Specific law, with conditions. Michigan names the electric skateboard in its Motor Vehicle Code and allows a far more powerful machine than California does — up to 2,500 watts — with a minimum age instead of a universal helmet rule.
| What the text says | Section | |
|---|---|---|
| What counts as one | A floorboard no more than 60 inches long and 18 inches wide, designed to carry one person at a time, with an electric motor of no more than 2,500 watts. | Mich. Comp. Laws § 257.660 |
| Minimum age | “A person under the age of 12 shall not operate an electric skateboard on a public highway or street.” | Mich. Comp. Laws § 257.658 |
| Helmet | “A person less than 19 years of age operating an electric skateboard shall wear a crash helmet on his or her head.” Riders 19 and over are not required to. | Mich. Comp. Laws § 257.658 |
| Speed limit | Not above 25 mph. | Mich. Comp. Laws § 257.660 |
Each row is the statute's own content, reduced to plain wording where it is long and quoted directly where the exact words matter. The section in the last column is a link to the text.
One or more rows above say Legal publisher reproducing the codified text: the official server was unreachable when we read it, and we used a legal publisher's reproduction of the codified text instead. We would rather tell you that than present a copy as the original.
The same four questions, across every jurisdiction whose primary sources we have read. Each row links to its own page and its own citations.
| Jurisdiction | Status | Helmet | Speed limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | Regulated | “A person less than 19 years of age operating an electric skateboard shall wear a crash he | Not above 25 mph. |
| California | Regulated | Required at every age: a properly fitted and fastened bicycle helmet meeting the standard | Not above 15 mph on a highway, bikeway, public bicycle path, |
| New York | Prohibited | no rule naming the device | — |
| Texas | Unaddressed | no rule naming the device | — |
| Washington | Unaddressed | no rule naming the device | — |
| Florida | Unaddressed | no rule naming the device | — |
| Ontario | Prohibited | no rule naming the device | — |
The spread is the point. These are neighbouring jurisdictions regulating the same object, and they do not agree on what it is, how fast it may go, who may ride it, or whether it may be ridden at all. A rider who crosses a state line is, quite often, subject to a different legal category rather than a stricter version of the same one — which is why a single national answer to this question does not exist and why anyone offering you one has stopped reading the law.
It also explains why so many rows say the device is unaddressed. Most vehicle codes were written before this machine existed, and a legislature that has not revisited them has not thereby permitted anything — it has left the question to a general classification and to your city.
Other jurisdictions: the full list. California · New York · Texas · Washington
A statute names the device and sets out what is required to ride it. Michigan names the electric skateboard in its Motor Vehicle Code and allows a far more powerful machine than California does — up to 2,500 watts — with a minimum age instead of a universal helmet rule.
“A person less than 19 years of age operating an electric skateboard shall wear a crash helmet on his or her head.” Riders 19 and over are not required to. That is Mich. Comp. Laws § 257.658.
Not above 25 mph. That is Mich. Comp. Laws § 257.660.
No. This page reads state or provincial law only. Municipal codes frequently add rules — on sidewalks, parks and paths especially — and where the state has written nothing, the city has written everything.
Open the links in the sources below. Every row in the table above names the section it comes from, and every source shows the date we read it. That is the whole point of the page: you should not have to take our word for it.