Just a thought - I know you can receive a ticket for breaking the speed limit on a bicycle. But what about on foot, if you can sprint faster than the sign…?
Err, meant to post this in General Questions, not great debates, but…
Now I’m picturing the car chase.
I would think a vehicle or horse/ostrich/animal would need to be used. Many more people are capable of running through 10mph parking lots. Never heard of one cited unless they flatten someone and then they still don’t get a speeding ticket.
I think the limit is set due to the carnage that can be inflicted by a heavy motor vehicle, not a 180 lb human.
In Texas, speed limits exist for people operating vehicles (which can include bicycles), so, no, running wouldn’t count. I imagine most states would be similar, but laws do sometimes vary in surprising ways by state.
I knew someone who was issued a warning for being on a horse exceeding the speed limit through a school zone. I said “being on a horse” as the rider had completely lost control and was strictly a passenger at the time.
The asshats who thought it would be funny to shoot a gun into the air while a riding school was leading students back to the barn got a substantially greater punishment. Which they deserved.
The relevant statutes always apply to the use of vehicles. In Ontario, speeding is a violation of the “Highway Traffic Act.” It is not possible to violate the Highway Traffic Act unless you are in fact a part of traffic on a highway (which in this sense means any public road; a sleepy residential street is a “highway” too.) The speeding section actually starts with the words “No person shall drive a motor vehicle at a rate of speed greater than…” followed by all the details about what the speed limit is and how it’s set.
Pretty much any state or province in North America will have an essentially equivalent law. As Broomstick points out, some places may still have laws where a horse is considered a vehicle; as it happens Ontario seems to have excluded horses. If you’re wondering, no, bicycles don’t count in Ontario as motor vehicles; they are addressed in other sections of the Highway Traffic Act, though.
The incredible detail these laws go into can be kind of amusing. I just discovered the HTA excludes tricycles from the definition of bicycles so as far as I can tell, if you’re on a tricycle, it’s the Wild West. Get that bad boy up to 200 and the cops can’t stop you.
Everyone knows the HTA is in the pocket of Big Wheel.
If, in the movies, a dog can play basketball because the referee determines there’s nothing in the rulebook prohibiting a Golden Retriever from playing power forward, then of COURSE Mr. Bolt can have his running license suspended for repeatedly violating the speed limit.
Moving from Great Debates to General Questions.
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If he’s carrying someone, does he become a vehicle? If he’s pulling a cart?
If it were up to me then yes, pulling a cart would count as driving a vehicle because you could be pulling it down a slope where you could easily exceed the speed limit. Otherwise you’d have to say that a cart only becomes a vehicle when on more than x degrees of a downward slope, and it’s easier to just say it’s always a vehicle.
The (Jamaican) Road Traffic Act limits speeding infractions to motor vehicles, which are defined as “any mechanically propelled vehicle intended or adapted for use on roads.” It does not define “mechanically propelled,” as far as I can tell, but I very much doubt Bolt qualifies.
What if a runner had those prosthetic feet that are springier than regular human feet? I’ve heard that they can actually give a runner an advantage over runners without prosthetics (though I doubt many athletes would undergo voluntary amputation for the advantage). We could be into mechanically propelled territory then.
I was crossing the street in San Diego last week, and some douchbag on a skateboard nearly hit me. He was coming down a slight grade, going probably 10-15mph, and he made a right turn as I was crossing the road. He couldn’t see me because another asshole in a car was making a right also, against the pedestrian walk sign. If the skateboarder had hit me, I’m sure it would have hurt both of us.
You can check the legal definition of ‘vehicle’ in Texas here.
Short answer: no
Not as short answer: the cart wouldn’t be, either, though I’d be super impressed if anybody could sprint faster than 25 mph while carrying a person or pulling a cart.
Really not a short answer: interestingly enough, a train would also not be a vehicle under the definition as provided but would be considered a form of rail transportation, which is covered under other appropriate Texas statutes - which seems appropriate since a problem with trains speeding in school zones would mean the problem occurred back when the rail line and schools were designed/built.
Damn! I’ve been debating buying one of those, but now I’m sold! 
Anyone doing a better than 4 minute mile pace would be “speeding” in a parking lot. Of course in most jurisdictions the only thing you can be charged with (traffic citation) in a parking lot is reckless driving. I doubt that would stand up, unless you were, well, driving.
Tris
“Step out of the running shoes, and put your hands . . . in your pockets.”
I don’t know about springy feet (or shoes, on a person with OEM feet), but I would certainly expect a bicycle to be considered “mechanically propelled”, but would not call it a “motor vehicle”.
Speed limits (and other traffic laws) apply to vehicles on public roadways. So it would depend on the specific state, and their definition of ‘vehicle’.
In most states, besides the obvious cars & trucks, it includes bicycles (and sometimes unicycles & tricycles), and even animal-pulled vehicles like horse-drawn carriages (or oxen-pulled carts, or (possible here in Minnesota) dogsleds. But those are unlikely to exceed any speed limits. Secretariat’s world records was 37.5 mi/hr, and only for 1.5 miles.)
There have been numerous cases of people ticketed for violating other traffic laws (primarily DUI) while in non-automotive ‘vehicles’. Like drunken drivers on horses, on construction vehicles, etc.