[*BCM*] Scooters in the bike lanes

[Jym Dyer]

=v= States have varying definitions of various motor-powered
gadgets, often with incomprehensible laws governing them.  It
has something to do with who's lobbied the state's legislators.
I swear, Mass. traffic laws are the hardest to look up because
they're spread all over the place.  No wonder nobody knows how
to drive there.

=v= I think my favorite scooter laws are in California, where
the electric motor lobbyists actually had their gadgets defined
as nonpolluting and good for all humanity, dolphins, and
rainbows, and permitted in bike lanes and on bike paths.  A
few years later, diesel engine lobbyists had a subclause that
classified their gadgets as the same thing.  D'oh!  Then, of
course, Segway LLC's lobbyists threw their gadget atop it all.

> A guy on a scooter. In the bike lane. On the Mass Ave bridge.
> Broken down.  Kicking along with his feet at 3 mph.  I asked
> if he needed help, but he blew me off.
>
> Was he out of gas? I don't know. But it was nice to see yet
> another reminder of why I ride a bicycle.

=v= A classic Nelson Muntz moment.  For best results, point at
the gas tank and say, with descending intonation, "Haw haw!"
    <_Jym_>