zeitgeist57 Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 Oh great...more government regulations... http://www.autoblog.com/2015/03/16/federal-regulation-three-wheeled-autocycles-report/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Karacho1647545492 Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 Oh great...more government regulations... http://www.autoblog.com/2015/03/16/federal-regulation-three-wheeled-autocycles-report/ Regulation may not be a bad thing as long as it's done with common sense. I know, that's a huge ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Cranium Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 I'm curious where this will lead. In Ohio I have to wear a helmet if I am a novice motorcycle rider, do I still need to if I'm driving a slingshot? Do I have to pass a motorcycle operators test to drive a slingshot? It wouldn't be physically possible to pass a motorcycle test with a slingshot, so is it really a motorcycle? In a car I have to wear my seat belt. But a slingshot is a motorcycle, not a car, but it has seat belts which motorcycles don't have. If I get pulled over in a slingshot, and I'm not wearing my seat belt can I be ticketed? Just classifying them as motorcycles doesn't fit any more than classifying them as cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeto67 Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 Oh great...more government regulations... Actually this is good because it is looking to deregulate and standardize some of the safety issues that presently concern the three wheelers being classified as motorcycles. exempting them from motorcycle status and giving them their own DOT classification would mean no more helmets in helmet law states and also no outright bans from states where they are not classified as motorcycles and don't meet automotive safety standards. I just hope they include 4 wheel open vehicles in this group so we can get things like universally street legal ATVs and also bring back cycle-cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted March 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 My issue is that motorcycle classifications are far simpler than automobile; you cannot tell me that new legislation wouldn't open the opportunity to add crash standards, emmissions limits, and safety restrictions that may make many of these fledgling product lines impossible to bring to market cost-effectively. I'm concerned that our legislative process has become so that even well-intended and thought-out pieces end up never coming to fruition, or are mangled in the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
35RFTW Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 The Slingshot is really in no way a motorcycle, but then again, neither is the Spyder. They are in need of their own regulations and do need safety regs. I do not like what there are doing in the Side-by-side market though trying to literally make them handle worse to slow people down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Karacho1647545492 Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 My issue is that motorcycle classifications are far simpler than automobile; you cannot tell me that new legislation wouldn't open the opportunity to add crash standards, emmissions limits, and safety restrictions that may make many of these fledgling product lines impossible to bring to market cost-effectively. I'm concerned that our legislative process has become so that even well-intended and thought-out pieces end up never coming to fruition, or are mangled in the process. If a car can't meet crash standards, maybe it doesn't deserve to be on our roads. Here's a scenario for you. You're driving your car trying to turn left through an intersection. Light turns red, you start to move and the guy coming the other direction tries to beat the red. You both collide. In a normal car-on-car scenario, this is known as failure to yield, and you're at fault for the accident. I've seen many accidents like this, known several people involved in them, and they're pretty low-key accidents. Except in this scenario, the car is an Elio and without any safety or crash equipment, the driver is killed. This is now no longer a case of your insurance premium going up, but rather a question of if you can afford a good enough lawyer to get you acquitted of a vehicular manslaughter charge. IMO when you're bringing a product to market that specifically targets a gray area in the law, you have to expect that things may not work out in your specific favor and account for that in your financial expectations. Not doing so is just foolish and a terrible business decision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted March 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 EDIT: nevermind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Karacho1647545492 Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 Alex, how would your scenario differ if it was a motorcyclist? A three-wheeler will never behave the same as a vehicle with 4-wheels. If you are buying an Elio or Slingshot, you're voluntarily making the choice to sacrifice some safety for cost and efficiency. You say that's reckless and irresponsible, but I say the same thing for most motorcyclists....or car drivers who text and drive! Three-wheelers should fall into the realm of a motorcycle specficially because of the understanding that these aren't cars...! Not every new business line, or sub-segment of a market, needs to be regulated. It's not just a consideration for the buyers, owners, and drivers though. It's a safety issue for everyone else on the road. A motorcycle cannot cause as much damage to something else as an autocycle/side by side. Nor does it occupy as much space on the road, nor does it weigh as much. A Slingshot weighs 1700 lbs, that's enough to go through the side of a house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeto67 Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 My issue is that motorcycle classifications are far simpler than automobile; you cannot tell me that new legislation wouldn't open the opportunity to add crash standards, emissions limits, and safety restrictions that may make many of these fledgling product lines impossible to bring to market cost-effectively. I'm concerned that our legislative process has become so that even well-intended and thought-out pieces end up never coming to fruition, or are mangled in the process. Let's talk about emissions for a second since you brought that up. There are state emissions and there are federal emissions. ALL road going vehicles INCLUDING motorcycles have to pass federal emissions standards. This is why we do not have 2 stroke street bikes anymore. State and local emissions laws are usually only concerned with whether vehicle continues to meet the federal standards. So I am not really sure what the concern is - these vehicles already meet federal regulations so nothing about what is going on here will change anything other than to figure out if these vehicles need to be emissions tested or not at a state level. Considering Ohio doesn't really test emissions for the majority of vehicles currently on it's roads I don't think this is really a problem. Crash standards and safety restrictions? well crash standards are a federal issue, but safety standards are largely a state issue. A lot of this turns on how much are buyers of this equipment going to expect that it have crash standards. The way the wind is blowing I imagine you will see a lot more warning stickers and notifications to purchasers than you will see crumple zones, rollover standards, and door beams, mostly because the marketplace doesn't support that thinking as most of these vehicles don't have doors or full coverage tops, and for the ones that do, maybe they should have some kind of standard so some numpty doesn't buy an elio and then think it is safe to try to roll it because "Hey, it's got a roof". One thing I do know is that usually with new stuff like this they tend to leave things as broad as possible and then amend and legislate based on litigation. Still as it stands now they just want to get the proper warning lables and notices on stuff which isn't happening because of how different these things are from motorcycles and cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geeto67 Posted March 16, 2015 Report Share Posted March 16, 2015 A Slingshot weighs 1700 lbs, that's enough to go through the side of a house. Everything is "enough to go through the side of a house" if you are moving fast enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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