Reckless Driving on a Moped

Virginia reckless driving encompasses all vehicles that can transport humans, except human-powered devices. So you can be charged with reckless driving on a moped.

Transcription

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Hello, I’m Andrew Flusche. I’m talking to you today about reckless driving in vehicles other than cars. You may not have realized it, but you can be charged with reckless driving even driving something like a moped or a scooter. You don’t need a driver’s license to drive a vehicle like that but the law defines a vehicle as anything basically that transports a person, except for anything that is powered solely by human power.

So using that definition we can see that anything that a person can be transported on, or ride on, or ride in is a vehicle, except something that relies solely on the human to power it. So that would mean that a bicycle or tricycle, or anything like that would not be a vehicle. However, anything that has any kind of motor whether it’s a little electric engine or a little two cylinder engine, or anything like that would be considered a vehicle; so a moped, or a scooter, or even an electric bicycle would be considered a vehicle under the code.

And reckless driving statues refer to vehicles. The general rule, 46.2-852, says that you can’t drive any vehicle in any way that endangers the life, limb, or property of somebody else. So the statues clearly are meant to work together and they clearly encompass vehicles other than cars or trucks like we would normally think of.

So that’s just something to be very careful about if you’re driving any kind of Vespa or scooter or anything like that. Anything with any kind of motor. When it’s not just your peddling doing the propulsion, you need to be very careful about your operation because you could be charged with reckless driving. It’s very serious and it happens, much to some people’s surprise.

Just remember that the law is pretty broad and a “vehicle” could mean a lot more than what you would normally think of as far as the way the law defines things. So reckless driving could entail cars, trucks, scooters, mopeds, or electric bicycles, but not a regular bicycle that is solely powered by human peddling,

Andrew Flusche

My name is Andrew Flusche. I am a traffic and misdemeanor defense lawyer in Virginia. I limit my practice to traffic tickets and misdemeanor defense, so I know the ins and outs of these offenses. I literally wrote the book on reckless driving in Virginia which you can get on Amazon here or download for free here. I opened my practice in 2008 after earning my Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. Since then, I have earned over 600 5-star reviews from happy clients on Google, Yelp, and Facebook. If you’ve been charged with a misdemeanor offense in Virginia, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Your initial consultation is always free, and you'll talk directly with me about the details of your case.