AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine motor vehicle officials say the state is shifting to a new motorcycle registration system.
The changes are the result of a law enacted last year that requires motorcycle inspection stickers to be displayed on the vehicle’s registration plate.
The changes started in March and will be phased in over the next year. Inspection stickers will be placed in the plate’s upper-left corner.
In order to accommodate the inspection sticker, motorcycle registrations, with some exceptions, will be changed to a fixed March expiration.
Starting in April 2012, when a motorcycle is registered or renewed, the expiration date will be changed to expire in the next March. Owners will then be issued a combined month-year sticker, which should be placed in the upper-right corner.
Is this an excuse to stop any cyclist without an inspection sticker? I know of someone stopped last month for this. I know they use the term “phased in”, but I just wonder………
Why are they all do in March for ??
No big deal.Any other motor vehicle registered for the road displays an inspection sticker. Some states make you display them on the forks. Maine make you put it on your license plate.Like I said no big deal.
i wonder if they come off easy
The only problem I have with this is that if the inspection expires at the end of March, how do I get to the inspection station? Sometimes the riding season here in Aroostook County doesn’t start ’til well into May. Why didn’t they pic June or July instead of March?
The registration will expire at the end of March. You will be able to continue to get the bike inspected any month. Instead of having the current 2 decals for registration (month and year) there will be 1 decal for the registration. There will be 1 decal for the inspection which most likely be color coded like car inspection stickers. If you check out the link below, it includes a picture of what the bike plate will look like.
http://www.maine.gov/sos/news/2012/mcinspection.html
Bookmarked! Thanks!
How many motorcycle accidents have happen because of defects ? They take better care of there bikes than people do there cars an trucks
Phew, for a minute I thought our state leaders were going to waste their time on something unimportant, like jobs or something.
Nothign more then another income stream for Maine. Does nothign for saftey at all. If saftey was a real issue then helmets woudl be mandatory.
I would say those are opposite items of the spectrum. Inspections make sure the bike is not faulty and could mechanically cause a problem and cause an accident or worse a death of an innocent person . Helmets are only to protect the driver of bike not deadly to others if an accident is caused.
Is that right. How many motorcycle accidents in Maine where PAID for by tax dollars. You think they all had insurance and medical. I hate to be the one to tell you but no helmets have cost the taxpayers of Maine millions over the years.
If it is public safety overall your after on the roads then the single most dangerous thing to innocent motorists is DRUNK DRIVERS ( or otherwise impaired by substance) Maine has nice signs about how “tough” we are but all one has to do is ask and patrol LE how many times they arrest the SAME person for dui and it become clear that while the police may catch em the courts let em right back out. Otherwise how would it be possible for so many people in Maine to have 5 10 or more dui’s and not be in jail.
As far as inspections making the road safe that bs. A inspection is not standardized. Get a car and go to 5 garages I bet it will pass some and fail some. It is a system based in law and not a strict guideline. How many cars and pick ups do you see on the road with VALID stickers that you can clearly see a major problem with? As a former truck ( 18 wheelers ) driver, owner and then small fleet owner inspections give the result the person doing them wants. I have seen brad new trucks get shut down for hoses rubbing while a car drives by with a bumper hanging off. Want to know why they go after trucks? MONEY that is the ONLY reason for parking tickets and “safety” crap. Of course if your kid is in your car without a seat belt you get a big ticket. The bus the state sends to pick your kids up and take them to school has NO seat belts. Please tell me more about how the state has safety on there minds…
I hope the motorcyclist have a better record of putting the stickers in the proper place cause I see cars license plates with stickers going in all for corners instead of the dedicated places on the plates. If you read this articles correctly the inspection stickers will be for 1 year no matter what month you have them inspected. My suggestions to those asking how they are supposed to go in March because riding in the county does start later. Simple answer to those asking is just go to inspection station on your first ride no matter what month and I bet you’ll be just fine. Common sense it seems. One other point I would like to make is loud noise bikes. The law changed January 2011 that bikes needed to go back to factory noise levels because of noise complaint but that does not seemed to the case with enforcement so I hope one of the inspection points will address this annoying problem of not being considerate of people in their homes being bombarded with these loud bikes.
I’m sure those loud motorcycles are just raising cain up in Aroostic….maybe they can do something about those loud trucks and skidders and Hey! what about those darn sleds and chain saws. More legislation NOW!
Thank you Augusta….another solution for a problem that never existed, more paperwork and more expense for everyone. Never mind that the state is going bankrupt and industry is fleeing this state like rats from a sinking ship. Good job – give yourself a raise!
Just another totally useless “fee” enacted by the simpletons in Augusta to generate revenue that they can waste. Anything to avoid talking about jobs, you know, the way people can afford motorcycles in the first place.
I agree with many here this is all about money with the state. I have a funny feeling that twice a year auto inspections are also in the works. If it were about safety then why didn’t they do this years ago? Most, but not all take care of their bikes. I have a 454 I would like to decrease the back pressure on, but the laws the law.