Request By:
Mr. Stanton Baker
Carroll County Attorney
420 Main Street
Carrollton, Kentucky 41008
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
You have requested an opinion of the Attorney General as to whether under KRS 189.285 persons under 16 years of age may operate a motorcycle anywhere within the state, including private property. Our answer is negative.
KRS 189.285 provides, inter alia, as follows:
"(1) No person shall operate a motorcycle: (a) except when that person is in possession of a valid motorcycle operator's license. . . ."
KRS 186.440 provides that a person shall not be licensed to operate a motor vehicle if he is under the age of 16 years. It therefore follows that a person under the age of 16 is forbidden by law to operate a motorcycle anywhere in the state, including both highways and private property.
In Commonwealth v. Coffman, Ky., 453 S.W.2d 759 (1970), KRS 189.285 was likened unto other statutes which have been enacted for the purpose of protecting the health and safety of persons, even from their own voluntary acts. This statute was held to be aimed at the public welfare in the same manner as the statute forbidding snake handling, KRS 437.060. A statute forbidding the shooting of fireworks, KRS 437.095, is of the same nature.
As long ago as 1957, this office, in OAG 40,841 stated that under KRS 186.440 that persons under the age of 16 cannot operate motor vehicles regardless of horse power. However, under that statute the prohibition applies only to the operation of motor vehicles on public roads and highways. KRS 189.285 makes no mention of operating motorcycles on highways, but simply states that no person shall operate a motorcycle unless he has a valid operator's license. We think that it is the intention of the Legislature that persons under 16 shall be protected by forbidding their use of motorcycles anywhere in the state.