CARTHAGE, Mo. — Fun and fuel-efficient they may be, but that won’t be enough to keep mini-motorcycles on the streets in Carthage. Officials are considering a possible ban of the little motorcycles sometimes known as “pocket bikes” or “child-size choppers.”

“We see it as a safety concern because they’re so low to the ground that motorists can’t see them,” said police Chief Dennis Veach, who asked the city’s public safety committee to study sample ordinances that, if approved, would ban the vehicles from city streets.

The half-pint bikes have been banned in a number of communities, including Parsons, Kan., earlier this year.

But other cities, such as Springdale, Ark., consider them to be nothing more than motorized bicycles, according to the city attorney there, who addressed the question on the city’s Web site in response to “a number of questions.”

They’re considered so troublesome in Missouri — in terms of operation and definition — that a full training session was devoted to them at a recent session of the Missouri Municipal League, according to Richard Sheets, deputy director.

A city ordinance banning the little bikes in St. Peters has been borrowed by a number of communities, including Carthage. The measure bans motorized scooters and motorized play vehicles such as mini-motorcycles and pocket-bikes from operation on city streets and sidewalks and inside city parks.

The bikes, which also are known as mini pocket rockets, might be no more than 36 inches long and no more than 18 inches tall. They can buzz around at speeds of up to 40 mph. Some versions cost less than $200.



Common sense

Scott Irish and Terry Martin are putting together a franchise to sell full-size motorcycles in Joplin, but the two, who have some of the miniature bikes, did sell the motorized scooters in Arkansas and Martin has operated a scooter-parts business.

The motorized scooters are legal in most Arkansas cities, Martin said. In Hot Springs, they can be ridden on the street by those 13 and older if the operator has a scooter permit.

“A lot of people used them in Hot Springs and really liked them,” Irish said. “But there does need to be some common sense regulation.”

Veach, however, isn’t convinced there’s a safe compromise.

“The laws depend on the size of the motor, horsepower and whether or not it can exceed 30 miles an hour. That’s confusing to officers and the public,” the chief said. “And they’re unsafe because they’re so short they’re extremely hard to see, and they’re not built to standards that make them suitable for the road.”

He said one of the vehicles was involved in a minor accident earlier this year.

“A pickup bumped it. The impact was minor but it broke the frame. They’re just inherently dangerous,” he said.

Cpl. John Hollingsworth, a traffic officer with the Joplin Police Department, said they have received lots of complaints about the little motorcycles being ridden on city streets.



‘Going to lose’

“You’ll see kids riding them, which is illegal, because you have to have a valid driver’s license to ride them on the street,” he said. “Most people are unaware of that, and say they were never told that when they bought them.”

Not long ago, on his day off, Hollingsworth said he spotted a mini-motorcycle on Range Line Road.

“I thought they were crazy. If you’re riding one of those and you get in an accident with a car, you’re going to lose,” he said.

Younger riders on the little motorcycles were a problem in Webb City during the spring and summer, according to Lt. Don Melton.

“I think a lot of kids got them for Christmas,” he said. “We would try to contact their parents and tell them they needed to stay off the streets.”

Melton said he also is frustrated that state laws don’t sufficiently regulate the vehicles.

“When it comes to these, the laws are really antiquated,” he said.

Monte Little of Scooter Express agrees that the laws are confusing and that is part of the reason he doesn’t sell them.

“It’s just too hard to tell what’s legal,” he said.



Susan Redden writes for The Joplin (Mo.) Globe.