Are the motorized skateboards scooters, vehicles, toys or what? The state's lawmakers have left a contradictory mess.
By ANDREW MEACHAM
Published August 17, 2003
ST. PETERSBURG - Rather than ticketing young goped drivers for riding on city streets and sidewalks, community police officers in Snell Isle and Shore Acres first tried warning them.
The fliers that Officers Spyridon Lefkimiotis and J. Deary began handing out in mid-July, threatening fines up to $500, seem to be working. The police have written only two traffic tickets since, each for less than $30.
"We don't want to go jam these kids up with tickets," Lefkimiotis said. But for the past two years, Lefkimiotis has been using his regular column in the Snell Isle newsletter, "Lefty's Corner," to stress that police were going to crack down on the illegal use of go-carts, golf carts and gopeds.
Under Florida law, none of those vehicles can be ridden on public streets, sidewalks or rights of way, although individual communities may sometimes make exceptions for golf carts. Some teens have taken to the quiet residential streets of Shore Acres in their go-carts, which Lefkimiotis said can reach speeds of 70 mph.
"The potential for something to happen there is very high," Lefkimiotis said.
But nothing has caused police so much difficulty as the motorized skateboards called gopeds which, Lefkimiotis said, take up three-quarters of their time compared to other vehicles.
Their droning engines at 1 a.m. invited complaints. Drivers were frequently less than 16 years old, and underaged drivers cannot operate a motor vehicle. But the age of drivers leads to a thicket of overlapping and sometimes contradictory laws and policies.
Could an adult with a valid driver's license operate a goped on the street? The answer appears to be, not right now.
Robert Sanchez, spokesman for the state's Division of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, said that legal confusion surrounding gopeds came about last year, when the Legislature removed "motorized scooters" from being classified as motor vehicles, a move actually intended to make it easier for young people to ride gopeds in the street.
The legislation, which has stalled due to other red tape, rendered gopeds similar to bicycles. Drivers would have to obey the same traffic laws as cyclists but would not need a driver's license.
Two other laws still on the books left open the possibility that gopeds could be motor vehicles.
To add to the confusion, legislators exempted motorized scooters from traffic law but forgot to drop them from definitions used by driver's license and vehicle registration offices. In other words, goped drivers must have a driver's license, and gopeds must be registered as if they were motor vehicles.
The problem is, tag offices such as the one in Pinellas do not register gopeds. Sanchez said the DMV is apprising the legislators of the problem. "Hopefully, these laws can be made to correspond whichever way it is decided," Sanchez said.
Merchants are aware of the problem. "The DMV has not clarified itself," said Dan Lynch, who owns Action Wheelsport at 5310 66th St. N, where gopeds start at $450 and rise to $2,000 for competition racers.
Buyers must be 18, and are told that gopeds are for off-road use only.
So far, officers have stayed away from writing expensive tickets, such as for driving without a license. "I'm sorry people spent $400 on a goped, but they're not street-legal," Lefkimiotis said. "You can go up and down your driveway until you're blue in the face."
Meetings
COUNCIL OF NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATIONS: 7 p.m. Wednesday. The Sunshine Center, 330 Fifth St. N. Open forum, Neighborhood Partnership update.
GREATER PINELLAS POINT: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (7 p.m. social). Bay Vista Recreation Center, 7000 Fourth St. S. Representatives of Paradise Development Group, on proposed new Walgreens.
HISTORIC OLD NORTHEAST: 7 p.m. Monday (6:45 p.m. social). West minster Presbyterian Church, 126 11th Ave. NE. Engineering, Transportation and Stormwater Department Director Michael Connors, on neighborhood infrastructure.
JUNGLE TERRACE: 7 p.m. Monday (6:45 p.m. social). Walter Fuller Recreation Center, 7891 26th Ave. N. Parks director Clarence Scott III. Raffle.
LAKEWOOD ESTATES NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH: 7 p.m. Tuesday. St. Petersburg Country Club, 2000 Country Club Way S. Police crime scene investigators.
LAKEWOOD TERRACE: 7 p.m. Thursday. Covenant Presbyterian Church, 4201 Sixth St. S. Neighborhood plan.
