Bill would legalize and define motorized scooters on Montana roads; committee heard safety, helmet and lighting questions

Representative Neil Durham introduced House Bill 588 to the Senate Transportation Committee to create a statutory definition for “motorized scooters” and to authorize their regulated use on Montana roadways.

The bill would define a motorized scooter as a vehicle without a seat that may be propelled solely or in part by human power or by an independent power source, with a power capability that “may not be capable of propelling the speed or device at a speed exceeding 30 miles per hour on a level surface.” Durham told the committee his intent is to place motorized scooters in the same regulatory class as bicycles and mopeds so law enforcement would have explicit authority to allow or curtail their use.

Durham said much of the bill is definitional and pointed committee members to the sections where the definition appears. He described…