The Virginia patch — "regardless of the number of its wheels in contact with the ground"
One clause, inserted into a definition already in forcePEVRA has written this text
One clause that makes a whole definition wheel-blind at a stroke, taken from language Virginia already enacted.
Virginia solved the counting problem differently from everyone else: rather than adding a number, it removed the question. Its definition of a motorized skateboard or scooter opens by saying the wheel count does not matter.
That clause is worth adopting exactly as Virginia wrote it, because it is short, it is already law somewhere, and it forecloses the next argument as well as this one — a device with three wheels, or with a wheel arrangement nobody has built yet, is covered by the same words.
Draft text
PEVRA’s own drafting. Bracketed numbers are the ones a legislature chooses. Copy it, change it, put your own name on it — that is what it is for.
In the definition of [the device class being amended], after the words "every vehicle",
insert:
[adopt the wheels clause of Va. Code § 46.2-100, as quoted on this page]
so that the class turns on the device's weight, speed and motor, and not on how many
wheels it has.What the law already says
Each quotation below comes from a citation record in PEVRA’s database, with that record’s evidence tier and the date its own source prints.
every vehicle, regardless of the number of its wheels in contact with the ground, that (i) is designed to allow an operator to sit or stand, (ii) has no manufacturer-issued vehicle identification number, (iii) is powered in whole or in part by an electric motor, (iv) weighs less than 100 pounds, and (v) has a speed of no more than 20 miles per hour on a paved level surface when powered solely by the electric motor
Va. Code § 46.2-100 (definition of "motorized skateboard or scooter")Tier C — secondary source; context only, never supports a verdictLaw as of 2026-08-28
The clause itself, in the enacted text — this is the language draft_text points to rather than retypes, so a correction to this citation corrects the model law too.
Drafting notes
Virginia's own definition keeps five further tests, all quoted on this page: a sit-or-stand design, no manufacturer-assigned ID number, at least partial electric-motor power, a sub-100-pound weight, and a top speed of 20 miles an hour on a level paved surface under electric power alone. Those are function tests, and a drafter copying this clause should keep them.
A jurisdiction that wants both this clause and a fresh set of numbers should take this clause and the thresholds from the definition template on this page.
Education, not a request. This page states what the law says and what PEVRA has drafted; it asks nothing of you. All templates · Common objections, answered
Template last changed 2026-08-29 · git c35aac7
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