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Maine Dmv Comment On Elio

John Painter

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A very nice letter, with unfortunate news for us in Maine. In my opinion legislation will be needed to reintroduce the "autocycle" category.


From: "Bellavance, Eric" <Eric.Bellavance@maine.gov>
Date: September 19, 2014 at 2:48:18 PM EDT
To: "'johnlpainter@me.com'" <johnlpainter@me.com>
Subject: Elio
Dear Mr. Painter,


Your inquiry has been forwarded to me for response.

The vehicle could be operated on Maine roadways and would be registered as a motorcycle. Anyone desiring to operate the Elio must hold either a motorcycle restricted license, or a motorcycle endorsement on their regular driver's license. To obtain a motorcycle endorsement, a person must successfully complete a motorcycle rider education course.

The two courses offered in Maine to obtain permission for motorcycle operation are the Maine Motorcycle Safety Education Course (MMSEC) And the Basic Rider Course (BRC). MMSEC is an eight classroom only course. Upon successful completion, a person would be eligible for a motorcycle learner' s permit and would have to submit to a state administered road test. The BRC is a hands-on course. It consists of five hours of classroom instruction and 10 hours of range instruction actually operating a motorcycle. Upon successful completion of this course, if a person holds a driver's license, they would be eligible for waiver of the motorcycle road test.

The Elio could not be used in a hands-on rider education course, nor used for road testing.

If you have additional questions, you may contact me directly by email or telephone.

Respectfully,

Eric

Eric Bellavance
Senior Section Manager
Driver License Control
29 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
Tel. (207) 624-9095
Fax (207) 624-9155
 

CompTrex

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A very nice letter, with unfortunate news for us in Maine. In my opinion legislation will be needed to reintroduce the "autocycle" category.


From: "Bellavance, Eric" <Eric.Bellavance@maine.gov>
Date: September 19, 2014 at 2:48:18 PM EDT
To: "'johnlpainter@me.com'" <johnlpainter@me.com>
Subject: Elio
Dear Mr. Painter,


Your inquiry has been forwarded to me for response.

The vehicle could be operated on Maine roadways and would be registered as a motorcycle. Anyone desiring to operate the Elio must hold either a motorcycle restricted license, or a motorcycle endorsement on their regular driver's license. To obtain a motorcycle endorsement, a person must successfully complete a motorcycle rider education course.

The two courses offered in Maine to obtain permission for motorcycle operation are the Maine Motorcycle Safety Education Course (MMSEC) And the Basic Rider Course (BRC). MMSEC is an eight classroom only course. Upon successful completion, a person would be eligible for a motorcycle learner' s permit and would have to submit to a state administered road test. The BRC is a hands-on course. It consists of five hours of classroom instruction and 10 hours of range instruction actually operating a motorcycle. Upon successful completion of this course, if a person holds a driver's license, they would be eligible for waiver of the motorcycle road test.

The Elio could not be used in a hands-on rider education course, nor used for road testing.

If you have additional questions, you may contact me directly by email or telephone.

Respectfully,

Eric

Eric Bellavance
Senior Section Manager
Driver License Control
29 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
Tel. (207) 624-9095
Fax (207) 624-9155

That's messed up!
 

outsydthebox

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A very nice letter, with unfortunate news for us in Maine. In my opinion legislation will be needed to reintroduce the "autocycle" category.


From: "Bellavance, Eric" <Eric.Bellavance@maine.gov>
Date: September 19, 2014 at 2:48:18 PM EDT
To: "'johnlpainter@me.com'" <johnlpainter@me.com>
Subject: Elio
Dear Mr. Painter,


Your inquiry has been forwarded to me for response.

The vehicle could be operated on Maine roadways and would be registered as a motorcycle. Anyone desiring to operate the Elio must hold either a motorcycle restricted license, or a motorcycle endorsement on their regular driver's license. To obtain a motorcycle endorsement, a person must successfully complete a motorcycle rider education course.

The two courses offered in Maine to obtain permission for motorcycle operation are the Maine Motorcycle Safety Education Course (MMSEC) And the Basic Rider Course (BRC). MMSEC is an eight classroom only course. Upon successful completion, a person would be eligible for a motorcycle learner' s permit and would have to submit to a state administered road test. The BRC is a hands-on course. It consists of five hours of classroom instruction and 10 hours of range instruction actually operating a motorcycle. Upon successful completion of this course, if a person holds a driver's license, they would be eligible for waiver of the motorcycle road test.

The Elio could not be used in a hands-on rider education course, nor used for road testing.

If you have additional questions, you may contact me directly by email or telephone.

Respectfully,

Eric

Eric Bellavance
Senior Section Manager
Driver License Control
29 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
Tel. (207) 624-9095
Fax (207) 624-9155

It is sad when people in high positions of authority are so misinformed or uninformed. I am confident tho, in EM's desire to fix it.
 

AriLea

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The Elio could not be used in a hands-on rider education course, nor used for road testing.​

That IS a bit messed up. Let me see, it's a legal motorcycle but doesn't qualify for a motorcycle road test?
I think a law suit could influence that just a bit.
But keep this in mind, a Senior Section Manager, only follows the directives that have been handed down to him from others who have administratively interpreted the law. A court action could easily force the chain of executive directives to redefine the tests and rules of implementation.
Can you imagine 100 people all filing a court action on this? The costs of this would make everyone in that state re-think everything.

To Mr. Bellavance, this is not big deal, years off as far as he's concerned. He thinks of it as just a few isolate requests. When 1000 people want to get one, things will get escalated.

And then there is EM's effort. You do know they have a plan for Maine, yes? It will take time for that to trickle down to affect street side implementation, even after new laws are passed.​
 

John Painter

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That IS a bit messed up. Let me see, it's a legal motorcycle but doesn't qualify for a motorcycle road test?
I think a law suit could influence that just a bit.
But keep this in mind, a Senior Section Manager, only follows the directives that have been handed down to him from others who have administratively interpreted the law. A court action could easily force the chain of executive directives to redefine the tests and rules of implementation.
Can you imagine 100 people all filing a court action on this? The costs of this would make everyone in that state re-think everything.

To Mr. Bellavance, this is not big deal, years off as far as he's concerned. He thinks of it as just a few isolate requests. When 1000 people want to get one, things will get escalated.

And then there is EM's effort. You do know they have a plan for Maine, yes? It will take time for that to trickle down to affect street side implementation, even after new laws are passed.​
I am happy with the speed of response, and attempt from the DMV to help clarify the current rule.

I don't yet have an answer to why the category was repealed in the Maine statute, that's important to understand in order to successfully advocate for it's reinstatement, and hopefully clearer direction to our state DMV.

Luckily I happen to work in our capitol city (hence my avitar) and am familiar/comfotable interacting with various state departments, as well as our legislative process. I happen to also be the Secretary for Maine Dual Sport and Dirt Bike Association www.medsdba.com and we have our own concerns with some of Maine's laws pertaining to motorcycles, e.g. a motorcycle taken off road is classified as an ATV in Maine, and must also be registered as an ATV (a separate cost, and two very different times and processes for registration) which rubs a number of our members the wrong way. Needless to say there's a lot of small "p" politics in these things which need to be navigated through with some thoughtfulness.
 

Jim H

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Needless to say there's a lot of small "p" politics in these things which need to be navigated through with some thoughtfulness.
Your comment about the small "p" is right on target. Too often we go in like an aggressive pitbull and alienate the very people who can help address the problem and end up creating an adversarial relationship.
 

Music Man

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A very nice letter, with unfortunate news for us in Maine. In my opinion legislation will be needed to reintroduce the "autocycle" category.


From: "Bellavance, Eric" <Eric.Bellavance@maine.gov>
Date: September 19, 2014 at 2:48:18 PM EDT
To: "'johnlpainter@me.com'" <johnlpainter@me.com>
Subject: Elio
Dear Mr. Painter,


Your inquiry has been forwarded to me for response.

The vehicle could be operated on Maine roadways and would be registered as a motorcycle. Anyone desiring to operate the Elio must hold either a motorcycle restricted license, or a motorcycle endorsement on their regular driver's license. To obtain a motorcycle endorsement, a person must successfully complete a motorcycle rider education course.

The two courses offered in Maine to obtain permission for motorcycle operation are the Maine Motorcycle Safety Education Course (MMSEC) And the Basic Rider Course (BRC). MMSEC is an eight classroom only course. Upon successful completion, a person would be eligible for a motorcycle learner' s permit and would have to submit to a state administered road test. The BRC is a hands-on course. It consists of five hours of classroom instruction and 10 hours of range instruction actually operating a motorcycle. Upon successful completion of this course, if a person holds a driver's license, they would be eligible for waiver of the motorcycle road test.

The Elio could not be used in a hands-on rider education course, nor used for road testing.

If you have additional questions, you may contact me directly by email or telephone.

Respectfully,

Eric

Eric Bellavance
Senior Section Manager
Driver License Control
29 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333
Tel. (207) 624-9095
Fax (207) 624-9155
Don't you just LOVE those hard hearted "Bureaucrats?" There has to be a dollar in the mix someplace for them.

Good luck, Maine!
 

BriansElio

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Aug 27, 2014
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Marion, Indiana
The response that I received from the Indiana BMV wasn't very good - perhaps I didn't phrase my question correctly either. There's still a lot of time and I know work is being done. Does anyone know of a website that shows the acceptance or progress that's being made across the U.S.?
 

ElioJoe

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Converse, Texas
I think attempts to contact any states dmv's are a bit premature at this point. Paul Elio stated that they are working with each individual state to address current legistrative restrictions. Therefore, we all just need to "hold our horses" and let EM do what they are doing. If we don't trust EM to fulfill the dream/vision of what this vehicle will mean for the American people, we don't need to be involved in this forum!

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong. Just trying to stay positive! :D
 
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