Legal loophole allowing Ontario drunk drivers to use e-bikes to get home?

It's a case of the law not keeping up with technology.

Thanks to conflicting federal and provincial laws regarding the environmentally-friendly e-bike, "there seems to be a loophole for drivers with suspended licences to get back on the road," QMI Agency reports.

The e-bike falls under the Criminal Code of Canada's definition of a motor vehicle, so drunk riders can be charged with impaired driving charges.

The Highway Traffic Act of Ontario, however, doesn't classify the e-bike as a motor vehicle. Because e-bikes have pedals, they're considered bicycles. Riders must follow the rules of the road as bicycles — stopping at stop signs, staying off the sidewalk, wearing a helmet — and are not required to have a licence, licence plates, or insurance.

Bicycle riders can't be charged with impaired driving, London police sergeant Ryan Scrivens told QMI Agency.

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"It's the same as if someone was intoxicated riding a bike," he said. "Unfortunately the definition of a vehicle is something that's designed to be propelled by muscular power. An e-bike qualifies because people can pedal an e-bike."

E-bikes have pedals and can be powered by both muscular power and electric energy. They can reach top speeds of 32 km/hr.

The conflicting definitions of "motor vehicle" make it difficult to keep drivers with suspended licences off the road.

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Scrivens says that if the pedals are removed or the bike is rigged to go faster than its current 32 km/h max, the bike will become a limited-speed motor vehicle. Drivers of limited-speed motor vehicles can face impaired-driving charges.

In Aylmer, Ontario, police have had success convicting impaired e-bikers, police Chief Andre Reymer told the London Free Press.

"We've been successful in court on several convictions of either impaired or prohibited driving," he said. "Because the impairment that we've had are people driving these things, not pedalling them. In most cases they didn't even have the pedals attached to the units."

Reymer adds that the Criminal Code trumps the Highway Traffic Act. Getting an e-bike isn't a loophole for getting back on the road, nor is it a license for anyone to drive while intoxicated.

Constable Allan Davidson of Toronto traffic services says that he sees one or two e-bike riders a month get charged under the Criminal Code.

"The difference is the power," he told the Toronto Star in June. "You don't have to pedal an e-bike; it will move on its own. That makes it a motor vehicle under the Criminal Code."

So before you hop on your e-bike after a long night at the bar, remember that conflicting laws don't mean that you'll get away with riding irresponsibly.