Electric Unicycles – One Wheel Short of a Good Idea?

Q: I saw an electric unicycle on a city street violating various traffic laws. I looked up what I saw online, and some of these unicycles have top speeds of over 50 mph. Do you have thoughts on what kind of vehicle this qualifies as?

A: I looked at the website for Inmotion, an electric unicycle company, (I’m calling you out, Inmotion) and they had videos of riders on city streets violating various traffic laws and taking unnecessary risks; running red lights, riding in the oncoming lane, speeding, weaving through traffic, riding on the sidewalk, switching from the sidewalk to the street mid-block, I could go on.

What I couldn’t find on their website, or any of the other sites that sold electric unicycles, was any information about their legality on public roads. I did find plenty of phrases implying that they’re legal, like “Glide through busy city streets,”, “perfect for daily commuters,” and “can be used for short journeys or commutes in congested urban areas.”

I get that telling your customers they won’t be able to ride on public roads with their new, several-thousand-dollar high-speed electric unicycle might affect your sales. But if they prioritized clarity and public safety over hype, I think they’d feel obliged to at least mention it. Since they won’t, I will.

You can buy a street-legal electric unicycle, but it’s not what you described. The law permits electric one-wheeled vehicles that have a 2000-watt motor and a top speed of less than 20 mph. These fit in a category the law calls Electric Personal Assistive Mobility Device, or EPAMD.

An electric unicycle that exceeds those limits is not an EPAMD. It also doesn’t fit any of the classes of electric-assisted bicycle (needs at least two wheels and even in class three is limited to 28 mph), or the definition of a motorcycle (no handlebar or steering wheel, among other details).

 It does, however, meet the definition of a motor vehicle, which is, in part, “a vehicle that is self-propelled.” There are some exclusions, like golf carts, EPAMDs, power wheelchairs, and a few others, but an electric unicycle is not on that list.

You probably see where I’m going with this. A motor vehicle requires registration. As the law says, “It is unlawful for a person to operate any vehicle on a public highway of this state without having in full force and effect a current and proper vehicle registration and displaying license plates on the vehicle.”

What would it take to get an electric unicycle registered in Washington (or in any state, really)? Impossible might be the most accurate term, but at a minimum, more than it’s worth.  All the vehicles you see driving around have met an extensive list of safety and equipment requirements as set by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), and adopted in Washington State law.

You’re not going to get an electric unicycle to comply with FMVSS as a standard motor vehicle. Even if you could convince the Washington legislature to classify them as motorcycles, which have much lower safety requirements, it would be tricky. Just as a start, where would you mount the required mirror?

For anyone who thinks this is just the government trying to ruin a bit of fun, consider that motorcycles, which are demonstrably safer than electric unicycles, and require training and endorsement to ride, make up only three percent  of registered vehicles in Washington but account for 16 percent of traffic fatalities. We don’t need a more dangerous vehicle category with untrained riders creating a new tragic data set in our state.