posted January 11, 2006 09:10 AM
Edited By: Editor on 11 Jan 2006 09:10
California Governor Admits he has NO Motorcycle License Police: Schwarzenegger riding illegally. California governor admits he has no motorcycle license
From CNN.com / Associated Press...
SACRAMENTO, California (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was riding his motorcycle illegally over the weekend when he collided with a car in his Los Angeles neighborhood, police said Tuesday.
Los Angeles Police Lt. Paul Vernon said Schwarzenegger does not have the proper endorsement on his California driver's license to operate a motorcycle.
Vernon said police did not ticket the governor for a violation because they arrived after the wreck, in which Schwarzenegger suffered a cut on his upper lip that required 15 stitches. His 12-year-old son, Patrick, who was riding in a sidecar, was unhurt.
Instead, officers referred their findings to the Los Angeles city attorney's office, which will determine whether the governor should be cited for an infraction. Driving a motorcycle without the proper license can result in fines ranging from $100 to $250 or more.
City attorney spokesman Jonathan Diamond said the office had not received the LAPD report.
Earlier Tuesday, Schwarzenegger admitted that he never bothered to obtain a motorcycle license because he "never thought about it."
"I just never really applied for it," he told reporters during a state budget briefing. "It was just one of those things that I never really did."
Schwarzenegger, a Harley Davidson owner who rides regularly along the California coast, said he had a motorcycle license when he lived in Europe but never got another one after arriving in the United States in 1968.
Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Margita Thompson, acting on initial information Sunday, said she believed the governor's basic Class C driver's license allowed him to ride the motorcycle with its sidecar attached.
California Highway Patrol officers accompanied Schwarzenegger on the ride. Spokesman Tom Marshal said CHP officials also concluded that the governor was permitted to operate a motorcycle with a sidecar.
"We're not criticizing the LAPD," he said after learning of the department's finding. "We haven't seen the report ... but that's how we read the vehicle code as applying."
Los Angeles police had no immediate response to the highway patrol's statement, department spokeswoman Sara Faden said.
After the LAPD's announcement, Thompson said in a statement that the governor would "move forward" to get the required endorsement on his license.
To get such an endorsement, a motorcycle rider must pass a skills test given by the state Department of Motor Vehicles or take a motorcycle training course from a program approved by the highway patrol.
Another highway patrol spokesman, Steve Kohler, declined to discuss if officers had checked, or would check in the future, whether the governor had a proper license. Kohler said he could not disclose such information because it involved Schwarzenegger's protective detail.
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Miles to go before I sleep....
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posted January 11, 2006 02:51 PM
....well let's see now...technically his L1 (as we call it here in California) allows him to operate a trike or a sidehacked motorcycle...fair enough...but then it has been reported that he has been seen on a Harley sans sidecar on numerous occassions on PCH in the past....all infractions...not the crime of the century in the big scheme of things...perhaps a big embarassment and a black mark in his popularity polls...some might say that there are lots of licensed motorcyclists out there who aren't as competent at rider as the Austrian Oak witout his M/C endorsement...not right, but some might say that...alas at least he's honest about it....but what else could he have said?....damage control damage control ...REPORT! ____________ “We sleep safe in our beds because rough men
stand ready in the night to visit violence on those
who would do us harm.”
-George Orwell
posted January 11, 2006 03:28 PM
Edited By: trenace on 11 Jan 2006 15:28
Obviously a totally different deal in California than what I believe (just from what I've heard) to be the case in Florida. It's surprising it's only a fine that can be as low as $100 - $250.
Bet with the law being that way, there are a LOT of guys that don't bother getting the endorsement.
Dumb, though, when you're the governor of the state.
Needs a life
Miles to go before I sleep....
Posts: 10623
posted January 11, 2006 05:58 PM
quote:So, would you have wrote him up if you were on duty at the scene?
...based on the event as it occurred and per the California Vehicle Code??....of course not....I can't and wouldn't issue for something that occurred in the past that I didn't witness either...and please don't ask me if I would had I witnessed it and if he was on a motorcycle.... ____________ “We sleep safe in our beds because rough men
stand ready in the night to visit violence on those
who would do us harm.”
-George Orwell
posted January 11, 2006 06:50 PM
Edited By: trenace on 11 Jan 2006 18:50
Just curious -- if I were to crash while having a suspended license (which I don't) you mean I ought to have immunity from a charge of driving with suspended license on account of not having been observed doing it, though I was found at the scene of the crash and admitted to being the operator?
If so, why then have I been written for "careless driving" (thrown out by the judge, incidentally, on account of the officer not showing up to testify, and besides this the actual cause was Ford's brake defect) in a crash where the officer did not observe me driving?
Actually I once years ago did get a "careless driving" in an accident that indeed was my fault, not observed by the officer, and got stuck with that one.
Seems to me it's not illogical that if it's granted that the person was the operator of the vehicle, the officer not seeing the driving but arriving at the crash could logically cite for absence of license, though maybe it's one of those weird technical things?
posted January 11, 2006 08:04 PM
trenace, i believe worm~hole is stating no to the ticket because at the time he was driving a sidebar, which does NOT require the motorcycle endorcement. schwarzeneger's infraction was riding a non-sidecar equipped motorcycle at other times.
Needs a life
Miles to go before I sleep....
Posts: 10623
posted January 11, 2006 10:29 PM
...yeah, what he said! ____________ “We sleep safe in our beds because rough men
stand ready in the night to visit violence on those
who would do us harm.”
-George Orwell
posted January 16, 2006 10:21 AM
I would bet more people do not have them, then you would think!!! I would say close to 50% of the riders on sportbikes did not have them when I used to ride with the pack....
quote:I would bet more people do not have them, then you would think!!! I would say close to 50% of the riders on sportbikes did not have them when I used to ride with the pack....
ya, it used to be the same here in Alberta......till the rules changed and you could no longer get insurance without proof of your lic......suddenly people that had been riding for many, many years were applying for their lic, and many of them were taking motorcycle courses, not only to get their lic but to also get a break on their insurance, because according to the new law, if you just got your lic, you were a "new" rider and as such you paid more insurance........and if you took a course, you rates came down......
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posted January 11, 2006 09:10 AM
Edited By: 
Police: Schwarzenegger riding illegally. California governor admits he has no motorcycle license
posted January 11, 2006 02:51 PM
