Consider this picture for a moment:
You're driving down a busy four-lane street (say, Park Avenue in NYC or Peachtree Street in Atlanta) in heavy traffic at roughly 8:00 a.m. endeavoring to get to your job on time and safely. The traffic stops for a red light. When you begin moving again, everyone in the right lane is making every effort to merge left due to an impediment of some kind. There are no amber flashers or blue or red lights indicating either road work or an accident. So which is it: a road crew patching potholes or a cop diverting traffic around a fender-bender?
Fat chance! In my little corner of the universe, the impediment to traffic is often a moped; and frequently, the offending motor bike is taking up the entire lane because the driver is either too far out into the lane from the shoulder/curb or is weaving dangerously. In these parts, the commonly held perception is that many (if not most or all) moped operators are folks who, for whatever reason (often DUI) have been deprived of their licenses.
The vast majority of the fifty states (& geography has nothing to do with this) require either a permit, a valid driver's license, a motorcycle license in some cases, and often, the wearing of a helmet to operate a moped. That makes sense, as I recall a friend back home who rode one at age 15 got in trouble for NOT having a valid driver's license. It heartened me to observe that some of the more stringent laws governing moped use by licensed drivers crossed regional lines (places ranging from Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, & Texas to Colorado, Kansas, & all six New England states).
What makes NO sense whatsoever is the evident practice of allowing an UNLICENSED DRIVER, who has ostensibly been DEPRIVED BY LAW of the PRIVILEGE of driving, to DRIVE a moped! Now isn't THAT sensible--to allow people who couldn't control a potential deadly weapon in the form of a motor vehicle to operate (often badly) a SMALLER motor vehicle?! Does this not strike anyone else as at best moronic and at worst a downright dangerous practice?
I realize that legislating common sense is seldom (if ever) effective, but could we at least THINK before we act--or neglect doing so--in state legislatures around the country?
