Vermont Statutes Title 23 Sec. 1136
Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 23 Sec. 1136
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
- Motor vehicle: includes all vehicles propelled or drawn by power other than muscular power, except farm tractors, vehicles running only upon stationary rails or tracks, motorized highway building equipment, road making appliances, snowmobiles, tracked vehicles, motor-assisted bicycles, electric bicycles, or electric personal assistive mobility devices. See
- Motor-assisted bicycle: means any bicycle or tricycle with fully operable pedals and equipped with a motor that in itself is capable of producing a top speed of not more than 20 miles per hour on a paved level surface when ridden by an operator who weighs 170 pounds and either:
(I) has an internal combustion motor with a power output of not more than 1,000 watts or 1. See
- Operator: shall include all persons 18 years of age or over properly licensed to operate motor vehicles. See
- Person: includes any natural person, corporation, association, co-partnership, company, firm, or other aggregation of individuals. See
§ 1136. Application of subchapter; rights and obligations of bicyclists under other laws
(a) The parent of any child and the guardian of any ward may not authorize or knowingly permit any such child or ward to violate any of the provisions of this subchapter.
(b) This subchapter applies whenever a bicycle is operated upon any highway or upon any path set aside for the exclusive use of bicycles, subject to the exceptions stated in this subchapter.
(c) Every person riding a bicycle is granted all of the rights and is subject to all of the duties applicable to operators of vehicles, except as to those provisions that:
(1) are inconsistent with provisions that specifically address the rights and duties of vulnerable users generally or bicyclists specifically; or
(2) by their very nature can have no application.
(d)(1) Except as provided in this subsection, motor-assisted bicycles shall be governed as bicycles under Vermont law, and operators of motor-assisted bicycles shall be subject to all of the rights and duties applicable to bicyclists under Vermont law. Motor-assisted bicycles and their operators shall be exempt from motor vehicle registration and inspection and operator‘s license requirements. A person shall not operate a motor-assisted bicycle on a sidewalk in Vermont.
(2) A person under 16 years of age shall not operate a motor-assisted bicycle on a highway in Vermont.
(3) Nothing in this subsection shall interfere with the right of municipalities to regulate the operation and use of motor-assisted bicycles pursuant to 24 V.S.A. § 2291(1) and (4), as long as the regulations do not conflict with this subsection. (Added 1971, No. 258 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. March 1, 1973; amended 2015, No. 158 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 44, 57; 2017, No. 132 (Adj. Sess.), § 13.)