I just read a small op-ed blurb in the Oregonian. The writer makes the point that since the city puts out so much money for bicyclists and they all too often break the rules of the road, that they should have to obtain a license, register their bikes and even purchase insurance. They will be subject to tickets like a auto drier. The revenues collected will go towards more safety improvements for bicyclists. On the one hand I see no good reason why bicyclists shouldn't pay their fair share for the roads they use. On the other hand, more government intrusion.
you already have to to take your bus on the MAX (or at least you did in 1994). You had to go downtown to the Metro office, buy a license, take a test (putting your bike on and off of a Metro bus bike carriage in some allotted time that I've forgotten), and were required to show your 'license' to an agent if asked, subject to penalty (which I imagine could've been a fine).
Yes, lets make it more difficult and expensive to use a bike as a means of transportation. Hopefully commuters stop riding a bike and instead drive their cars more often. That will lower the cities transportation expenses.....
I would be completely in favor of licensing and possibly even insuring bike riders if they built bike-only roads. I think there are a lot of reckless bike riders out there, and there needs to be some kind of repercussions for breaking the law or riding recklessly.
As for me, I think if the police cited bicyclists for rules violations like the rest of us, that's good enough for me.
You can receive citations for riding a bike... and I am pretty sure a DUI even. My 3 year old just got a bike yesterday... does she need a license? I don't think there are a lot of reckless bike riders. Sure there are some... but compare that wreckless drivers and it isn't even in the same ballpark. As someone that used to run a lot... I completely understand the rage of people stuck in traffic when you go cruising by. They flip you off, yell out you, turn in front of you and all kinds of fun stuff... and that is when you are not doing anything wrong. I can't count how many times I have almost been hit crossing with a pedestrian cross signal. Everyone does pay for those bike lanes already... we get the benefit of reduced costs of road maintence, pollution and traffic for every bike on the road. Seems like a win to me already.
They do this quite a bit down here in my area. Big fines for not stopping at a stop sign, riding the wrong direction in a bike lane, etc, etc.
A terrible idea. It's nothing more than an excuse to build a new bureaucracy to license and register bicycles, which then leads to taxing authority. If a bike rider violates the law in a gross and negligent way, then go ahead and give them a fine. If they endanger themselves, then I say two cheers for social darwinism. But to create a bureaucracy for bikes? Hell no. George Harrison had it right 46 years ago: "If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet..."
I'm with maxiep... We don't need even more government and bureaucracy. If it were the case that these agencies actually paid for themselves, it would be less of a stupid idea, but still just more government. It makes it even worse when you take into account that this would be yet another part of the government that will lose money.
At first glance it isn't terrible. But then you realize that there are cops that actually just stake out some remote, non-crowded intersections for portions of the day just to bust bikers that are not endangering anybody... not even themselves.
my only beef with sharing the road with bikers, is the ones who want the same rights as drivers, but dont feel they need to obey the same laws as drivers.
Off-hand, it doesn't seem that driving over the speed limit (to a certain extent) is as likely to cause an accident as running through stop signs.
I didnt say everyone would get caught. I'm just saying if you want the same rights as a driver you should have to follow the same rules, and be subject to the same fines.
bike on bike accidents are not as dangerous. You pointed out earlier that bikes in an empty intersection are not an issue, it's when a bike doesn't stop at a full intersection that is a problem.
