Ignition interlocks and motorcycles

No statute read here exempts motorcycles. The interlock reaches every motor vehicle you drive, and a motorcycle is a motor vehicle — so the question is the device, not the law.

The statutes say “motor vehicle”, and a motorcycle is one

People ask which states “allow” an ignition interlock on a motorcycle, as if some statutes carve motorcycles out. The ones read for this page do not. They impose the interlock on a motor vehicle — the one the person drives, or every one they operate or own — and their own definition sections make a motorcycle a motor vehicle.

The definitions

Arizona: “‘Motorcycle’ means a motor vehicle that has a seat or saddle for the use of the rider and that is designed to travel on not more than three wheels.” Washington: “‘Motorcycle’ means a motor vehicle designed to travel on not more than three wheels.” Iowa: “‘Motorcycle’ means every motor vehicle having a saddle or seat for the use of the rider.” Florida's licensing chapter: a motorcycle “means a motor vehicle powered by a motor with a displacement of more than 50 cubic centimeters.” Each begins the same way.

What the interlock provisions then require

Read the interlock sections with those definitions in hand and the answer for a rider follows.

Arizona: each motor vehicle you operate

A person under an interlock limitation must provide proof of “a functioning certified ignition interlock device in each motor vehicle operated by the person,” and the department will not reinstate or issue the interlock-restricted license until that is done. A motorcycle the person rides is a motor vehicle the person operates.

Washington: only a motor vehicle with a device

“The department shall require that a person may drive only a motor vehicle equipped with a functioning ignition interlock device” — on pretrial release, for an interlock license, on deferred prosecution, after conviction or by court order. A motorcycle without a device is a motor vehicle without one.

Florida: all vehicles owned and routinely operated

“An interlock device shall be placed on all vehicles that are individually or jointly leased or owned and routinely operated by the convicted person.” A motorcycle the person owns and rides is one of them.

Iowa: all motor vehicles operated

Iowa will not issue a temporary restricted license “until the applicant installs an approved ignition interlock device on all motor vehicles operated by the applicant.”

Other states read for this site use the same building blocks. Virginia requires the system on “each motor vehicle, as defined in” its vehicle code, owned or registered by a repeat offender; Illinois's monitoring-device permit allows driving only vehicles fitted with the device. Interlock rules by state has each one.

State by state: which vehicles the interlock order reaches

The question “what states allow a motorcycle interlock” is usually answered with a list of states and no citations. The useful version is narrower and checkable: in each state whose interlock law this site has read, what does the order attach to, and does that state's own definition section make a motorcycle a “motor vehicle”? Where the definition has not been read for this site, the table says so rather than guessing.

The pattern is consistent. No statute in the table writes a motorcycle exception into the interlock order; the orders attach to “each motor vehicle operated”, “all vehicles… routinely operated”, “any motor vehicle” or the vehicles a person owns or registers. In the four states where the definition was read, a motorcycle is plainly inside it. In the others, read the definition section before assuming either way.

So the real question is the device, not the law

If the statute reaches every vehicle you drive and a motorcycle is a vehicle, there are three possibilities, and none of them is “the law exempts motorcycles”:

• Fit a certified device to the motorcycle, if the state's approved devices and installers will do it. Which devices are certified, and for what, is set by agency rule and the state's approved list rather than by the statutes read here.
• Do not ride the motorcycle during the interlock period, and drive a vehicle that has a device.
• Use a route the statute itself provides — such as Iowa's medical waiver, which leads to a narrowly restricted license, or an employer-vehicle exception where the state has one. None of the exceptions read for this page is written for motorcycles.

Riding an unequipped motorcycle while restricted is the same violation as driving an unequipped car. In Washington and Arizona that is driving outside the restriction; in Iowa it is grounds to revoke the temporary license.

Mopeds and scooters

The definitions part company at the small end. Arizona, Washington and Florida all exclude mopeds from “motorcycle”, and Florida's motorcycle must exceed 50 cc; Iowa's includes a motor scooter. Whether a moped is still a “motor vehicle” for the interlock section is a separate question each state answers in its own definitions. If a scooter is your only transport, the definition section of the state that imposed the restriction is the document to read before you ride.

Insurance is a separate question again

Interlock law and insurance law do not always draw the line in the same place. Michigan's no-fault chapter is the clearest case: for that chapter a motor vehicle has “more than 2 wheels” and “does not include… a motorcycle,” which has its own definition. A rule written about “motor vehicles” in one chapter may not reach a motorcycle in another. SR-22 and motorcycles covers the filing side.

Common questions