Here's the story.. I was searching for drunken e-bikers when I came across it.
http://www.am1150.ca/News/Local/Vernon/Story.aspx?ID=1304301
http://www.am1150.ca/News/Local/Vernon/Story.aspx?ID=1304301
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Legal to be drunk on an e-bike?! WTF!!
- Thread starter FiReSTaRT
- Start date
Actually, I just dug up the CC section with the definition..
http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/laws/stat/rsc-1985-c-c-46/96141/rsc-1985-c-c-46.html#history
The "bicycle" definition is provincial, so it has no impact on Fed legislation... So those cops should have charged the guy with drunk driving.
http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/laws/stat/rsc-1985-c-c-46/96141/rsc-1985-c-c-46.html#history
The "bicycle" definition is provincial, so it has no impact on Fed legislation... So those cops should have charged the guy with drunk driving.
Thats why they have pedals on them. They aren't electric motor driven, they are electric motor assisted.... or some weak BS along those lines. It's a pathetic loophole that they've been shoved through to make sure they are not classified as motor vehicles. For all intents and purposes they are bicycles.
I'm not sure what your point is. A car doesn't have pedals.
Irrelevant.. It can still be moved without an engine.. An e-bike has a motor in addition to the pedals and that's why, in the eyes of the CCC, it's still a motor vehicle, regardless of our provincial licencing regulations.
Same goes for my rotor-tiller I guess.
My GT Snow Racer is propelled by gravity. I suppose that makes it a motor vehicle.
A giant inner-tube on a river is indirectly driven by gravity as well so that makes it a motor vehicle.
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Guys have been nailed with drunk operation of riding mowers.
If you can ride on your tiller it is a motor vehicle, your gt isn't going to move on level ground and gravity isn't a motor, but an electric motor is a motor anyway you look at it. A ebike is considered a motor vehicle be the fedral gov. and that is why you can not legally ride one if you licence is under suspension for impaired. Unfortunatly the cop did not know the law and failed to charge the guy.
Not according to the Criminal Code of Canada. According to the definition Firestart provided a GT Snow Racer is a motor vehicle. It is drawn by a means other than muscular power (gravity).
BTW. I'm using a silly example on purpose. There are loop holes. Should an e-bike be considered a motor vehicle? I think so.. but it isn't. Debating the definition of what a "motor vehicle" is doesn't change anything.
Here you go boys quit fighting
http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/vehicle/emerging/e-bike-faq.shtml
#24 explains why you guys are both right. lol
24. If a police officer stopped someone who was drunk while driving an e-bike, how would they be charged? Would this be a Criminal Code offence or an HTA offence?
Drinking and driving a motor vehicle is a Criminal Code offence and charges are laid under the Criminal Code of Canada. Under the Criminal Code, the definition of a "motor vehicle" would include an e-bike and anyone operating an e-bike intoxicated could be charged for impaired driving. If convicted, the offender would be subject to the Criminal Code penalties, including a fine or jail time, and a driving prohibition.
Under the Highway Traffic Act, an e-bike is not classified as a motor vehicle, so penalties for impaired driving under the Act would not apply.
Edit: It was the second option in my google search for the definition of motor vehicle in the CCC, so it must be a popular search.
http://www.google.ca/#sclient=psy-a....,cf.osb&fp=8df1d35cc2b99606&biw=1138&bih=843
http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/vehicle/emerging/e-bike-faq.shtml
#24 explains why you guys are both right. lol
24. If a police officer stopped someone who was drunk while driving an e-bike, how would they be charged? Would this be a Criminal Code offence or an HTA offence?
Drinking and driving a motor vehicle is a Criminal Code offence and charges are laid under the Criminal Code of Canada. Under the Criminal Code, the definition of a "motor vehicle" would include an e-bike and anyone operating an e-bike intoxicated could be charged for impaired driving. If convicted, the offender would be subject to the Criminal Code penalties, including a fine or jail time, and a driving prohibition.
Under the Highway Traffic Act, an e-bike is not classified as a motor vehicle, so penalties for impaired driving under the Act would not apply.
Edit: It was the second option in my google search for the definition of motor vehicle in the CCC, so it must be a popular search.
http://www.google.ca/#sclient=psy-a....,cf.osb&fp=8df1d35cc2b99606&biw=1138&bih=843
bombshelter13
Well-known member
A (non-electric) bicycle is definitively not a 'motor vehicle' according to either the criminal code or the HTA.
If you start at the top of the hill, and your bicycle has a freewheel, a bicycle is just as capable of being propelled by gravity as the GT Snow Racer.
So... if the bicycle isn't a motor vehicle, the GT Snow Racer isn't either.
I think the vehicle definitely needs to be able to propel itself, rather than be propelled by an external force to be a 'motor vehicle' - however, it does not need to be using this means of propulsion at the time of the offense, and remains a 'motor vehicle' at all times if it has such a means of propulsion.
Anyone know whether/how these laws apply to boats, out of curiosity? I know nothing about boat law. Rowboats probably aren't 'motor vehicles', huh? What about sailboats?
If you start at the top of the hill, and your bicycle has a freewheel, a bicycle is just as capable of being propelled by gravity as the GT Snow Racer.
So... if the bicycle isn't a motor vehicle, the GT Snow Racer isn't either.
I think the vehicle definitely needs to be able to propel itself, rather than be propelled by an external force to be a 'motor vehicle' - however, it does not need to be using this means of propulsion at the time of the offense, and remains a 'motor vehicle' at all times if it has such a means of propulsion.
Anyone know whether/how these laws apply to boats, out of curiosity? I know nothing about boat law. Rowboats probably aren't 'motor vehicles', huh? What about sailboats?
Operation while impaired
253. Every one commits an offence who operates a motor vehicle or vessel or operates or assists in the operation of an aircraft or of railway equipment or has the care or control of a motor vehicle, vessel, aircraft or railway equipment, whether it is in motion or not,
(a) while the person's ability to operate the vehicle, vessel, aircraft or railway equipment is impaired by alcohol or a drug; or
(b) having consumed alcohol in such a quantity that the concentration in the person's blood exceeds eighty milligrams of alcohol in one hundred millilitres of blood.
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