BIKE: Tricycles/Velomobiles

[Fred Meredith]

In response to your question, Joel, I believe that the verbiage of 
most statutes and the UVC (Uniform Vehicle Code) which serves as the 
guideline document for most state traffic statutes refers to all of 
what we like to ride as "pedal vehicles" so that they do not have to 
define the number of wheels. We know that "BI-cycles" have two wheels 
and "TRI-cycles" have three, etc. so the law in an unusually lucid 
moment has decided to group them by power source instead. But then 
they have to talk about scooters and skate boards and ... well, 
anyway, it's a start. I think that the velowmobiles and recumbent 
trikes (one of which will soon be reviewed in Cycling News) all fall 
under the same rules as bicycles.

The tricky stuff happens when you start motorizing and then trying to 
categorize based on speed and power and ... licensability and such.

Fred Meredith

At 10:58 PM -0600 2/15/04, Joel Sumner wrote:
>In the latest Southwest Cycling News, there was an article on 
>Velomobiles (see http://www.velomobileusa.com/ for more info).  That 
>got me wondering: are all human powered vehicles covered under the 
>same laws as bicycles?  A trip to bicycleaustin.info showed the 
>legal definition of a bicycle and also how mopeds and electric bikes 
>are covered under the same laws. What about tricycles or velomobiles 
>(basically faired recumbent trikes)?
>
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-- 
When in doubt ... ride your bike (or at least write about it).

Fred Meredith, LCI Consultant
P.O. Box 100 (12702 Lowden Ln for UPS/FedEx)
Manchaca, TX 78652
512/282-1987 (office/home)
512/282-7413 (fax)
512/636-7480 (wireless)