# Schwarzenegger terminated his bike licence in Europe, never got one in America **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 11, 2006, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431 "2006-01-11T03:16:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/1 "2006-01-11T03:16:59Z")
[http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/10/schwarzeneggar.license.ap/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/10/schwarzeneggar.license.ap/index.html) > [@](#): > > Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Margita Thompson, acting on initial information Sunday, said the governor’s Class C license allowed him to ride the motorcycle with its sidecar attached. His 12-year-old son, Patrick, was riding in the sidecar but was not injured. > > Schwarzenegger, a Harley Davidson owner who rides regularly with friends along the California coast, said Tuesday that he never bothered to obtain a California motorcycle license because he “never thought about it.” > > “I just never really applied for it,” he said, responding to a reporter’s question during a state budget briefing. “It was just one of those things that I never really did.” I’m still pitting Ahnold here because there are reports that Arnold “rides regularly with friends along the California coast”. What example are you giving? That driving illegally is OK as long as you are an American? Tough luck for illegals that are at least trying to get driver’s licenses eh? But then again you vetoed that in 2005 so illegals are driven even more underground. :wally This case got me to wonder: While it is true that most scenes of him in the bike in the Terminator movies were done by stunt men, he does appear on film riding in a couple of scenes… without a side car. Can he be cited for that? Of course that will go only for the T3 movie. AFAIK with the statute of limitations, Arnold is OK for riding a bike in T1 and T2. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/2 "2006-01-11T03:25:28Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Can he be cited for that? Of course that will go only for the T3 movie. Unlikely – isn’t a license just required to drive on an open road? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/3 "2006-01-11T03:31:27Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m still pitting Ahnold here because there are reports that Arnold “rides regularly with friends along the California coast”. What example are you giving? That driving illegally is OK as long as you are an American? Tough luck for illegals that are at least trying to get driver’s licenses eh? But then again you vetoed that in 2005 so illegals are driven even more underground. Well, “ignorance of the law” and all that, but how many states require a separate license or a an additional certificate on a standard operator license to ride a motorcylce. I would not have even thought that it was required in most states. I knew of cases (many years ago) where states issued motorcycle licenses to kids too young to drive cars, but at that time it seemed that once a car license was obtained, a driver was good for anything that did not require a commercial license. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/4 "2006-01-11T03:34:25Z")
Before coming to work this morning (Korea time), I was listening to KGO radio’s webcast. Pete Wilson was talking about the incident. So, I looked at the DMV website and noticed that a motorcycle is a two-wheeled vehicle. Supposedly, the cycle the Governor was riding had a sidecar attached and thus was a three-wheeled vehicle (at least according to Pete’s show). ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/5 "2006-01-11T03:37:51Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Well, “ignorance of the law” and all that, but how many states require a separate license or a an additional certificate on a standard operator license to ride a motorcylce. Damn near all of them. I don’t have the cite handy, but I’m guessing it would be real easy to find on the American Motorcyclist Association website. I don’t know how to do links, so I’ll just type it. [www.AMADirectlink.com](http://www.AMADirectlink.com) Have at it! ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/6 "2006-01-11T03:44:33Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Unlikely – isn’t a license just required to drive on an open road? Good point, I wonder now if he can say that every time he biked around, the roads were closed for him. 🙂 Checking the updates, the police is saying Ahnold did drive illegally; The DMV says it was ok. It seems that they have their own terminology on what is a bike. Everything now hinges what the Los Angeles city attorney decides. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/7 "2006-01-11T03:55:45Z")
Huh. No wonder he didn’t have any qualms about raising the fee for licenses 200%. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/8 "2006-01-11T04:00:41Z")
If I get correctly what the police is saying, then the bike-sidecar Arnold was driving had only 3 wheels. They say that a bike with a sidecar is ok for class C only if it has 4 wheels. (left and right of the sidecar) ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/9 "2006-01-11T04:06:37Z")
Has anyone checked to see if he ever bothered to get his green card? Because that, you know, may have been something that he just didn’t think about. ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/10 "2006-01-11T04:10:02Z")
I am so glad that, by not watching television, I only hear about this stupid petty bullshit when I read the pit. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/11 "2006-01-11T04:32:37Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Unlikely – isn’t a license just required to drive on an open road? Where do you think they filmed that? Not to mention T2… > [@tomndebb](#): > > Well, “ignorance of the law” and all that, but how many states require a separate license or a an additional certificate on a standard operator license to ride a motorcylce. I would not have even thought that it was required in most states. Well, he would have to have been pretty damn ignorant to not know you need a special license in CA. DMV makes things like that pretty obvious. Isn’t there a legal doctrine known as ‘willfull blindness’? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/12 "2006-01-11T05:14:17Z")
I knew this sounded familiar, back in December 2001: [http://www.filmmonthly.com/Profiles/Articles/ASchwarzenegger/ASchwarzenegger.html](http://www.filmmonthly.com/Profiles/Articles/ASchwarzenegger/ASchwarzenegger.html) > [@](#): > > At fifty-four, Arnold Schwarzenegger still looks taut and youthful. Even despite heart surgery and, more recently, a motorcycle accident. “I broke 6 ribs. My wife took my to the hospital right away because I knew that there was something feeling really uncomfortable when I inhaled. One of the ribs was kind of sticking into my lung. So I knew right then that I should go to the hospital. So they took X-rays. At first they thought it was four ribs, then a day later when my lungs filled up with blood, they did an MRI and they realized it was six ribs. And so it was obviously a very painful experience. You can’t cough. You can’t sneeze. You can’t do anything. You just lie in a hospital bed and the only way you get out of it is by controlling the bed [with a remote] and then you can slowly get up. All those things that I hate, such as having to be taken care of.” So far the bits of news from the day say only that he “took a spill from his motorcycle” after hitting a car (no reference to a sidecar). The question here is why his lack of a license was not caught then. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/13 "2006-01-11T06:09:34Z")
> [@CynicalGabe](#): > > Where do you think they filmed that? Closed roads and street sets. You don’t film a chase scene on an open road – creates difficulties with moving violations. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/14 "2006-01-11T06:17:28Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > So far the bits of news from the day say only that he “took a spill from his motorcycle” after hitting a car (no reference to a sidecar). The question here is why his lack of a license was not caught then. The question here is why the women in the Kennedy family allow the men (blood relatives and in-laws) to operate motor vehicles. No good ever comes from a one of them operating a car, motorcycle or airplane. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/15 "2006-01-11T09:20:22Z")
Good heavens! To think I could have gone through my whole life without knowing Schwarzenegger didn’t have a Californian licence for a sidecar! Thank God for the SDMB! And I bet I wasn’t the only one who was sadly ignorant of that fact. Good job fighting ignorance there GIGObuster. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/16 "2006-01-11T10:00:03Z")
> [@alterego](#): > > I am so glad that, by not watching television, I only hear about this stupid petty bullshit when I read the pit. Ditto. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/17 "2006-01-11T15:37:52Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Good heavens! To think I could have gone through my whole life without knowing Schwarzenegger didn’t have a Californian licence for a sidecar! Thank God for the SDMB! And I bet I wasn’t the only one who was sadly ignorant of that fact. Good job fighting ignorance there GIGObuster. Fuckin’ A. “Governor of major state has minor injuries while driving without the correct license.” Big fuckin’ yawn. Hey, **GIGObuster** , I got a ticket yesterday because I was driving without an up-to-date inspection sticker! Wanna pit me? ---
**Author:** ![THespos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@THespos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/THespos)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/18 "2006-01-11T15:55:58Z")
Really…tremendous yawner. Of the motorcycle enthusiasts I know, maybe half of them are properly licensed. Whoop-de-shit. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/19 "2006-01-11T15:57:31Z")
From what I see, the Governator was driving perfectly legally, with the correct license. You only need a “class C” to drive a motorcycle when it has a sidecar, which his had. Thus, while it is true that Arnold didin’t have a motorcycle license (and he says he’ll get one) he didn’t need one. That’s why he wasn’t cited. There _are_ legal questions about what defines a “sidecar”, but really, dudes- those are quibbles- and quibbles that are only being raised as it was the Governor who was involved. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431/20 "2006-01-11T16:06:15Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > The question here is why the women in the Kennedy family allow the men (blood relatives and in-laws) to operate motor vehicles. No good ever comes from a one of them operating a car, motorcycle or airplane. [Boats neither](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/07/0709_020710_kennedyPT109.html). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwarzenegger-terminated-his-bike-licence-in-europe-never-got-one-in-america/339431.md?page=2)