trike law:- helmets, seatbelts & passengers?

squod

Looking for advice. Wondering what the story is with driving a trike in Ireland. Good few of the up here drive w/out helmets. Is that legal? Also what to do with passengers. Does the law require seatbelts to be fitted to the rear bench seat? Are passengers required by law to wear crash helmets?

Friend is halfway through a build using a Yamaha Royal Star 1300cc as a base.

Similar rear bench seat seen in the picture.

Thinkingaboutit

Now that is sweet.

Also what's the case with sidecar bikes, not that I'll be getting one any time soon or ever?

Del2005

According to the Statue Book a trike is on the B licence. So stop posting here;)



If it's Cat B then I'd assume it doesn't require a lid but I don't know how you'd get around the seat belt issue. IIRC each person travelling in a vehicle has to be belted.

From seeing a good few threads here about quads and trikes, which never turned out good, I'd advise your friend to get an insurance quote before they proceed any further with the build and once they have the quote to get in writing from the underwriters what the story is with seatbelts.

squod

Thanks for that. Lad was planning on using a bar for the rear passengers to hold on with. Something you'd find on a roller-coaster or something similar. Will phone insurers and ask them. Thanks everyone for the advice so far.

Hotblack Desiato

Del2005, that legislation is about driver licensing, someone in Cat B could be limited (through disability perhaps) to a vehicle not exceeding 550kg. e.g. the specially adapted disabled tricycle cars they had in the UK years ago. What you want is legislation relating to the vehicle. I'd suggest asking MAG Ireland.

Edit: having searched back to 1934 in the statute book, I couldn't find any construction & use regulations which included the word 'tricycle'

Del2005

ninja900 wrote: »

Del2005, that legislation is about driver licensing, someone in Cat B could be limited (through disability perhaps) to a vehicle not exceeding 550kg. e.g. the specially adapted disabled tricycle cars they had in the UK years ago. What you want is legislation relating to the vehicle. I'd suggest asking MAG Ireland.

Edit: having searched back to 1934 in the statute book, I couldn't find any construction & use regulations which included the word 'tricycle'

The legislation is the only thing that mentions "tricycle" and has it as a B licence with code 73. From my limited knowledge that makes trikes part of a car licence not a bike licence. That means that if you turn up for a B test on a trike you'll be restricted to trikes, if you turn up for an A test on a trike you won't be allowed do it as it's on the B licence.

I remember some threads on here where people where getting caught out with the fact that you need a B licence to ride a M class vehicle and no insurance companies would cover them

Hotblack Desiato

I think you've got those both back to front Del.

Code 73 on a B licence limits you to light cars/trikes up to 550kg (in France you can drive one of these when banned for drink driving!) Some countries call this class B1. It doesn't mean that trikes are class B

Same thing with class M, B licences used to give you M but that didn't mean you had to have a car licence to ride a moped, you could always ride one on an A or A1 licence.

mr chips

I live in the north, but I'm 99% sure that the regulation regarding seatbelts is the same in the south as here, where a rear passenger sitting in the middle does not require a seatbelt, but that lap belts are required for any rear passenger sitting either side of the rider (i.e. not straddling the machine). My trike has a bench rear seat with lap-belts either side and none in the middle. No belt for the rider, of course.

Helmets are not a legal requirement for riders or passengers on trikes in the UK or in Ireland, but some members of An Garda Síóchána may not necessarily be aware of that and assume that the law for bikers applies to you. You may find yourself getting pulled over by a jobsworth who will (wrongly) try to insist that by not wearing a helmet you are breaking the law. I know a lad who actually keeps a printout of the relevant legislation for just that purpose - he has had cause to use it a couple of times but has yet to be prosecuted!

Last time I checked, only two companies insured trikes in the south - Carole Nash and AON. Obviously it's worth checking with both of them but anecdotally, it seems you're more likely to get a better quote from the latter.

You will be able to get more info from the forum over at btwireland.com - some of the members there have done a lot of work getting things clarified for trikers in Ireland regarding importing, first registration, new builds/conversions, taxing etc.

PS - Trikes in the south are taxed under vehicle category "M", by the way! :P

Hotblack Desiato

mr chips wrote: »

PS - Trikes in the south are taxed under vehicle category "M", by the way! :P

What nonsense.

chasm

Regarding licences, i queried this with the RSA late last year as Motor Tricycles came under A licences from January when the new regulations came in.

They replied "A person who previously had a category B driving licence with restriction code 73 on the licence will on renewal be given both category B and A with code 46. Restricted to Tricycle"

And what is Catergory M tax, I've never heard of it?

Del2005

ninja900 wrote: »

I think you've got those both back to front Del.

Code 73 on a B licence limits you to light cars/trikes up to 550kg (in France you can drive one of these when banned for drink driving!) Some countries call this class B1. It doesn't mean that trikes are class B

Same thing with class M, B licences used to give you M but that didn't mean you had to have a car licence to ride a moped, you could always ride one on an A or A1 licence.

I was using the M vehicle classification for bikes, which I've now found out is L, not the M licence category.

chasm wrote: »

Regarding licences, i queried this with the RSA late last year as Motor Tricycles came under A licences from January when the new regulations came in.

They replied "A person who previously had a category B driving licence with restriction code 73 on the licence will on renewal be given both category B and A with code 46. Restricted to Tricycle"

And what is Catergory M tax, I've never heard of it?

M is used to be revenue code for motorbikes, but it's changed to L.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vrt/revised-vehicle-classification.html

mr chips

ninja900 wrote: »

What nonsense.

In fairness, the classification system was revised in 2011, and I hadn't had cause to check it since. However, if you look at the EU classification scheme against the old Revenue categories table on this page: http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vrt/faqs-vrt.html#section6
- you'll see the following:


EU Vehicle Classifications: L1 to L7 - Motor Cycles and certain three wheel vehicles

Equivalent Revenue Category: Category M

squod

Thanks again posters.