Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs just signed into law Arizona Senate Bill 1567, which prohibits anyone from operating an off-road vehicle (such as a quad or motorcycle) from doing so while consuming alcohol or possessing it in an open container. That seems sensible enough, amiright? However, the law has a second provision: that anyone operating an off-road vehicle must possess a driver’s license and have gone through a driver education course.
That requirement doesn’t sound too nanny-state, but Arizona’s definition of what constitutes an off-highway vehicle (OHV) deviates from what we find in most other states. Arizona stipulates, “An OHV is a motorized vehicle that is operated primarily off of highways and that is designed, modified or purpose-built primarily for recreational nonhighway all-terrain travel. An OHV includes a tracked or wheeled vehicle, utility vehicle, all-terrain vehicle, motorcycle, four-wheel drive vehicle, dune buggy, sand rail, amphibious vehicle, ground effects or air cushion vehicle and any other means of land transportation deriving motive power from a source other than muscle or wind.”
While they didn’t specifically name eMTBs, they meet the definition. They are purpose-built for recreational, nonhighway, all-terrain travel. That also includes fat-tire e-bikes or any other e-bike you might ride off-road, such as a gravel e-bike.
There’s a rich irony to the idea that you might need a driver’s license to ride an e-bike off-road. You don’t need a driver’s license to ride a bike on the road. And you certainly don’t need one to ride a bike where no roads are present.
That driver’s license requirement has another unintended (we hope) consequence: It means kids can’t ride e-bikes off-road, though they could still ride them on-road. That sounds crazy.
Communities around the country are confronting the issue of what sort, where and even whether kids should be allowed to ride e-bikes. Thanks to some high-profile injuries and even deaths of kids riding e-bikes, cities are considering what sort of restrictions might be important. But those debates all regard the use of e-bikes on the road.
There are currently 11 states that require e-bike riders to have a driver’s license, thereby limiting ridership to those 16 years old or older. Arizona was not among them. Where those states’ laws require a driver’s license to ride any e-bike at all, Arizona’s law has no effect on kids riding e-bikes on the road.
