How to get a license for a scooter - at what age can you get it and where?

In one of the previous articles, we found out whether you need a license for a scooter in Ukraine. Russian officials have adopted a bill in which perhaps the most important innovation is the introduction of category M in a new driver’s license. Officially, the initiators of innovations in the Road Safety Rules explain the ban on riding a scooter without a license by the large number of accidents involving motor scooters.

Read on to find out what it means, how and in which driving school you can open or buy category M, as well as how much training costs in 2021.

What does category M mean in driving license?

Category M in the license means the ability to drive vehicles provided for it. The open category M gives the right to ride a moped, scooter, light ATV, the internal combustion engine capacity of which does not exceed 50 cubic meters or the maximum electric motor power of up to 4 kW. Driving any type of vehicle based on this category is prohibited. Also, according to the Road Traffic Regulations, such vehicles should not be structurally capable of exceeding a speed of 50 km/h.

If we speak in simple Russian, then in 2021 you do not have the legal right to drive fifty dollars Honda Dio and similar scooters without an M class driver's license. But there are some nuances here, which are discussed below.

What does the law say?

It’s worth clarifying right away that from the point of view of the current legislation, there is no difference between a moped and a scooter. According to government decree number 1090 of 1993, a moped should be considered a 2, 3 (in some cases 4) wheeled vehicle, the speed of which cannot be more than 50 kilometers per hour.

Mopeds must be equipped with an engine capacity of up to 50cc. Units equipped with an electric motor with a power of 0.25 to 4 kW are also possible. According to this interpretation, ATVs can also be considered mopeds if they meet the requirements.

When considering the provisions of the law regarding whether a license is needed for a moped, it is worth relying on the following points:

According to the first part of Article 25 of the law number 196-FZ, dated 1995, to drive a vehicle over 50 cubic meters, a driver’s license category “M” is required . It includes weak ATVs and mopeds.
According to Part 7 of Article 25-FZ of 1995, the right to drive a moped must be confirmed by an appropriate driver’s license.
It is also worth taking into account changes in the law under number 307-FZ of 2014. They say that if the power is less than 49 cubic meters or less, then all citizens who have rights of any category or subcategory (for example, having category “B”) have the right to drive a moped.
Driving is prohibited if you have a control unit for the tractor.
It is prohibited to drive if your license contains a medical restriction.

How to get category M

To help you avoid trouble when meeting with police officers (the fine for riding a scooter without a license in 2021 is 5-15 thousand rubles), we will tell you how to pass for category M.

To obtain a category M license, the following conditions must be met:

You need to undergo a medical examination and receive a certificate with a mark in the appropriate category field
Complete training and pass an internal exam at a driving school
Pass the theoretical and practical exam for category M at MREO
You must be at least 16 years old at the time of taking the exam.

If you have never had a driver’s license for the right to drive any vehicle, then we recommend stamping the medical certificate in the category A column, and if you are already 18 years old, then in the group B and even C cells.

Why? Having received category A, you will be able to drive all types of motorcycles, mopeds and scooters, regardless of engine capacity. Having opened rank B and (or) C, category M opens automatically “as a gift”.

Driving schools teaching category M must have a state license and permit. The result of the training is an internal test in theory (tickets) and practice (driving).

To be allowed to take the exam at any traffic police department throughout Russia, you need:

Present a certificate issued by a driving school
To write an application
Pay the state fee

The traffic police exam is analogous to a test in a driving school: first tests with 20 questions (no more than 2 mistakes are allowed on the ticket), and then practical driving (snake and figure eight, going into the city on a moped is not provided). Each exam can be retaken up to three times. If you fail the tests, you will not be granted access to the next stage.

Let us add that you can start studying at a motorcycle school before the age of 16 and pass your license after reaching the specified age.

Now let’s talk about whether category M is needed if there is A or B. This question is not so clear.

On the one hand, the Law of the Russian Federation “On Road Traffic Safety” clearly states that a driver’s license of any category or subcategory gives the opportunity to drive a type M vehicle. But some traffic police officers require owners of a new type of license to have an open class M. We advise you to replace the license in advance open category M or you will have to carry excerpts from the law of the Russian Federation with you. In disputes with representatives of the traffic police, you can also be helped by a court decision on this matter, which can be viewed here.

Let's summarize: if you have an old-style driver's license, then you do not need to specifically obtain category M in order to drive a moped up to 50cc. When receiving new rights, it is better to immediately open this category to avoid unpleasant moments in the future.

In any case, always wear a scooter helmet and obey traffic rules.

Do you need rights?

Not so long ago, no license was required to drive a scooter. This caused the number of accidents on the roads involving teenagers to increase by 50%. Young people went out onto the road without knowing the simplest rules of the road, such as making turns, overtaking, etc. This is precisely the reason why it is legally prohibited for persons without the appropriate license to drive a moped.

Is it possible to ride a moped without a license in Russia? Answer: no! Even if the engine volume is up to 50 cc. see, rights are still required. One way or another, mopeds are included in the category of motor vehicles. In order to drive them according to traffic regulations, you need a driver's license.

If a traffic police officer stops a scooter and it turns out that the driver does not have a license to drive this vehicle, then this will be considered an administrative offense. Based on the first part of Article 12.7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, the culprit will have to pay a fine of 5 to 15 thousand rubles

Tuition price

Several years ago, when the new law on traffic safety was adopted, even in Moscow it was very difficult to find a driving school that provided training for category M. In 2021, the situation is much better, but still, if you want to open a category for a scooter not in a metropolis (such as St. Petersburg or Rostov-on-Don), prepare to go for motorcycle driving training (A/A1).

The price of passing for a category M license depends on the region (the cost in Kaliningrad and Orenburg will be different) and the “package of services” of the driving school, so it is difficult to say exactly how much it costs to pass for a category M license.

On average, tuition prices range from 7 to 34 thousand rubles:

From 7,000 to 12,000 rubles for a theoretical course consisting of 16 lessons
From 16,000 to 26,000 rubles for a theoretical and practical course (18 hours of driving)
From 20,000 to 34,000 rubles for a theoretical course, driving training, passing a medical examination, registration with the traffic police and support, equipment for a scooter, plus other services.

It is worth considering that the cost of the license is affected by the price of fuel, medical certificate, state duty, availability of your own moped, etc.

How is the training going?

As noted above, persons who do not have serious health problems may be allowed to study for a license.

If your eyesight is poor, then the readings should not be more than minus/plus eight diopters . Otherwise, the seeker is not allowed to study. Serious astigmatism is also unacceptable, that is, the difference between the right and left eyes is more than three diopters.

People who are registered at a drug treatment or psychological dispensary also cannot be allowed to study.

To confirm these rules, courses will require you to provide an appropriate medical certificate. A passport and military ID are also provided if available.

You will first need to take three matte photographs, measuring 3 by 4 cm. They will be required for a medical certificate. For the ID itself, the photo will be taken at the traffic police department.

Training is carried out according to officially approved programs:

theory 72 hour;
practice 30 hours;
from practice, about 18 hours will be devoted to driving.

As a theory, the future driver will study such issues as the rules of the road themselves, the design and maintenance of equipment, the basics of providing medical care, as well as a little about the psychology of driving and pedestrians.

The theory is passed according to the usual scheme - those who have completed the training sit down at a PC and answer 20 questions on all main categories of knowledge.

How much does it cost and where to buy a category M license?

We will not go into detail about the reasons why you need to buy a license for a scooter. This could be due to loss of documents or lack of time. The only thing we strongly advise is not to buy a driver’s license if you do not have experience driving mechanical vehicles or are not confident in your knowledge of traffic rules.

Buying category M licenses in Moscow, St. Petersburg or Novosibirsk is not difficult. This service costs from 10 to 30 thousand rubles, depending on the availability of a certificate from a medical institution, a certificate from a motorcycle school and other open categories. Companies selling driver's licenses online promise privacy, quality and delivery, but you need to be careful because buying, making and selling fake documents is a criminal offense.

We hope that we have clearly explained how to get a license for a category M scooter and there will be no problems during training and passing the exam.

How does the exam take place?

Category “M” can be opened for citizens who have reached the age of 16

The exam consists of two stages:

Theory;
Practice.

If the first part of the certification is not passed, the future driver is not allowed to take part in the second stage.

The theoretical part includes the main blocks of traffic rules:

Questions about medicine;
Traffic rules

This part of the exam is conducted in the form of a test consisting of twenty questions. There are several answer options for each of them. You just need to choose the right one. The driver is given only twenty minutes to complete this certification. If he does not have time to pass it, he is not allowed to practice. You are allowed to be wrong in only two questions out of twenty. Otherwise, you will have to go for a retake.

The practical part of the exam is conducted personally by a traffic police inspector. He pays attention to how the driver starts, accelerates, maneuvers, and uses the mirrors. The practical exam consists of three stages. The moped driver is not allowed into the city for testing.

If all stages of the exam are passed successfully, you can go to the traffic police to get a driver's license. Here the driver is photographed and given the long-awaited document at the appointed hour.

It is much easier to obtain a license for a moped with an engine capacity of less than fifty cubic meters than for a car. The same goes for people who want to get a scooter license. If a person already has at least one category, he will not need to undergo additional training and exams. Some citizens do not want to study and take exams; they are ready to simply pay money for categories. However, we should not forget that by such actions he endangers not only himself, but also other road users.

Legislation has become more stringent in regulating traffic and obliging moped owners to also obtain a license. What is a license for mopeds and what category do you need to open in order to fearlessly ride your vehicle on the road?

Previously, many nimble mopeds with teenagers driving them went anywhere and sometimes broke the rules. This technique did not require a license, which many people took advantage of.

But everything has changed and now, according to the Law “On Road Traffic Safety” as amended on October 14, 2014, driving a moped requires a license of a certain category.

Driver health requirements

To obtain a license, regardless of its category, it is necessary to pass a medical commission.

It is she who gives a conclusion about whether a given person is capable of driving a vehicle intelligently and not endangering himself and others.

Art. 23 of the Law “On Road Safety” clearly defines situations when a driver is required to undergo a medical examination in order to be allowed to drive vehicles.

This applies to any driver category, since a vehicle is a source of increased danger.

So, a medical examination is carried out in the following cases:

initial receipt of a driver's license of any category;
when replacing the VA after its expiration date, that is, once every 10 years;
upon restoration after deprivation of driving rights.

It is also necessary to undergo a medical examination after a number of illnesses or injuries. The list of diseases is approved by regulation.

The law also clearly states that the cost of a medical examination falls on the shoulders of drivers or driver candidates. That is, the motorist, or in this case the moped driver, must pay for all the necessary examinations himself.

To obtain a medical certificate, you will need to undergo the following doctors to obtain a category M driver's license to drive mopeds and scooters:

therapist;
ophthalmologist;
neurologist;
otolaryngologist;
narcologist;
psychiatrist.

When passing through specialists, it is necessary to take into account the fact that the last two doctors must be visited in a specialized institution. Consumer rights? That is, in a drug treatment and psychiatric clinic.

In general, undergoing a medical examination for a person of average health is quite simple. But there are still a number of serious diseases, in the presence of which a person is not allowed to drive a vehicle.

You can’t drive a moped this way if:

a number of eye diseases associated with progressive deterioration of vision and limiting the movement of the eyeballs (glaucoma, strabismus, diplopia);
deafness;
a number of neurological diseases;
absence of upper or lower limbs or their deformation;
a number of chronic diseases of the heart and blood vessels.

The full list of diseases can be found in the Order No. 302n approved by the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia dated April 12, 2011, which approves the lists of dangerous factors for the identification of which medical examinations are carried out.

The law allows obtaining such a certificate both in a state medical institution and in a private clinic that has the appropriate license.

All specialists make notes on the bypass sheet, on the basis of which the therapist issues a certificate of admission.

What does category mean and what can I ride?

Previously, it was often possible to meet a child driving a moped, or such vehicles were used by people who were drunk and there was no legal leverage over violators. After all, no one will test a cyclist for alcohol.

But most accidents happen for two reasons:

ignorance of DD rules;
inability to operate equipment.

In other words, people who got behind the wheel of a moped may not even have basic driving skills, let alone how to act in a critical situation, and did not know the rules. Now the situation has changed radically.

If you pick up a new driver’s license, on the back there is an interesting table of driving categories. And among the familiar motorcycles, cars and trucks, the M category appeared.

Some people mistakenly believe that this category is intended for driving motorcycles, but for this vehicle there is category A. Then the logical question arises: what category M license can you drive?

Category M gives access to driving mopeds and light quadricycles, which must meet the following criteria:

Transport, in accordance with its technical characteristics, cannot reach speed	more than 50 km/h.
Engine	does not exceed volume 50 cm3
When equipped with an electric motor, its power	should be within 0.25 - 4 kW
Permissible weight	no more than 400 kg

Many people mistakenly believe that the above category is also suitable for riding a standard quadricycle on roads.

However, if you turn to the law, namely Gosstandart, which determines the general technical requirements for quadricycles, then the difference between the standard and light type of equipment is clearly visible.

As for the ATVs beloved by many, they also do not fall into category M. The fact is that the law does not have the concept of “ATV”.

This equipment belongs to all-terrain vehicles and requires what is popularly called a “tractor license” of category A1:

Specifications	Quadricycle	ATV	Lightweight quadricycle
Weight kg	400-550 kg	More than 300	< 350
Max. effective power kW	Not > 15	—	No more than 4
Engine capacity	—	150-500	No more than 50
Max. speed km/h	—	More than 50	Not > 45
Category of rights	IN 1	A1	M

Do you need a license for a scooter and moped in 2021?

Previously, driving a moped or scooter was carried out without a driver's license, but in 2021 it is required. The reason for these changes is the need to improve road safety. Now the driver of a scooter or moped must have a driver’s license, and in it the appropriate category (“M”, “A1” or “A”).

In the minds of ordinary people, a scooter and a moped are often identified. But in practice this is not the case. A moped is a mechanical vehicle that is designed to travel over relatively short distances. The maximum speed of the moped should not exceed 50 km per hour, and it should not have a gearbox. The speed is adjusted on the steering wheel using the right handle. But the scooter is already more similar directly to a motorcycle. It has gears and is generally more powerful. From a legal point of view, both types of vehicles are unified and their drivers are subject to the same requirements.

The use of these vehicles is regulated by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 23, 1993 N 1090 “On Traffic Rules” and Federal Law of May 7, 2013 N 92-FZ

In practice, the law adopted in 2013 began to work only a year later. Since initially it was also required to register vehicles with the traffic police and obtain license plates, but government agencies were not ready for this. By 2014, we managed to produce the required number of license plates and create special groups in driving schools and driving courses, developing teaching methods for their students.

The new driver's license has many categories

Category “M” for a scooter or moped with a capacity of up to 50 cubic meters

For riding scooters and mopeds whose engine capacity does not exceed 49.9 cubic meters. cm, you will need to have a category “M” license. After all, even the driver of a low-power moped or scooter is a full-fledged participant in traffic and has the ability to create emergency situations. An exception to this rule may be the presence of category “A” or “A1” on the driver’s license. If your license contains at least one of them, then you can ride a moped without the prospect of unpleasant communication with traffic police officers. In recent years, many mopeds and scooters with electric motors have appeared. To drive such a vehicle, you will also need to open the “M” category if the electric motor power varies between 0.25 - 4 kW.

Driving a moped will require category “M”

Category “A1” for a scooter with a capacity of 50 cubic meters or more

Russian legislation has divided two-wheeled motor vehicles into several categories. The first one has already been mentioned above. The second category includes scooters and light motorcycles, whose engine capacity starts from 50 cubic centimeters, but does not exceed 125. Some consider the upper limit to be 150 cubic centimeters. see, but this is incorrect. Scooters and motorcycles with a similar engine capacity are already classified as medium or powerful.

For driving vehicles with engine capacity from 50 to 125 cc. cm category “A1” will be required. This category includes scooters and motorcycles of small power. They can be equipped with an electric motor, in which case its power should be in the range of 4–11 kW.

Category "A" for scooters

Those scooters that have an engine capacity of more than 125 cc. cm are considered medium (more than 250 cc - powerful). Medium and powerful scooters will require a category “A” driver’s license . This category of license gives you the opportunity to drive all of the above vehicles, from mopeds to powerful motorcycles. If you have a category “A” license, there is no need to open additional categories “M” and “A1”.

Video: a story about obtaining a license and registering a vehicle for owners of scooters and mopeds

Stages

Obtaining a driver's license to drive a scooter consists of several stages:

Submission to the registration and examination department of the traffic police of the necessary package of documents for admission to the exam.
Passing the qualifying exam. It is no different from taking a traffic rules exam for any category of transport; the list will include questions directly related to scooters. The exam consists of theoretical and practical driving parts. If it was not possible to pass one of the parts of the exam, the candidate is sent to take it again, but not earlier than 7 days after passing the previous test. After a second failed test attempt, further tests will be allowed after thirty days.
Obtaining a driving license. After successfully defending the theory and practice of driving, a person receives a license to drive a scooter for a period of 10 years from the date of issue.

Citizens who arrived in the Russian Federation or temporarily reside in this territory have the right to apply for rights on the territory of the subject of the Federation where they are located.