Will Bicycle licensing become a reality?
#26
Day trip lover
Join Date: May 2009
Location: capital city of iowa
Posts: 813
Bikes: '16 Giant Escape 3 (fair weather ride), Giant Quasar (work in progress), 2002 saturn vue (crap weather ride)
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 21 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
iowa already has licencing, or at least did at one point. it was simply a sticker stuck to the bike in the shape of the state, about the size of a nickel. it was more or less a way to track your bike if it was stolen... like a licence plate number. keep in mind i dont know if they still do it here.
#27
Membership Not Required
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: On the road-USA
Posts: 16,855
Bikes: Giant Excursion, Raleigh Sports, Raleigh R.S.W. Compact, Motobecane? and about 20 more! OMG
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 70 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 15 Times
in
14 Posts
Two different things between licensing bikes and licensing riders. The town I used to live in used to license bikes for theft recovery/ID. AFAIK it never really paid off and the data base is no longer in existence. IIRC you paid $1 at any fire department or precinct and they would register your bike for you. I had several stolen that had the stickers on them and none of them were ever recovered.
Aaron
Aaron
__________________
Webshots is bailing out, if you find any of my posts with corrupt picture files and want to see them corrected please let me know. :(
ISO: A late 1980's Giant Iguana MTB frameset (or complete bike) 23" Red with yellow graphics.
"Cycling should be a way of life, not a hobby.
RIDE, YOU FOOL, RIDE!"_Nicodemus
"Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
Aluminum: barely a hundred
Which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?"_krazygluon
Webshots is bailing out, if you find any of my posts with corrupt picture files and want to see them corrected please let me know. :(
ISO: A late 1980's Giant Iguana MTB frameset (or complete bike) 23" Red with yellow graphics.
"Cycling should be a way of life, not a hobby.
RIDE, YOU FOOL, RIDE!"_Nicodemus
"Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
Aluminum: barely a hundred
Which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?"_krazygluon
#28
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 2,324
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 3 Times
in
3 Posts
But as someone else pointed out, what would we be paying for? Bicycles don't need anything. They can ride across any terrain and don't require any sort of infrastructure at all. They cause no pollution, and are human powered. What next, licences for skateboards? Rollerblades? Shoes?
The only reason people think we need bicycle lanes are because of cars and the lack of driver education. Bicycle lanes are useless IMO, and I rarely use them as they are usually full of drain covers and road debris.
As it is due to motorists that we need an infrastructure / education to protect us then motorists should pay for it. I honestly wouldn't care if there were no roads at all, I'd just buy a bike with suspension / fat tyres and continue riding. It would be the motorists who will complain first.
The only reason people think we need bicycle lanes are because of cars and the lack of driver education. Bicycle lanes are useless IMO, and I rarely use them as they are usually full of drain covers and road debris.
As it is due to motorists that we need an infrastructure / education to protect us then motorists should pay for it. I honestly wouldn't care if there were no roads at all, I'd just buy a bike with suspension / fat tyres and continue riding. It would be the motorists who will complain first.
#29
on your left.
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Blacksburg, VA
Posts: 1,802
Bikes: Scott SUB 30, Backtrax MTB
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I'd be fine with being licensed and taxed for bicycle use. We use the roads, we should pay something for it too.
#30
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,268
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 118 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 50 Times
in
25 Posts
A money grab? More like a money loser. More employees, with bennies and pensions, records, blah, blah blah. No way license fees will pay for all that. bk
OOPS! Starting to sound like a Republican.
OOPS! Starting to sound like a Republican.
#31
Banned.
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Carlsbad, CA
Posts: 6,434
Bikes: '09 Felt F55, '84 Masi Cran Criterium, (2)'86 Schwinn Pelotons, '86 Look Equippe Hinault, '09 Globe Live 3 (dogtaxi), '94 Greg Lemond, '99 GT Pulse Kinesis
Mentioned: 19 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 389 Post(s)
Liked 270 Times
in
153 Posts
Imagine the death and chaos that would result today if motorists didn't have the threat of losing their driving privileges. I wish all of us cyclists could be a little more responsible without that threat hanging over us, but thanks to the abusers, it may pass. And once it passes in one metropolis, other metropolises will probably follow suit.
#32
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 2,324
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 3 Times
in
3 Posts
There was probably a time when motorists enjoyed the certain care free feeling of driving around everywhere too; but enough of them abused it, and now licensing is mandatory, (and most state DMVs & law-enforcement personnel are quick to point out that driving in their state is a privilege, not a right.)
Imagine the death and chaos that would result today if motorists didn't have the threat of losing their driving privileges. I wish all of us cyclists could be a little more responsible without that threat hanging over us, but thanks to the abusers, it may pass. And once it passes in one metropolis, other metropolises will probably follow suit.
Imagine the death and chaos that would result today if motorists didn't have the threat of losing their driving privileges. I wish all of us cyclists could be a little more responsible without that threat hanging over us, but thanks to the abusers, it may pass. And once it passes in one metropolis, other metropolises will probably follow suit.
We don't damage the roads though. If only cyclists used the roads, they'd never need to be resurfaced - we'd just buy fatter tyres! Cars and other heavy vehicles place a lot of wear and tear on the roads - hence why they have to pay road tax. They also take up huge amounts of space, require lots of infrastructure as they have the potential to be so dangerous and they pollute.
#33
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Landsdowne PA,
Posts: 37
Bikes: Scott SUB 20
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
There was probably a time when motorists enjoyed the certain care free feeling of driving around everywhere too; but enough of them abused it, and now licensing is mandatory, (and most state DMVs & law-enforcement personnel are quick to point out that driving in their state is a privilege, not a right.)
Imagine the death and chaos that would result today if motorists didn't have the threat of losing their driving privileges. I wish all of us cyclists could be a little more responsible without that threat hanging over us, but thanks to the abusers, it may pass. And once it passes in one metropolis, other metropolises will probably follow suit.
Imagine the death and chaos that would result today if motorists didn't have the threat of losing their driving privileges. I wish all of us cyclists could be a little more responsible without that threat hanging over us, but thanks to the abusers, it may pass. And once it passes in one metropolis, other metropolises will probably follow suit.
#34
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 5,866
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 3 Times
in
2 Posts
YES!!!
Even as I write this post a bill is moving through the legislature in Arizona. Failure to have a license on a bike will specificially be a reason that police may investigate the immigration status of the rider.
Even as I write this post a bill is moving through the legislature in Arizona. Failure to have a license on a bike will specificially be a reason that police may investigate the immigration status of the rider.
#35
Membership Not Required
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: On the road-USA
Posts: 16,855
Bikes: Giant Excursion, Raleigh Sports, Raleigh R.S.W. Compact, Motobecane? and about 20 more! OMG
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 70 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 15 Times
in
14 Posts
Aaron
__________________
Webshots is bailing out, if you find any of my posts with corrupt picture files and want to see them corrected please let me know. :(
ISO: A late 1980's Giant Iguana MTB frameset (or complete bike) 23" Red with yellow graphics.
"Cycling should be a way of life, not a hobby.
RIDE, YOU FOOL, RIDE!"_Nicodemus
"Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
Aluminum: barely a hundred
Which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?"_krazygluon
Webshots is bailing out, if you find any of my posts with corrupt picture files and want to see them corrected please let me know. :(
ISO: A late 1980's Giant Iguana MTB frameset (or complete bike) 23" Red with yellow graphics.
"Cycling should be a way of life, not a hobby.
RIDE, YOU FOOL, RIDE!"_Nicodemus
"Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
Aluminum: barely a hundred
Which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?"_krazygluon
#36
Gear Hub fan
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Reno, NV
Posts: 2,829
Bikes: Civia Hyland Rohloff, Swobo Dixon, Colnago, Univega
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time
in
1 Post
I already pay for the roads via property taxes, income taxes and sales taxes. I can't find the study at the moment but it indicates that cyclists pay more for the amount of road they use than motorists. The same study indicates that most cars and trucks DON'T pay for the full amount of road they use.
Aaron
Aaron
With cutbacks due to current economic conditions police have told me they basically do not have the time or manpower to enforce rules of the road for bicyclists. If they did then more bicyclists would not be scofflaws. They do it because they can get away with it 99% of the time without penalty. Is this going to change by licensing bikes or riders? It does not seem to stop many auto drivers who routinely ignore traffic laws.
__________________
Gear Hubs Owned: Rohloff disc brake, SRAM iM9 disc brake, SRAM P5 freewheel, Sachs Torpedo 3 speed freewheel, NuVinci CVT, Shimano Alfine SG S-501, Sturmey Archer S5-2 Alloy. Other: 83 Colnago Super Record, Univega Via De Oro
Visit and join the Yahoo Geared Hub Bikes group for support and links.
https://groups.yahoo.com/group/Geared_hub_bikes/
Gear Hubs Owned: Rohloff disc brake, SRAM iM9 disc brake, SRAM P5 freewheel, Sachs Torpedo 3 speed freewheel, NuVinci CVT, Shimano Alfine SG S-501, Sturmey Archer S5-2 Alloy. Other: 83 Colnago Super Record, Univega Via De Oro
Visit and join the Yahoo Geared Hub Bikes group for support and links.
https://groups.yahoo.com/group/Geared_hub_bikes/
#37
Jet Jockey
If I have to license my bicycle will the police put as much effort into recovering it as they would if it was a car or motorcycle, should it be stolen? Will my insurance company cover it for damages?
Probably not, so I say this measure is just cyclist harassment.
Probably not, so I say this measure is just cyclist harassment.
__________________
Good night...and good luck
Good night...and good luck
#38
Jet Jockey
Good gravy! Even worse than getting pulled over for a DWNW (Driving While Not White) now you can get nabbed for CWNW (Cycling While Not White). I bet they don't investigate the status of a single rich, white roadie without a visible bicycle license.
__________________
Good night...and good luck
Good night...and good luck
#39
Jet Jockey
The bonus double post "feature" of BF strikes again!
__________________
Good night...and good luck
Good night...and good luck
Last edited by Banzai; 06-07-10 at 06:48 PM.
#40
Senior Member
Licensing bicycles is nothing new. Back in the 50s in the Wisconsin town where we lived, all bicycles were required to be licensed. They issued little metal license plates that were supposed to displayed on the back of the seat. The cool thing to do was to take the license plate and stick it into your spokes -- like the way that some young kids now put cards or photographs in their spokes. I guess that's the new cool. If you were caught riding an unlicensed bike you had to go to bicycle court. I'm not making this up. I had to go to bicycle court once when I was about 10 for riding two abreast. I got probation. So, will laws be passed requiring that bicycles be license? Sure, you bet. Will laws be passed requiring that bicycle riders be licensed? Maybe in Austin and Madison, but other places, no.
edit:
somewhere in the forums today somebody was riffing on Alice's Restaurant. Just made me think, "kid, have you ever been arrested?"
edit:
somewhere in the forums today somebody was riffing on Alice's Restaurant. Just made me think, "kid, have you ever been arrested?"
#41
on your left.
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Blacksburg, VA
Posts: 1,802
Bikes: Scott SUB 30, Backtrax MTB
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
We don't damage the roads though. If only cyclists used the roads, they'd never need to be resurfaced - we'd just buy fatter tyres! Cars and other heavy vehicles place a lot of wear and tear on the roads - hence why they have to pay road tax. They also take up huge amounts of space, require lots of infrastructure as they have the potential to be so dangerous and they pollute.
#42
on your left.
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Blacksburg, VA
Posts: 1,802
Bikes: Scott SUB 30, Backtrax MTB
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I already pay for the roads via property taxes, income taxes and sales taxes. I can't find the study at the moment but it indicates that cyclists pay more for the amount of road they use than motorists. The same study indicates that most cars and trucks DON'T pay for the full amount of road they use.
Aaron
Aaron
#43
Membership Not Required
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: On the road-USA
Posts: 16,855
Bikes: Giant Excursion, Raleigh Sports, Raleigh R.S.W. Compact, Motobecane? and about 20 more! OMG
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 70 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 15 Times
in
14 Posts
That's such a bogus study, if it is real. Most cyclists in the US also drive cars, and pay taxes to use that infrastructure. Cyclists pay the same amount, because they use the roads the same. The only way this has any fact is say, truckers vs. your average daily driver, just because a trucker is on the roads so much more and a heavier, more obtrusive vehicle.
Also you can place around 12 cyclists in the same amount of road space that it takes for a medium sized car.And while we are at it vehicle traffic kills around 43,000 people annually and costs around $164.5 billion a year, show me anywhere, anyway, anyhow that cyclists are going to generate those kinds of costs. If they want to tax cyclists do it on a per pound basis, but tax other vehicles the same. Dollar a pound a year sounds fair to me...
Aaron
__________________
Webshots is bailing out, if you find any of my posts with corrupt picture files and want to see them corrected please let me know. :(
ISO: A late 1980's Giant Iguana MTB frameset (or complete bike) 23" Red with yellow graphics.
"Cycling should be a way of life, not a hobby.
RIDE, YOU FOOL, RIDE!"_Nicodemus
"Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
Aluminum: barely a hundred
Which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?"_krazygluon
Webshots is bailing out, if you find any of my posts with corrupt picture files and want to see them corrected please let me know. :(
ISO: A late 1980's Giant Iguana MTB frameset (or complete bike) 23" Red with yellow graphics.
"Cycling should be a way of life, not a hobby.
RIDE, YOU FOOL, RIDE!"_Nicodemus
"Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
Aluminum: barely a hundred
Which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?"_krazygluon
#44
Beer and nachos today!
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Treaty Seven
Posts: 222
Bikes: Schwinn Peloton, Schwinn Prelude SS, Specialized Sequoia
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
#45
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Edmonton AB
Posts: 520
Bikes: 2011 Colnago World Cup, 2012 Eddy Merckx AMX-2
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I put about 2,000km on my car a year because I ride about 85% of the time. I pay pretty much the exact same amount of tax into general revenue as the guy next door who works at the same place. My tax rebate for the 10,000km that I don't drive. 0$.
About 12 years ago I worked at a law firm where one of the partners commuted about 15km or so a day year round. Probably in the top 5% of income earners and lived in the second highest property tax region in the country. Rebate for light road use; $0 even though of the thousands of cars he passed everyday, he paid more for their road use than they did. As a bonus the road condition in his neighbourhood were probably the worst in the city. Another partner was a marathon runner, so he would run in 20km or bike in. Yeah, his rebate was $0 too.
All we ask in return for our tax dollar is to not be run over or run off the road. Too much I guess.
#46
Member
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 29
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Bicycles are required to be licensed where I live for years now, the price was approx $2.50US but in 2008 the new government raised it by 5 times the amount. It doesn't bother me since there is no annual fee and the metal plate lasts forever (the numbers on mine's is starting to wear so I touched it up with white-out ). However it would be a problem if they started to charge cyclist each year.
#47
Every lane is a bike lane
Exactly. Of course, that won't stop media commentators (and maybe one motorist in every million) from whining about it, but the prospect of it ever becoming reality is somewhere between highly unlikely and impossible.
__________________
I am clinically insane. I am proud of it.
That is all.
I am clinically insane. I am proud of it.
That is all.
#48
Every lane is a bike lane
There was probably a time when motorists enjoyed the certain care free feeling of driving around everywhere too; but enough of them abused it, and now licensing is mandatory, (and most state DMVs & law-enforcement personnel are quick to point out that driving in their state is a privilege, not a right.)
Imagine the death and chaos that would result today if motorists didn't have the threat of losing their driving privileges. I wish all of us cyclists could be a little more responsible without that threat hanging over us, but thanks to the abusers, it may pass. And once it passes in one metropolis, other metropolises will probably follow suit.
Imagine the death and chaos that would result today if motorists didn't have the threat of losing their driving privileges. I wish all of us cyclists could be a little more responsible without that threat hanging over us, but thanks to the abusers, it may pass. And once it passes in one metropolis, other metropolises will probably follow suit.
There ... I fixed that for you.
Saskatchewan had bicycle licensing back in the 1970s, complete with mini license plates ... for all cyclists from the child on his/her first two-wheeler to adults. It's been done.
Here, have a look ... scroll all the way to the bottom and you'll see the 1976 license plates for bicycles. I lived there from 1976 to 1979, so I would have had a license just like that on my bicycle.
https://www.plateshack.com/76/SK/saskatchewan.html
Saskatchewan had bicycle licensing back in the 1970s, complete with mini license plates ... for all cyclists from the child on his/her first two-wheeler to adults. It's been done.
Here, have a look ... scroll all the way to the bottom and you'll see the 1976 license plates for bicycles. I lived there from 1976 to 1979, so I would have had a license just like that on my bicycle.
https://www.plateshack.com/76/SK/saskatchewan.html
Those are good arguments, but they may not work on the spittle-flecked editorial-page letter writer or the local pol who wants his vote. That not all the costs could be covered by fees won't matter to Joe the Motorist as much as the fact that cyclists would primarily be the ones getting hosed (and if licensing fees don't cover costs, well, just raise them until they do!). Your local pol won't care because none of it is his money, and he gets to make noises about responsibility, etc.
__________________
I am clinically insane. I am proud of it.
That is all.
I am clinically insane. I am proud of it.
That is all.
#49
Banned.
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Carlsbad, CA
Posts: 6,434
Bikes: '09 Felt F55, '84 Masi Cran Criterium, (2)'86 Schwinn Pelotons, '86 Look Equippe Hinault, '09 Globe Live 3 (dogtaxi), '94 Greg Lemond, '99 GT Pulse Kinesis
Mentioned: 19 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 389 Post(s)
Liked 270 Times
in
153 Posts
I never said licensing would be effective, but that won't stop a frustrated electorate from making it a reality. Puh-lease try to remain focused on the issue at hand instead of engaging in emotional tirades.