Modern Buddy

The freeway I take to work has 6 lanes--3 each way. Each direction has one carpool lane (on the inside) and two other lanes.

Anyhow traffic was going 50 to 55 and the exit I often take was coming up, so I moved out of the carpool lane and started moving to my right. For some reason the two non-carpool lanes were going faster than the carpool lane, so I was passing cars in the carpool lane as I sped up to 60-62 (70 indicated).

I happened to glance to my left, and there was a trio of highway patrol motorcycles, in formation, in the carpool lane that I just happened to pass.

I know they got a good look at me, but they didn't come after me, or shake their heads that I saw.

After I got over into the right lane traffic slowed a little, and I decided to stay on the freeway another exit or two (typically it's moving too fast to do that).

Meanwhile the carpool lane was going a little faster so the highway patrolmen were ahead again with a couple of cars after them.

I got back over in the carpool lane and stayed on the freeway another couple of miles, taking an exit that exits from the carpool lane, rather than to the right. I was not slowing down traffic on the freeway at any time...in fact sometimes I was going faster than the cars.

A couple of minutes after exiting, who should I come upon but the same 3 motorcycle patrolmen.

They were in the left lane (we were now on a 30 mph street) and I was in the right. I passed them (traffic was just faster in my lane) and they fell in behind me. A half a block later, I got in the left lane since I was turning left at the light a couple of blocks ahead, and they made a right into a parking lot. That was the last I saw of them.

I guess if I was ever going to get a ticket for not being on a 150cc or greater on the freeway that would have been the day!

Anyone ever been given a ticket for being on the freeway?

Why would you get a ticket just for being on the highway? 150s are highway legal. Really, anything that can sustain 45+ mph should be highway legal.

Because I don't have a 150cc...and I 'think' that in Washington state you have to have a 150cc or greater to ride on the freeway.

First off...depending on local laws...it doesn't sound like you were doing anything wrong. I love riding solo in the HOV lane...and it is perfectly legal!

Second If they were riding in "formation" they were on their way isomewhere as a group. I can't Imagine one of them breaking off and holding up the rest to ticket a scooter! That LEO would be getting crap from everyone for weeks!

michelle_7728 wrote:Anyone ever been given a ticket for being on the freeway?

Just a stern talking-to. It was on my last time across the Mackinac Bridge. It's 5 miles of interstate, speed limit 45mph (25 for semis); I'd ridden it twice before. But that day the paved lane (rather than the metal-grate) was closed part of the way, and the crosswinds were almost 30mph, so I opted at the toll booth to get trucked across by the Mackinac Bridge Authority.

While I was waiting off to the side, a state trooper came up and grilled me. I explained that A) I never had any intention of being on the interstate for longer than it took to get from one end of the bridge to the other (which didn't change his attitude), and that B) in fact I wasn't going to do even that: I had already chosen to do it by the book. He ran my drivers license of course, and let me go only when the MBA pickup arrived to carry Flash and me across.

michelle_7728 wrote:I guess if I was ever going to get a ticket for not being on a 150cc or greater on the freeway that would have been the day!

Voneschenbach posted this information on Modern Vespa some time ago -

Link to WA State Patrol FAQ Page (text quoted below)

http://www.wsp.wa.gov/information/faqs.htm

How do I need to license my scooter in order to legally operate it on the roadway?

In the state of Washington, any two or three wheeled vehicle will either be licensed as a motorcycle or a moped depending on the engine size and how fast the vehicle travels.

If the vehicle travels less than 30 mph and has an engine size of less than 50cc, it will be licensed as a moped in the state of Washington and the driver would be required to have a valid drivers license in order to operate it on the roadway. These vehicles are only allowed to operate on roadways that do not exceed 35 mph and must follow any additional restrictions set within their local jurisdictions.

If the vehicle travels more than 30 mph or has an engine size greater than 50cc, it will be licensed as a motorcycle in the state of Washington and the driver would be required to have the proper endorsement on the drivers license in order to operate it on the roadway. These vehicles must follow the rules of the road for motorcycles and may be operated on any public roadway where the vehicle can maintain the posted speed limit of that roadway.

The situation in Oregon is much the same. Vehicles with moped licenses are not allowed on divided highways. Other ptw's simply have to be able to meet the minimum speed requirements.

If the vehicle travels more than 30 mph or has an engine size greater than 50cc, it will be licensed as a motorcycle in the state of Washington and the driver would be required to have the proper endorsement on the drivers license in order to operate it on the roadway. These vehicles must follow the rules of the road for motorcycles and may be operated on any public roadway where the vehicle can maintain the posted speed limit of that roadway.

This is an odd wording... if the speed limit is as fast as you are allowed to go, why would the requirement be to maintain that speed. Its like saying the speed limit is in fact the minimum and if you are not speeding you dont belong on the road

Maximus53 wrote:This is an odd wording... if the speed limit is as fast as you are allowed to go, why would the requirement be to maintain that speed. Its like saying the speed limit is in fact the minimum and if you are not speeding you dont belong on the road

Yes, it is. The Oregon rules are based on minimum speeds, not on being able to achieve the posted speed limit. Minimum speeds (in Oregon) have mainly been established for farm equipment, trailers and other vehicles that clearly could not (and should not) achieve the maximum posted speed.

"Engine horsepower must be enough to maintain minimum speeds of 45 MPH on Interstate highways and 35 MPH on other highways"

BuddyRaton wrote:First off...depending on local laws...it doesn't sound like you were doing anything wrong. I love riding solo in the HOV lane...and it is perfectly legal!

Me too! It's the only way to not get stuck in what has become horrendous traffic lately, if you don't have someone to carpool with.

I could have sworn I saw a post by someone in Seattle (on a different forum) that said something about needing a 150cc or greater to be legal on the freeways in Washington.

Indeed, on certain of our freeways I wouldn't ride on any scooter as the cagers are just nuts at times and don't give a rip about the speed limit at times.

yeah really. on some scooters a wind steam from a semi can blow you off the road.
my car is a toyota corolla and it wieghs around 1 ton. and the wind streams from semis make it shake as they go by. I really dont want to feel that on a 300lb motorized bicyle.

VinylDoctor wrote:yeah really. on some scooters a wind steam from a semi can blow you off the road.
my car is a toyota corolla and it wieghs around 1 ton. and the wind streams from semis make it shake as they go by. I really dont want to feel that on a 300lb motorized bicyle.

Oh Semis are awesome, when they pass me they create this big tunnel that cancels my headwind, I have seen my speedo up to 75MPH on a flat road while riding the trail of a truck on the way back from amerivespa!

Some states have the 150cc minimum displacement law, so everyone thinks their state has it at some point in their motorbike riding life. I'd like to speak for Virginia on this thread...

In Virginia, legally, there are no such things as "scooters". If the bike is under 50cc's and is driven less than 35mph, it's classified as a "moped". If the bike is 50cc's or more and is driven over 35mph, it's a "motorcycle". Mopeds require no registration, insurance, or special endorsement, and can't be driven on the interstate. Motorcycles require registration, insurance, a class M endorsement, and can be driven anywhere a car can be driven. This means that any scooter requiring a motorcycle license is granted all of the privileges that any other motorcycle has.

To summarize: In Virginia, you can drive a Buddy 125 on the interstate if you want. Promise. I asked several police officers this past weekend.

In Michigan the law is simply that it has to have an engine of 125cc or larger. I didn't try to correct the state trooper who told me that the rule was that the bike had to be registered as a motorcycle, because 1) it didn't make any difference in my case, and 2) state troopers don't like to be corrected.

Rusty Shackleford wrote:Some states have the 150cc minimum displacement law, so everyone thinks their state has it at some point in their motorbike riding life. I'd like to speak for Virginia on this thread...

In Virginia, legally, there are no such things as "scooters". If the bike is under 50cc's and is driven less than 35mph, it's classified as a "moped". If the bike is 50cc's or more and is driven over 35mph, it's a "motorcycle". Mopeds require no registration, insurance, or special endorsement, and can't be driven on the interstate. Motorcycles require registration, insurance, a class M endorsement, and can be driven anywhere a car can be driven. This means that any scooter requiring a motorcycle license is granted all of the privileges that any other motorcycle has.

To summarize: In Virginia, you can drive a Buddy 125 on the interstate if you want. Promise. I asked several police officers this past weekend.

All exactly true! But that doesn't mean they won't pull you and harrass you.

This happened to Lokky and I... around this time last year, we took the scoots out of town west on I-64... just out of Richmond, it goes to two lanes each direction and everybody paces 75, even though the limit is 60/65... but it's more rural between here and the next big city, Charlottesville (which is where we were headed), so not all that much traffic (we'd never have tried this on, say, I-95). About halfway there, we got back on the highway after hitting a gas station, and happen to pull on with a state trooper a ways behind us... he watched us for about 10 seconds before putting on his lights and pulling us.

What it came down to was, the country trooper sees a scooter and thinks 'moped', (and to be fair, just to look at them, they could be 50cc bikes, if you don't know a bunch about scooters)... especially since he didn't wait long enough to let us get up to proper highway speed from the on-ramp. But we whipped out papers, both licenses with M designations, quoted to him how many cc's our scoots were and the average top speed they were capable of. He didn't like it, but he stopped wasting our time, ending by warning us that we needed to make sure we kept up with traffic.

Spread the word for VA!

Also, be aware that BMPH and actual MPH are different. It's by %, so at highway speeds, the speedo will be indicating noticeably faster than you're actually going. I'm thinking of getting stickers from the craft store to put on the speedo glass after calculating the % error with GPS.

Rusty Shackleford wrote:Spread the word for VA!

Also, be aware that BMPH and actual MPH are different. It's by %, so at highway speeds, the speedo will be indicating noticeably faster than you're actually going. I'm thinking of getting stickers from the craft store to put on the speedo glass after calculating the % error with GPS.

The Stella has been gps'd to run as fast as 65 on flats. The requirement is VA is that you do at least 15 under the speed limit so in a 70mph stretch you need to maintain 55mph or faster. I'm 100% positive that I can maintain that speed.

My title calls my Buddy 125 a motorcycle, so I always just assumed I could ride on the expressway - the sign only prohibits mopeds. But most of the time when I mention the expressway, I get a lot of "wait, you can't ride a scooter on there" and further disbelief even when I explain that the government sees it as a motorcycle. Oh well.

LunaP wrote: What it came down to was, the country trooper sees a scooter and thinks 'moped', (and to be fair, just to look at them, they could be 50cc bikes, if you don't know a bunch about scooters)

There've been a few times I've passed a cop while speeding (not on the expressway) and fully expected to be pulled over, but wasn't. All I can figure is that they see someone speeding on their laser and assume it couldn't be that "cute little moped" and that they must have aimed it wrong. So I don't necessarily dislike then thinking of me that way.