Case information

Provincial Offenses — Motor assisted cycles — Rider of electric scooter (Motorino XMr) charged with driving without a driver’s licence and without insurance — Rider contending electric scooter is motor assisted cycle rather than motor vehicle — Whether electric scooters or electric bicycles with motor that is alternative to human power, rather than supplemental to it, meet the definition of “motor assisted cycle” under applicable legislation — Motor Vehicle Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 318, s. 1 — Motor Assisted Cycle Regulation, B.C. Reg. 151/2002.

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The applicant, Mr. Ghadban, was charged with driving without a driver’s licence and without insurance after riding his electric scooter, a Motorino XMr, on a public road. Mr. Ghadban believed that his electric scooter fell within the definition of “motor assisted cycle” so that he did not require a driver’s licence and insurance to operate it. The electric scooter can be pedalled but its motor cannot be used while pedaling. It either operates as a low-powered electric motorcycle, with the motor providing all of the motive force, or as a heavy bicycle, with the motor not operating. The Provincial Court held that the electric scooter was not a motor assisted cycle because its primary method of propulsion was not human power. The Supreme Court of British Columbia and a majority of the Court of Appeal dismissed Mr. Ghadban’s appeals, agreeing that the Provincial Court made no error of law. The majority of the Court of Appeal held that motor assisted cycles must be designed to contemplate human power being a primary means of propulsion, and must allow for a person to pedal at the same time as the motor is providing assistance.