“I don’t need no stinking license to drive a scooter.”

The Moped-Myth comes in and out of vogue every few years.  People swearing that they were told by the person who sold them the moped, the manufacturer of the moped, a police officer, a lawyer, a Judge, their bunkmate in the county jail or it was written in the box it came in or in the operators’ manual, that it was legal to drive a moped without a driver’s license.  But no one can call forth a credible witness or produce a box or manual supporting their claim.

Basically, if a person is driving a motor vehicle upon a highway,19 he needs a driver’s license.  Only a golf cart,20 vehicles moved solely by human power, motorized wheelchairs, and motorized bicycles are exempt from the license requirement.21 Just because it has a motor with a displacement of 50 CCs or less does not eliminate the need for a driver’s license to operate it. It just means it is not a motorcycle,22 and a motorcycle endorsement is not necessary to drive it.  A driver’s license is needed to operate a moped,23 a go-ped,24 and even an ATV25 on a highway. Calling it a scooter, moped or go-ped doesn’t make a difference unless whatever it is called fits the definition of a motorized bicycle.26

A basis in truth to the Moped-Myth and the Scooter-Saga is fueled by the confusion found when people start reading Chapter 316 of the Florida Statutes, which excludes a moped and a motorized scooter from the definition of motor vehicle.27 But the rules of statutory construction dictate that the definition used in the chapter making the restriction (Chapter 322), unless deemed ambiguous shall be used before resorting to definitions found in other chapters.28 Obviously, another basis in truth to the Scooter-Saga is that a person can drive a motorized-bicycle without a license. The problem is that what most people are driving on the highway without a license is not a motorized-bicycle, despite all the unhelpful legal advice they claim to have been given to the contrary.

However, that bad advice could possibly be transformed into a basis for a Mistake of Fact defense29 when defending a suspended license case by arguing that the person mistakenly believed that he was driving a motorized bicycle.  And if that works the Moped-Myth can become a reality.