motorcyclist with helmet

To safely operate a motorcycle, riders should follow Missouri motorbike laws. Complying with the legal requirements for motorcycle operations can help reduce your risk of an accident. It tin can too aid protect your legal rights if you lot are involved in a crash.

With more than 50 years of combined legal experience, Sumner Law Grouping, LLC, has all-encompassing cognition of the legal requirements for operating a motorcycle on Missouri roads and highways. Our Missouri motorbike accident attorneys tin can help if you accept been hurt in a crash that was non your error. Contact our house today for a free case evaluation.

Missouri Motorcycle Helmet Constabulary

Under Missouri law, every person riding or operating a motorbike must article of clothing protective headgear that meets U.South. DOT requirements. Withal, in 2020, the state adopted a new law allowing motorcycle operators historic period 26 and older with a Class Grand license or Course M endorsement on their driver'due south license to ride without a helmet if they possess health insurance or other insurance that provides medical benefits for injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident. Passengers must still wear helmets at all times. The law does non permit law enforcement to finish operators to confirm their age or that they possess the requisite insurance coverage.

Helmets that encounter U.South. DOT requirements will typically have a DOT sticker, as well equally a label stating the manufacturer and helmet model name, the month and years of manufacture, and the structure materials used. Helmets begetting certification stickers from certain contained testing organizations, such equally Snell or ANSI, will also likely meet DOT regulations.

Missouri Motorcycle Safe Requirements

In order to lawfully operate on public roads and highways in Missouri, a motorcycle must have the post-obit fully functional equipment:

  • Headlight
  • Taillight
  • Brake light
  • Horn
  • Front end and rear brakes
  • Muffler

All motorcycles in Missouri must exist lawfully registered with the Missouri Section of Motor Vehicles. Motorcycles must pass a condom inspection performed by an authorized inspector. (However, motorcycles within the first v years following their model year are exempted from the required inspection.)
Motorcycles must exist reinspected every two years.

Motorcycle operators in Missouri are also required to conduct motorcycle insurance with minimum policy limits mandated by police force:

  • $25,000 per person/$50,000 per accident in bodily injury liability coverage
  • $10,000 per accident in property damage liability coverage

Missouri Lane Splitting Law

Lane splitting Missouri, or the do of riding a motorcycle on a traffic line or in between lanes of vehicle traffic, is not expressly prohibited past Missouri police. However, lane splitting is also non expressly authorized as a legal and safe maneuver. Only California has a police authorizing lane splitting. As a outcome, lane splitting may be deemed an unsafe or illegal maneuver, depending on the circumstances.

A rider who engages in lane splitting tin can be stopped and ticketed by a police officeholder for unsafe operation. If the rider gets into an blow, lane splitting may be cited equally bear witness to concur the rider partially or entirely at fault for the accident.

Missouri law prohibits lane sharing, or the practice of 2 vehicles traveling side-by-side in the same lane of traffic, except that two motorcycles may lawfully ride beside in the aforementioned traffic lane. Vehicles that wish to pass a motorcycle must motility fully over to the adjacent left lane (if lawful to practise so).

Missouri Motorcycle License Requirements

In Missouri, any person wishing to operate a motorcycle on public roads and highways must have a Course Chiliad learner'south permit or license, or a Grade M endorsement on their driver'due south license.

A person can use for a motorcycle instruction allow if he or she is older than fifteen years and 182 days. An applicant for an education permit must complete a motorcycle passenger training course approved past the state and pass the Class F and Form M written cognition tests and a vision test. Applicants under xviii must as well have written consent from a parent or legal guardian.

Instruction allow holders under 16 years sometime have the following restrictions on their functioning of a motorcycle:

  • Engine displacement must be less than 250 cc.
  • Riders are non allowed to carry passengers.
  • Riders must stay inside 50 miles of the operator's residence.
  • Riders may simply ride during daylight hours.

Instruction let holders 16 and older are restricted to daylight driving and refraining from carrying passengers.

Those wishing to obtain a Class K license or Class K endorsement must pass an on-bicycle skills test conducted either on the road or in an off-street, controlled area. The examination is designed to ensure riders understand route rules, proper operation of a motorbike, and rubber riding practices. If riders take the test with a iii-wheeled motorcycle (such as a motorcycle equipped with a sidecar), the Class Chiliad license or endorsement may come up with a restriction on two-wheeled motorcycles until those riders pass the skills test with a ii-wheeled motorcycle.

Injure in a Crash? Talk to a Missouri Motorcycle Blow Lawyer Now

If you have been injured in a motorcycle accident in Missouri, the land's motorcycle laws may bear upon your example and your right to compensation. For a gratuitous consultation with a Missouri motorbike accident attorney, contact Sumner Police Group, LLC, today. We can discuss the details of your crash and explicate more nearly your legal options.