so on (at a price of course).
 
Meowy84, it was a general question to everyone since a lot of the states and provinces don't require us to have insurance.

My brother, who has a lot of good ideas, asked about insuring these bikes and when I said that there was no insurance he pointed out that since my whole income is the Old Age Security/ Social Security that if I was sued I'd be up the well known creek without a canoe, let alone a paddle.

You voiced my thoughts exactly. A lawyer would, I think, look at what I had (very little) and take the case or not based on that but I don't think it's worth the worry if I can find someone to insure the bike.

Think I'll ask at our company that handles our car insurance. They may have somebody who will cover the bike and make things easier if there is a problem.

Your thoughts are still welcomed.

Steve..
 
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Chrisme, I learned that in 1965 when a kid hit me in his Dad's brand new VW Beetle at 40mph put me down the road 20ft and I bounced of the hood of the car that my Bro. was driving going the other way.

Steve-1- Beetle-0. No one knows how I lived through it.

Good reason for insurance.

Steve.
 
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