A “Wheel” is Both the Rim and the Tire

State v. Wenz, Minn.Ct.App., 3/16/2010.  Remember that big wheel you had as a kid?  Ever thought you needed a license to tear through your neighbor’s rose bushes with it? 

Ms. Wenz, whose license had been cancelled as inimical to public safety, bought a two wheeled vehicle, which had as one of its attributes wheels measuring fifteen inches to the outside tire surface but only ten inches to the outside of the rim.  When the cops stopped her for driving it, she said that it was a “motorized foot scooter” for which she needed no license.  It turned out that she did. 

Minnesota has a statute that tells us what a “motorized foot scooter” is, or, in this case, what it is not.  Minn.Stat. § 169.01, subd. 4c (2006).  Among other things, it can have no more than “two ten-inch or smaller diameter wheels.”  If this phrase includes the tire, itself, Ms. Wenz needs a license; otherwise, she’s tooling around in a toy.  The appellate court had little difficulty deciding that Ms. Wenz needed a license, that “wheel” does not stop at the outer edge of the rim; rather, it’s where the “rubber meets the road.”