A proposal co-sponsored by an area lawmaker to require registration and insurance on mopeds in North Carolina advanced out of the House Transportation Committee on Tuesday.
The bill would amend the state’s vehicle law to require the owner of a moped obtain liability insurance and follow the same registration-and-plate process as motorcycle owners.
Today, anyone at least 16 years old can operate a moped on a state highway or public roadway without a current license and without having the vehicle registered or insured. A helmet, however, is required, and the moped can’t legally have the ability to exceed 30 mph.
“To not treat mopeds in a similar manner to motorcycles, especially when they do not move at the speed of traffic, is problematic on many fronts,” Rep. Chris Millis said when explaining the bill in May. The Pender County Republican is a co-sponsor with Reps. Phil Shepard (R-Onslow) and Rayne Brown (R-Davidson).
“The odds are increasingly higher to come in contact with a moped due to their limited speed, and the lack of liability insurance on behalf of the moped operator presents an economic imbalance for all other drivers to indirectly carry higher premiums to cover this risk,” wrote Millis in a newsletter.
Shepard on Tuesday said he has been “inundated” with complaints about mopeds and their liability hole. Citing a conversation with the N.C. Rate Bureau, which represents private insurers writing policies in North Carolina, he said moped insurance could cost about $65 a year.
“Which I think is only fair,” Shepard said. “You’re going to drive on the highways, I think you should have insurance, because it’s not fair for the innocent people that are involved with incidents and accidents with them to pay the full price of insurance.”
According to Brown, the N.C. Department of Transportation saw a 290 percent increase in moped or motor scooter wrecks between 2003-2012.
Her statistics included 5,500 crashes, 155 of them fatal and 841 of them involving a moped and another vehicle.
The House Transportation Committee favored the bill on a 17-13 vote. Rep. Mike Stone (R-Lee), who said he sold mopeds at a retail business he owned, was among lawmakers opposed.
“I want to make sure everyone understands that the most important thing about a moped is it’s transportation,” he said. “It takes you to a job. It gives someone an opportunity to get to the next step.”
He said he used to be in the camp of motorists annoyed by slow-going moped operators, but that changed when he started selling the vehicles.
Stone said he learned people who wanted to own mopeds were simply looking for an affordable ride so they could provide for themselves and their families. They were not “dirt of the earth,” Stone said.
He also supposed that car and golf cart crash statistics are alarming, too, but complaints aren’t nearly as voluminous.
“Golf carts in communities depend on the community,” he said. “You know why that is? ‘Cause rich people drive golf carts. That’s why it is. Poor people drive scooters because nobody wants to be on one but they’re trying to get back and forth to work.”
John Hill, a Greensboro man who described himself as a 40-year veteran of the motorcycle and power-sports industry, told the Transportation Committee he’s fine with requiring registration, but it’s overreaching to require insurance.
“In my business we work with social services, several churches, community organizations, putting people to work [and] to school that have no way. They’ve never had a driver’s license. This is their only means of transportation,” Hill said.
He feared the insurance costs could be higher than the $65-a-year quoted by the Rate Bureau.
But the bill’s supporters Tuesday said it’s all about safety and accountability, though the sponsors did note they weren’t interested in requiring a driver’s license for moped operation.
“If you had your license taken away for a DUI, [mopeds are] really the only way many can get to work, and we certainly don’t want to take away their ability to make a new start and contribute to this state,” said Brown.
A previous, unsuccessful version of the bill Shepard had filed sought to raise the minimum moped operation age to 17. The latest bill keeps it at 16.
The bill now heads to the House Finance Committee.
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Ben Brown is a news reporter at Port City Daily. Reach him at [email protected] or (910) 772-6335. On Twitter:@benbrownmedia
