San Jose Mercury News

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger got into a motorcycle accident Sunday near his West Los Angeles home that left him with a fat lip and 15 stitches, he was driving illegally. Unless he wasn’t.

The Los Angeles Police Department determined Tuesday that Schwarzenegger should have had a motorcycle designation on his license to operate the vehicle – an assertion that the state Department of Motor Vehicles promptly disputed.

The accident occurred when a car backed out in front of the governor, who was tugging his 12-year-old son, Patrick, in a three-wheeled motorcycle with an attached sidecar along a winding canyon road.

“He does have a driver’s license, but that license is not specified for a motorcycle. It is not an M-endorsed driver’s license,” said LAPD Officer Sara Faden. “It’s an infraction. In technical terms, it’s illegal.”

At his budget unveiling Tuesday, Schwarzenegger sported a jagged cut over his lip. He said that not getting the proper motorcycle certification was an oversight that he would remedy.

“If I sound a little funny, it’s because I have stitched up lips here,” he said. “A car pulled out in front of me – it was right there in front – and I just couldn’t make a decision which way to go. I knew if I turned left that the Republicans will get mad, and I knew if I turned right my wife will get mad. So I just crashed right into the car. This was the safer thing to do.”

Faden said the absence of a motorcycle designation was noted when the governor collided with the driver, who was pulling out of her driveway.

No one was cited in the accident, Faden said, because police did not see it happen. The matter has been referred to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office to determine whether to file charges.

Driving a motorcycle without the proper license is an infraction that can result in fines ranging from $100 to $250 or more, according to the Associated Press.

But the state Department of Motor Vehicles believes the governor was in the clear, said spokesman Mike Miller. “According to the DMV,” he said, “the governor obeyed the law.”

The dispute involves different sections of the state vehicle code.

The LAPD based its finding on a section that defines a motorcycle as a vehicle having “not more than three wheels in contact with the ground” regardless of the presence of a sidecar.

The DMV relied on a different section stating that regular, or Class C, licenses do “not include a two-wheel motorcycle or a two-wheel motor-driven cycle.” As such, the California Motorcycle Handbook states that people with Class C licenses may drive “a motorcycle with a sidecar attached, a three-wheel motorcycle, or a motorized scooter.” An M1 license is required for two-wheeled vehicles, it states.

“It doesn’t matter about LAPD’s change in interpretation,” said Schwarzenegger’s press secretary, Margita Thompson, “because the governor said he needs to get the proper certification.”

An action hero in the movies, Schwarzenegger is known for riding motorcycles – usually the two-wheeled Harley Davidson variety.

The governor rode a motorcycle in the “Terminator” films. He likes to cruise down Pacific Coast Highway with pal Tom Arnold on weekends. Schwarzenegger hopped on a motorcycle to film a recent anti-piracy public service announcement with action hero Jackie Chan unveiled in Hong Kong. He even posed astride a motorcycle, dressed in Prada, with wife Maria Shriver for a Vanity Fair cover in 2004.

—

Copy the Story Link