The bicyclists in Portland are becoming more and more militant against car drivers and have started issuing citizen tickets which is perfectly legal to do in Portland. The article is a couple of years old but I know 2 people who have received tickets from pissed off bike riders. While I agree that there are lots of idiot motorists out there but there are also tons of idiot bike riders who don't stop for lights or stop signs. Can I write them a ticket? Maybe but it would involve knocking them off of their bike in order to find out who the fuck they are. All they have to do is write down my license plate and they can claim anything they want and the cops have to give me the ticket. The mayor in Portland has gone bike crazy. Increasing the amount that is used on bike lanes in Portland from 6% to 20% in the money take in from the gas tax. That doesn't even include the $600 million in new bike paths they are funding with increased water and sewer rates. Personally I think we should try something to get fees from bicycle riders. I'd love it if they had license plates on their bikes so I could give them tickets every time they blow through a stop sign.
You have to give the court a sworn statement; do you really think numerous bikers are going to go to all that trouble to wrongly stick a citation against a perfectly legal, safe auto driver?
I commute by bike regularly. I wouldnt mind paying a small yearly fee for a license, but then the police would have to waste time enforcing it. I'd rather have them spend their time busting meth freaks. Paying someone to collect/inforce it would probably eliminate any good it would do. As others have said, there are far less reckless bikers then there are reckless drivers (percentage) and riding your bike pays for itself - less gas being used, less road maintanence, less fat people using healthcare, etc. etc. What if they added a small $10 fee for all new bike purchases? But then again you'd have to pay someone to collect it so it probably wouldnt make sense. Seems to me there should be more of an outcry for all the crime illegal immigrants and meth freaks commit then the harm bikers do.
