TRENTON, N.J., March 29 – New Jersey is getting ready to insure those electric powered cars that can go no faster than 25 miles an hour and are the definitive oxymoron because they are legally named slow speed vehicles.

Were talking about these cute little four wheelers that run on batteries and get charged up on 110-volt household currents of electricity.

Were talking about the wave of the future, according to the legislator who sponsored the law to let these little creatures legally on New Jersey roads after April 6.

Were talking about a 25 mile an hour rig that can travel only on streets and roads and highways with a speed limit of 25 miles an hour, and the manufacturers want you to call them the Smart Cars.

Speed Limits

When the law was signed January 6 this year, the sponsor of the bill, Senator John H. Adler (D-Camden), smiled as he said, Smart cars are great for New Jersey " whether for running errands locally or getting around town while vacationing at the shore. This is the future of personal transpiration and New Jersey cant get left behind. Adler was quick to call them Smart Cars.

They may be the wave of the future, but the only streets known in this state with a speed limit of under 25 are the two blocks in front of a school.

Regardless, the state bureaucrats are ready to regulate them and are completely equipped to do it " short of digging tunnels, building special roads, or moving mountains for these cars that most will probably call those electric thing-a-ma-jigs.

New Jersey government from the State Highway Department, the Motor Vehicle Commission, the Insurance Department " down to the traffic cop in your home town are ready with rules and regulations in how to handle these little mechanical $6,600-and-up, four wheeled critters that zip around on batteries.

Insurance First

Even before these low speed vehicles take off, they must be insured with at least $15,000/$30,000 liability coverage, $5,000 property damage liability overage, uninsured motorist coverage to the limits of the liability coverage purchased, and pedestrian PIP.

Insurance Commissioner Steven Goldman, in one of his first acts as new Commissioner, hit the ground running with Bulletin Number nine of 2006, declaring that companies that want to insure the low speed vehicle will have to get approval from the state for their rating system and then when they finally do insure one of the speedsters it will be through the state assigned risk plan.

But Hold On, Theres More

The law, Public law 2005, c.273, took 15 months to clear the Legislature. The legislation covers 13 pages in nine sections detailing, in legalistic and bureaucratic lingo, just what the law is about. It was decided that this legislation, after careful review, should be a bill that regulates operation of certain low-speed vehicles. Not just low speed vehicles, mind you, but certain low speed vehicles, just in case hybrids of them show up later down the road.

To get this LSV (low speed vehicle) on the road, it must be registered, inspected, and insured as well as properly labeled, and, as explained, The LSV would also have to display a license plate issued by the MVC or by another state.

The MVC is not a state. Here it means Motor Vehicle Commission.

The law was crafted that an LSV refers to any four-wheeled motor vehicle with a maximum speed of between 20 and 25 miles per hour and which is not powered by gasoline or diesel fuel. It must, the law goes on, have head, tail and stop lamps, brakes, side and rear view mirrors, a windshield, and seat belts. It must also have a speedometer, odometer, vehicle identification number, and a decal on the rear of the vehicle proclaiming 25 MPH Vehicle (Why a speedometer if it cannot go past 25?).

Further Regulations

Those requirements are the easy parts of getting an LSV OTR (on the road) or OTRR (on the right road), or on the LRR (legally right road).

The original proposal contained these steps for the Commissioner of Transportation and the localities to regulate low speed vehicles on the roads:

The LSVs can use any road under the Department of Transportation jurisdiction where the posted speed is more than 25 but less than 35 miles per hour. They can also travel any county municipal road with the same limit of more than 25 miles an hour but not greater than 35 miles an hour. In any case, the Commissioner or the locals can ban these low speed vehicles on any road if it constitutes a hazard.

The second list of rules deals with how to get the LSVs across two lane highways or where the limits are more than 25 or 35 miles an hour.

Heres how the law writers handled it:

A low speed vehicle may enter an intersection and cross any public road or highway under local jurisdiction where the posted speed is 35 miles an hour or less; however if the road or highway is more than two lanes or is divided, such crossing shall only occur at signalized intersections or at non signalized intersections as approved by the locality.

If such a highway has a posted speed in excess of 35 miles per hour, crossings may only occur at signalized intersections or at non-signalized intersections following the local approval procedure.

Oops! Almost forgot about inspections. LSVs do not have to be inspected like the big cars do. The only requirement is that the owner keeps a safe LSV.

So there! New Jersey is ready for the LSVs.

But are the LSVs ready for New Jersey?