Senate votes to ban mini motorcycles from streets, trails
Monday August 22, 2005
SACRAMENTO (AP) Miniature motorcycles known as pocket bikes would be barred from roads, sidewalks and public trails under a bill approved Monday by the state Senate.
The measure by Assemblyman John Benoit, R-Palm Desert, was approved 27-9 and returned to the Assembly for a vote on Senate amendments.
Pocket bikes are about 18 inches high and 4 feet long and can travel at speeds of more than 50 mph. They don't meet federal or state safety standards or air quality requirements, but there is no clear-cut law banning them from public roads, supporters of the Benoit bill said.
Law enforcement officers are using other laws, such as equipment and registration requirements, to cite drivers of the vehicles, but those tickets are often dismissed by courts, according to a Senate analysis of the bill.
Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Northridge, characterized the bill as a ban on dirt bikes, but Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, R-La Mesa, said the bill was narrowly drafted to affect only the smaller pocket bikes.
``It's very specific to ones that are not safe to be on public streets,'' he said.
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On the Net: Read the bill, AB1051, at www.senate.ca.gov
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)