A bill that would tighten and more clearly define guidelines for mopeds is heading to the S.C. House after the proposal was passed in the state Senate on Thursday. The bill includes having moped drivers register with the Department of Motor Vehicles, follow the same traffic rules as other vehicles and wear a helmet if under 21 and raises the minimum legal driving age from 14 to 15.
The proposal comes as a response to a 57 percent increase in moped accident deaths in S.C. in 2015. The State reported that bill sponsor Greg Hembree said the bill is meant to combat this rising increase.
Proponents of the bill recognize the problem that moped drivers cannot be ticketed with driving while intoxicated. While the only difference between mopeds and motorcycles is the engine size (50 cc or less is the cut-off), current regulations are drastically different.
“You can be on a moped stinking drunk, wave your beer at the highway patrolmen, and he can’t write you a ticket,” said state Sen. Larry Grooms, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee. “We want to fix that.”
Founder and CEO of Zapp Scooters Frank Scozzafava, whose company is popular with USC students, expressed his support for the bill after witnessing first-hand the flaws in the current system.
“I was pretty upset when I found out the first time the campus police at USC had impounded one of our Zapps for somebody clearly, ridiculously intoxicated that blew a very high, high number,” Scozzafava said. “I was wondering why they didn’t give them a DWI — well, the worst that they could give them was a reckless driving."
Many disagreed with the original regulation included in the proposal that required moped drivers to wear reflective vests at night. The state senators compromised and removed that requirement.
Zapp Scooters encourages its users not to drink and drive by providing a multitude of locations to return scooters, but moped safety remains an issue in the state.
“We don’t think the moped laws are strong enough. We think you should have a driver's license to drive a moped. We don’t think that you should be able to have lost your license to reckless driving or a DWI and then ride a moped,” Scozzafava said.