Tennessee motorcyclists have a new law to look out for. It’s geared toward protecting small children, requiring their feet be able to reach the foot pegs in order to be a passenger.
Lawmakers first proposed an age restriction to keep children under five from riding on the back of a bike, but later amended it to essentially become a height requirement.
Motorcycle mechanic Tyler Hunt works at America’s Motor Sports near downtown. He says the new rule is a no-brainer, because carrying a passenger is a completely different type of riding.
“I think it should have just been common sense for your average, everyday rider to know that the safety of their passenger should be more important than worrying about, oh, they can’t touch, they’ll be fine to run up to the grocery store — because accidents happen everyday.”
Any rider with a child whose feet are not on foot pegs can be cited and issued a fifty-dollar fine.
The Department of Safety says no children as motorcycle passengers have been killed on Tennessee roadways since 2005. In introducing the measure this year, Maryville representative Bob Ramsey acknowledged that data but said the law was needed as a preventative measure.
The National Conference of State Legislatures says Tennessee is the first state with a foot peg requirement for children.
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