How do I prevent officers from unlawfully stopping me on a scooter?

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dan

I was riding an electric scooter on the side of the road like a bicycle(not in traffic). An officer gave me a ticket for operating an unregistered motor vehicle. Although New Jersey law dictates that it is classified as a moped, which must be registered and insured, under federal law any two or 3 wheeled vehicle under 1hp and has a top speed of less than 20mph and functioning pedals, it's actually considered an "electronically assisted bicycle" and is regulated with the same laws as regular bicycles, not as a motor vehicle. This federal law also specifically states that this law supersedes any state law which regulates such vehicles more stringently. I plead not guilty and when I brought this to the judges attention he dropped the ticked. The problem is, since getting the ticket thrown out, I was stopped again and given the same ticket. I tried to explain the situation to the officer, but he wasn't having it. How do I go about insuring that I can ride my legal scooter without being harassed by misinformed police officers?
Jacob- In order to take an issue to the supreme court, or any appeals court, you have to be contesting a decision made by a judge. That is not the case here, as the judge sided with me. There is nothing to appeal, and im sure when i return to court the judge will again dismiss the ticket. The issue is that the cops dont know the law, and think they are justified in continuing to stop me and write tickets. Unfortunately for me, when explaining myself to an officer, it sounds to the officer exactly like all the other mounds of BS they hear come out of peoples mouths who are just trying to get out of consequences for a truly illegal activity on a daily basis, so they dont pay any attention to it.
Joey-You are incorrect.It is federally mandated (see link below) that this scooter is regulated by state governments as a bicycle, not a motor vehicle. As such, an officer stopping me on the scooter and writing a ticket for an unregistered motor vehicle is the equivalent to an officer stopping someone on a normal bicycle and writing them a ticket for an unregistered motor vehicle. In addition i find the tone of your comment unnecessary and abusive and you will be reported.

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ319/pdf/PLAW-107publ319.pdf
Kenneth C-Thank you for your input. I actually did stumble across the segway argument in ny during my research. However, you have failed to consider the provision in the federal law which not only allows you to own the low speed electric bicycle, but dictates that it is to be considered and regulated as a normal bicycle(which you ARE allowed to operate on the roadways). The issue in question here is not whether it is legal to ride the scooter on the street, as that has already been confirmed by a judge. The question is how to display and prove to misinformed police officers the already established FACT that it IS legal to ride it on the street.

In addition, this federal law supersedes any and all state laws including new yorks, which means this low speed electric bicycle is legally operable on any roadways where bicycles are legally operable in new york as well as anywhere else in the us. Unfortunately since segways do NOT have fully operable foot pedals, they do not fall into the cat

Answer
NYS has something similar. Here is the caveat. YES. You can own that scooter. The the federal law allows you to own that and as many as you want. The way NYS has it though, which I assume is similar to Jersey is that in NYS, any vehicle that is powered by other than human power must be registered. NYS will not register the electric bicycle. There was a similar argument with those Segways in NYS and though it is legal to own one, it is illegal to ride one because they are not registerable.

I know, it's silly. And though you provide a good argument, the police are not wrong in giving you the summons. I do not understand personally why these are unregisterable, but in some states, they are. I guess now I know Jersey is one of those states.

Edit - Before I continue, I disagree with the fact that your scooter is considered "unregisterable". That said, in looking at section (d) of the federal statutes, it does state "This section shall SUPERSEDE ANY STATE LAW OR REQUIREMENT
with respect to low-speed electric bicycles to the extent that such
State law or requirement is more stringent than the Federal law
or requirements referred to in subsection (a).ââ.

Now section (a) states, "SEC. 38. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, lowspeed
electric bicycles are consumer products within the meaning
of section 3(a)(1) and shall be subject to the Commission regulations
published at section 1500.18(a)(12) and part 1512 of title 16, Code
of Federal Regulations.".

What I interpret from reading those two sections is that YES, this low speed electrical bicycle is considered a consumer product. The law doesn't dictate that the state can't regulate how this product is used. It never stated that this bicycle must be registered if it is owned. You can own a car, but you can't drive it unless it is registered. The fault is not in the police officer's giving you the ticket. (You would think they have better things to do than to break your shoes over this nonsense) The fault is in the state for not allowing this to be registered. (For the life of me I still don't know why it wouldn't be). Not trying to split hairs, but I would be more angry with your state's legislatures than with the cops. (Although the cops should have better things to do than to deal with this nonsense as long as you are not trying to run people over or behave recklessly on it.) It's not that I am debating you to debate you, I just wouldn't want to see you keep getting tickets, regardless of principle.

Any one drive an electric assist bicycle that looks like a motor scooter w/pedals?

melanie

I am thinking of buying one, how do you like riding yours? If you are in the state of Florida, have you ever been stopped for riding it without a drivers license? If yes, what was the outcome? Looks like Florida drivers license laws are about to change, I don't want to jeopardize a chance to get mine back so I will not buy an elec assist bike if I could be arrested for driving it w/o a license.

Answer
Yes I have an xb-508 started with an xb-502. they work just like an electric scooter but no tag or title and no license required. try www.macclennyscooters.com. you can email if you have any questions or hit me up on IM.

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Title Post: How do I prevent officers from unlawfully stopping me on a scooter?
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