Few in eastern Indiana registering scooters under new law
RICHMOND, Ind. (AP) – Indiana’s harsh winter likely explains why only about 200 people in seven east-central counties have registered their motorized scooters under a new law, a police official says.
The Bureau of Motor Vehicles says 234 motor-driven cycles have been registered in those counties since the law took effect Jan. 1. That’s about 1 percent of the roughly 4,100 people who have registered their scooters statewide.
Lt. Donnie Benedict of the Richmond Police Department said he wasn’t surprised by the low numbers given the cold and snowy winter that kept scooters off the roads. But he expects registrations to rise along rising temperatures as spring nears.
“I would anticipate that scooter registration will spike in the springtime and into the summer,” he told the Palladium-Item.
Benedict, who works in the department’s traffic division, said most the scooters he has seen on local roads this winter have the required plates.
As of last week, Wayne County had 106 registrations, followed by 62 in Delaware County, 24 in Jay County, 15 in Henry County, 13 in Randolph County and 11 in Blackford County. Only three scooters had been registered in Union County.
A 30-day grace period offered by many law enforcement agencies has already come to an end for scooter owners.
Indiana’s law requires owners of mopeds or scooters with engines smaller than 50 cubic centimeters to have a registration, a license plate and an Indiana identification card.
Operators pay a minimum of $36 in fees and excise taxes to register their bikes. Proof of ownership is required for registration.