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http://www.thedestinlog.com/articles/bicycles-18942-ride-pulled.html
'I'm just trying to ride in peace': Questions arise over motorized bicycles
August 21, 2011 3:43 PM
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Several residents who ride motorized bicycles say they have been pulled over repeatedly by law enforcement officers who have told them the bikes are not legal without a valid driver license and vehicle registration.
Jeff Arnett of Fort Walton Beach says the officers are wrong.
Arnett, who started a business installing small gasoline-powered engines on bicycles and selling them in late 2009, was pulled over earlier this summer by a sergeant with Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office.
"I'm not trying to stir the pot. I'm just trying to ride in peace, Arnett said. "That's what it was all about in the beginning. I honestly can't believe I've ridden since August 2009 up until a month ago before someone pulled me over and said I was breaking the law operating a motor vehicle without a registration. It's just kind of silly.
"I can't believe it. It's like a school bully, he added. "That's the feeling I'm getting from the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office now.
Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Michele Nicholson said she was not qualified to speak to the legality of the gas-powered bicycles and forwarded questions to the department's traffic supervisor, who was not available to comment immediately.
The Sheriff's Office does have an informational flier on mopeds, go-peds, pocket bikes and motorized scooters that contains some information on motorized bikes.
The flier classifies motorized bikes only as having electric engines. Arnett said he has been told that all bicycles with a gas-powered engine are considered mopeds.
Arnett said he and many of his customers are being harassed about the bikes. It's not just in Okaloosa County.
Paula Paxton, who lives in Washington County, was pulled over by the Florida Highway Patrol last year and ticketed for driving without a license the day after she bought her bike from Arnett.
Paxton fought the ticket and the 14th Judicial Circuit and won.
"The defendant was operating a bicycle with a helper motor, according to paperwork filed by the state attorney's office in Panama City. "This vehicle does not meet the legal requirement of a motor vehicle that would require her to have a valid Florida Driver's License.
"I've gotten pulled over about nine different times on mine, Paxton said. "I don't get charged with anything, but I end up being a spectacle on the side of the road for the public to see, and it's actually embarrassing.
As far as the registration, Arnett found an entry on the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles' website under its Original Certificate of Title Applications guidelines that reads "they re-main bicycles after the engine is installed" and "bicycles are not registered or titled.
"You don't even have to have the bike registered, said Timothy Presley, who was pulled over about two months ago while riding his motorized bike over the Shalimar Bridge on his motorized bike. "And no matter where I've been, whether it's New York state to California, anything under 50ccs you can operate (without a vehicle registration).
Arnett said he hopes lawmen will leave people on motorized bikes alone as long as they are obeying the traffic laws.
"If I'm wrong, I will definitely apologize, make it public and make it known, definitely" Arnett said. "I€™m not that kind of guy. I would not go out and start spouting my mouth about any type of information unless I double checked it to be sure. That's just the military in me.