Missourians looking for a cheaper way to get around town are leaving four wheels in the driveway and tootling around on two wheels. Purchasers of scooters figure that down the road the cost of the vehicles will be less than the gas they’d burn in their cars.
Most of the scooters are considered mopeds—the ones with no more than 50 cubic centimeter engines, no more than three horsepower, and capable of no more than 30 miles an hour.
But not everybody can hop on one of these things. Highway Patrol Lieutenant John Hots says a driver’s license is required. Although state law does not require moped operators to wear helmets, local ordinances often do require them. And if the scooter goes faster, has a bigger engine and more horse power, that’s a motorcycle and that’s when state law requires operators to have helmets.
Hots says scooter operators should take a safety course and be familiar with the limitations of the vehicles. And he says people in cars and trucks need to understand more scooters or mopeds will be sharing the roads with them while gas prices stay up. .
Download Bob Priddy’s story (:61 mp3)
