B.C. man gets $598 ticket for no insurance on his electric skateboard

A Coquitlam, B.C., man who was handed a ticket for nearly $600 says he plans to dispute it.

Tony Savino was given a $598 ticket for having no insurance for his electric skateboard.

“Now I have two,” Savino told Global News.

“I used to have three. I just think it’s a great way to get around.”

Savino said he was in East Vancouver this week when a Vancouver police officer pulled him over.

“He said, ‘licence and insurance please’,” Savino said. “I almost thought it was a joke.”

Savino said his doctor had written a letter saying his board is a mobility and assistance device but the officer issued him a ticket for violating Section 24 (3) (b) of the Motor Vehicle Act.

“A person must not drive or operate a motor vehicle or trailer on a highway unless… the motor vehicle and the trailer, if any, are insured under a valid and subsisting motor vehicle liability policy evidenced by an owner’s certificate,” the act states.

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However, Savino said the punishment is unfair because, in B.C., there’s currently no way of insuring motorized skateboards.

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“I wouldn’t mind paying insurance if they offered it, but they don’t, so…,” Savino said.

According to ICBC, B.C.’s Motor Vehicle Act defines motorized skateboards as motor vehicles but they do not meet provincial equipment safety standards for on-road use.

“The technology’s growing faster than legislation,” Bradley Spence, co-founder and CEO of eevee’s, told Global News.

“Government is really slow. They could easily add electric unicycles and electric skateboards to the electric scooter pilot program, but they’ve chosen not to.”

For now, motorized skateboards are limited to private property and some trails and pathways.

“If the agenda is to go green and make transportation cheaper for people and more convenient I think they need to take another look at it,” Savino said.

He is now back to driving his car, but said gas will cost him an extra $500 a month.

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