Adrian  writes:

> No, [go-karts and mini-motos are] regarded as motor vehicles because they're propelled by an 
> internal combustion engine - so can only be used on the road if they 
> conform to the regulations controlling internal-combustion engine-
> propelled devices. There's similar regs - but less onerous - controlling 
> electrically propelled devices.

Go-karts and mini-motos are regarded as motor vehicles following the
ruling in Burns vs Currell 1963.  It's not sufficient that they're
mechanically propelled devices: the test is "whether a reasonable person
would say that one of the vehicle's uses would be some general use on
the road".

But that's incidental to my point, which is that your distinction
between "vehicle" and "toy" is invalid, because these things - despite
not being intended for road use - are both at once.  Regulation of the
devices that we use on our roads is done according to the danger that
they pose to other road users, not to whether they are intended as toys
or not.

(By the way, I am not disputing that a bicycle is also a road vehicle.
It may be a toy or it may not: a Raleigh Shopper, not; a child's three
wheeler, yes.  But so may a car: I doubt that many people buy Caterhams
who are not expecting to enjoy driving them)


-dan