From Maryland State Police:
Maryland State Police and local law enforcement are reminding the owners and riders of motor scooters and mopeds that a new law taking effect in less than two months will make significant changes in the use of their chosen form of transportation.
On October 1, 2012, new Maryland vehicle laws will take effect that require all motor scooters and mopeds to be titled and insured, while all operators and passengers must wear a helmet and eye protection. These new requirements are in addition to the existing law that requires all motor scooter and moped operators to possess a valid driver’s license or a moped operator’s permit.
All drivers and passengers of motor scooters and mopeds will be required to wear motorcycle helmets that meet safety standards set by the United States Department of Transportation. Drivers and passengers must also wear eye protection, unless the vehicle is equipped with a windscreen. Pretty sure there are a lot of scooter or riding protective gear on online or even at your local stores, so there is no excuse to having none when riding. Safety riding techniques should always be paired with protective gear.
Motor scooter and motorcycle owners will be required to get motorcycle insurance. They must obtain at least the minimum vehicle liability insurance and must carry proof of the insurance with them whenever they are operating the scooter or moped.
Motor scooters and mopeds will be required to be titled by the Motor Vehicle Administration. Owners will be able to obtain titling information through the MVA website at www.mva.maryland.gov beginning October 1st. When the title is obtained, the vehicle owner will be provided with a decal that must be displayed on the rear of the vehicle.
Maryland law defines a motor scooter as a non-pedal vehicle that has a seat for the operator; has two wheels, of which one is ten or more inches in diameter; has a step through chassis; has a motor with a rating of 2.7 brake horsepower or less, or a 50 cc engine or less; and is equipped with an automatic transmission.
A moped is defined as a bicycle that is designed to be operated by human power with the assistance of a motor; is equipped with pedals that can drive the rear wheel(s) https://scooteradviser.com; has two or three wheels, one of which is more than 14 inches in diameter; has a motor with a rating of 1.5 brake horsepower or less and a 50 cc engine or less.
The drivers of motor scooters and mopeds are required to follow the same rules of the road as bicycles. Those rules include:
–Drivers must ride as near to the right side of the roadway as practical and safe as possible, except when:
–Making a left turn;
–Operating on a one-way street;
–Passing a stopped or slower moving vehicle;
–Avoiding pedestrians and road hazards;
–The right lane is a right turn only lane;
–Operating in a lane too narrow for a bicycle or motor scooter and another vehicle to travel safely side by side.
–Drivers may ride side by side only if flow of traffic is unimpeded;
–Drivers must exercise due care when passing;
–Headsets covering both ears, or earplugs in both ears are not permitted;
–Scooters or mopeds may not be operated on roadways with speed limits greater than 50 mph;
–Scooters or mopeds may not be operated at more than 30 mph;
–Drivers may not operate on a roadway where there is a smooth paved bike lane or paved shoulder available, meaning they must use the bike lane or paved shoulder instead of the roadway;
–Drivers must obey the rules of the road applicable to all vehicles.
Troopers and local law enforcement across Maryland have received training regarding the new laws. Scooter and moped drivers who violate the new law can expect to be stopped and issued traffic citations or warnings, beginning October 1.
So when are they going to apply some laws to the bicyclists? Follow rules of road, single file, helmets, bright gear, insurance, licenses, no driving when no shoulder, etc.
I admit, some cyclists don’t do it right, but many, and possibly even most, do. As a cyclist, it upsets me when one runs a red light, or rolls a stop sign, the same way it does when a car does so. If I’m on a fixie an I can stop at stop signs, you can too.
Bicyclists are supposed to follow the rules of the road. Helmets are already required for anyone under the age of 16. Many of the best roads to ride are slower (30 mph) roads, are those are less likely to have shoulders. Just pay attention and share the road. For example – Rt 152 has huge shoulders, and is legal to ride (45-50 mph), but drivers routinely go upwards of 60. It’s terrifying for a cyclist when someone isn’t paying attention at that speed.
It is also terrifying for the driver when the bicyclist is on the left side of Trimble road and crosses Rt. 24 while texting.
jj, you said what I have complained about for years. I was actually going to make bumper stickers that read “know your routes” for cyclists that insist on biking on narrow, curvy roads where it is dangerous for them and persons operating a vehicle. I loathe those who bike on roads that have no shoulder and practically stop traffic. There are a lot of bike friendly roads. Use them.
Liberals
More stupidity from the dems who run the state. Lets shaft the college kids & everyone else who rides a vehicle that gets 100 mpg. Can’t wait to get out of here like 1000’s of others. Heil democrats.
I thought the arguement is we should not give breaks to gas efficient vehicles. This is simply treating them the same.
So can you get a moped operator’s permit with a DUI and suspended driver’s license, or will 99% of current scooter operators be out of luck next month?
The driver’s license part isn’t a new requirement, that is in existing law.
Prior to requiring stickers, police had a harder time establishing probable cause to stop a scooter (suspicion of a suspended license is not enough, unless the person is known to the officer), now with registration stickers, the officer can articulate that he could not see the sticker clearly enough to verify its authenticity while both vehicles were in motion. Or stop him to verify his helmet meets DOT standards, or because he isn’t wearing a helmet at all.
Once he’s stopped, its license, registration and proof of insurance time and the suspended driver gets to ride in the back seat.
“Motor scooters and mopeds will be required to be titled by the Motor Vehicle Administration.”
Can I assume that this means there will be a fee (tax) for the privilege to ride a scooter? No, O’Malley would never do that to us… hahahaha! Just kidding!
You forget, Phil, that the state, as in the other 49, has arrogated unto itself the authority to decide who may and who may not drive a vehicle on the roads in this state; that’s why you need a license to drive a car, a motorcycle, a tractor-trailer, or just about anything else (with the possible exception of a farm vehicle, like the one that blocked the road on me the other day) on a public road. That scooter riders will now be taxed on it is merely gravy for the hegemony ruling Annapolis. Here’s my question: Are the cops really going to stop scooter riders from (a) figuring out how to get their little 49cc gnats to run faster (easily learned from the Internet) and (b) running their little hopped-up gnats on roads with speed limits higher than 30 MPH? I had once considered getting a scooter for my ride to work at APG (before I became a victim of the jobless recovery). I wouldn’t be able to do that now, because every entrance into the installation is on a road with a speed limit higher than 30 MPH (at least until you get to the gates themselves).
Dude,
Your a moron. It applies to those under or over 50cc so why would it matter if the cops can figure out how fast the scooter goes? You can also ride on a road with a speed limit greater then 30 mph (up to 50mph if you actually comprehended the print). You are just not allowed to go faster then 30. Spend more time actually reading instead of commenting. Or better yet, try and comprehend instead of just looking at the words!
“Your a moron”
Hahaha! Genius! I love it!
“Your a moron”… Seriously??? Perhaps you are!
Officers looking for drugs and suspended drivers will. A large number of the scooters running around Edgewood are driven by idiots with either no license or a suspended license and its not uncommon for them to have drugs either on their person or in the storage compartment.
In any case, you can ride a scooter on a road with a 50 mph or lower speed limit…just can’t drive any faster than 30 mph. Granted that does make it difficult to commute to base on one unless you live in Edgewood, Joppa, or Aberdeen since just about every road you can take at some point you’ll go through a 55 mph zone. That’s a safety issue anyway. Personally, I’d rather not get run over on a scooter by a much larger vehicle doing at least 25 mph faster than I am in order to save a few bucks on gas.
Watch out – your sneakers are next for the crew in Annapolis! They can and will tax everything that moves when they go unchallenged. Thanks again MD voters!
Hey HCSO, how about sitting at the 4-way stop signs in Belair and citing the 20 MPH stops the drivers complete? We would be the riches county in the state? The people are driving scooters to work because they can’t afford a car based on Obama and O malley’s RECOVERY!
Or, better yet, you could ask the Bel Air Police Department to do it since it is in Bel Air. Think of all the money it would generate for Bel Air! Phone: 410-893-0200 and give them a heads up.
This scooter law is a long time coming. No one is taking away from those that use them due to money issues, but the people who operate them need to be held accountable if their numbers are increasing. By this I mean the registration/titling/insurance. The shear number of scooters that are on the roads have caused this legislation to be created due to the amount of traffic offenses/accidents/incidents that are occurring with scooters. Also, to operate a scooter you have to either have a valid moped license or higher class license. You cannot operate them legally if you are suspended.
assholes strike again.politicians should have to pay triple the taxesand fees insurance etc.that everyone else has to pay,maybe then they would get the message.i ve had enough.assholes should be killed,the day of revolt is coming,the arab spring will soon be the american spring
sorry folks sometimes enough is enough and u gotta take a stand
i found a loophole,lawn tractors
I love scooters too much
Throw the bums out.
It’s about damn time. I’m tired of these little rug-rags and their scooters thinking they are well above traffic laws.
Had onw instance where a kid thought he was gonna be hot shit by riding my ass and then blowing by me on my right, while I was approaching a stop sign to negotiate a RIGHT TURN. He would have been smoked if I didn’t regard his life any.
Thankfully for me, there was a undercover LEO right behind the both of us. When he what was going on, he swooped in swiftly for the kill.
I felt good about myself that day. F those tards on their little pretend-motorcycles. Even worse is when those males are doubling up. Pretty gay stuff, dudes.
This might be the best comment in the history of the Dagger. Can we get a Hall of Fame?
Bout time, they are using the road and not paying for the service. The road the government built for us to make our business’s successful and ”help” us all needs maintenance so everyone using it must pay something. Someday maybe the government will make the Amish and those who ride horses on the road get permits as well because they are abusing the privalige and not paying for it.
What if the scooter operator is from Central America, has no license, no insurance, no sticker and speaks only Spanish or Mayan? Is that a “Catch & Release for law enforcement?
Thanks…
If I can’t ride over 30mph and have to use the bicycle lane then I might as well ride a bicycle. I spent $2500 on a nice 49cc scooter so I could occasionally go for a joy ride, or pick something up from the store. It goes 42mph so I don’t see why I have to ride it at 30 or less. Most of the streets around me are 30-40 mph limits meaning traffic is doing 35-45mph. If I have to pay for insurance and to register it, I should at least be able to ride it with traffic at 35-40mph. With all these fees and strict rules I might as well sell it and get a motorcycle.
I would not be a bit surprised if not to far into the further that they tax the very air that you breath, Hell they already have a RAIN Tax.