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News-Sentinel.com Your Town. Your Voice.
Opening Arguments

Moped blues

The more I think about this, the sillier and more trivial it seems:

The free ride will soon be over for low-speed scooters in Indiana.

Drivers of moped scooters with engines of 50 cubic centimeters or less will need to buy license plates and take a street sign test at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles beginning next year.

They also will be required to carry a state of Indiana identification card, but can still drive without a license or insurance, unlike owners of more-powerful scooters or motorcycles.

I've written editorials for years calling for the state to get a handle on the completely unregulated moped-riding crowd. It's dangerously stupid to keep letting people who have lost their licenses to DUIs  keep menacing us with these sputtering little death machines.

But this doesn't cut it. Moped drivers will be required to have IDs but not licenses or insurance? The only test of ability or road-readiness is a "street sign test"? This seems like a scheme by the state to raise money more than anything else.

Make them ride bikes until they get their licenses back or get a friend to drive them. The buses here are quite nice, too.

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