Between Bikes and Cars

Chinese "Japanese Mini-Truck Parked at Hardware Store in Ocean Shores

This Mini-Truck Might be Owned by Ace

My loyal reader knows all about bikes and cars. In between those two sizes/types, we all know about All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) and Golf Carts. Justine Valinotti recently expanded our knowledge about electric bikes, with her post, here. However, beyond this, things seem to get complicated. For example, ATVs, electric bikes and Golf Carts are legal on roads - except sometimes they aren't. Even worse, the rules change from State to State and even from city to city. What's more, there are whole classes of vehicles that are in between bikes and cars that few of us know about or ever see. THESE are also sometimes legal on roads - and sometimes not. Even WORSE, sometimes the rules change depending on whether the vehicle is powered by gasoline or electricity. Even in a little place like Ocean Shores, there was a big debate over golf carts and what the rules were and "should they be allowed?" As in most things, the City Council went on to other things without taking action one way or the other.

Lately, I saw one of these at the local Ocean Shores Ace Hardware. It is a Mini-Truck, sometimes also known as a "Japanese Mini-Truck." Japanese Mini-Trucks, or Kei Trucks, are built many places other than Japan. The one I saw at Ace was built in China. Even after reading up on state laws extensively, it is unclear to me whether these would be street legal in Ocean Shores. Probably so, if the speed limit was 35 or less and it had a license plate. I guess a mini-truck is less dangerous than a golf cart that has lights and seat belts. Oddly, these would be allowed to go 10MPH faster in Texas than in Washington on the same road. Still, despite the odball local politics, these would seem ideal for a place such as Ocean Shores where low speeds and low traffic make the full array of safety equipment somewhat excessive.

Mini-Trucks do not Use all Safety Equipment Required on Cars. IIHS Does NOT Like That!

Note Lack of License Plates. The Website Has Been Abandoned by Mag Which is Out of Business
Parts for this Vehicle are now Problematic