Anti-bike Legislation

The kind of bike I imagine needing a license.

I got a forwarded email the other day warning me that New Jersey wanted to require all cyclists to have a full-sized license plate on the back of their bike.  Sounds pretty crazy, huh?  Here's the article she sent me to:

The $3,000 mountain bike, the little girl’s bicycle with pom pom streamers and training wheels, the boardwalk cruiser with the cute pink basket — all of them would have to bear the plate, marked "BICYCLE" in clear lettering.

Riders or their parents would plunk down up to $10 a year to register them with the Division of Motor Vehicles. And anyone caught riding an unregistered bicycle on public property could face a fine of up to $100 for each offense.

At first I thought: "Who would, in their right mind, try to discourage cycling?" because that's how I saw the issue.  It seems to me that with rising gas prices, lawmakers should be doing everything possible (including offering tax incentives like they did for the 'Cash for Clunkers' program) to get people riding bikes instead of cars.

Now let me praise New York City.  This city is one that appreciates the fact that you can park 10 bikes where one car parks.  They frequently close down car lanes to turn them in to dedicated bike lanes.  They have a nearly complete car-free greenway around the entire island.  Ridership is only going up.

That's not to say there aren't people who disagree.  Cars face increased traffic if they have fewer lanes, have a harder time finding parking because the spaces have been converted into bike-only zones, and they have to be more aware, because an accident with a cyclist requires more than body work (pun intended).  Nevertheless, New York City has pressed on.

Every year they do this fantastic 5 Borough Bicycle Tour, which even I'll admit is painfully slow unless you're in the first 25 cyclists (good luck).  Still, they shut down the city for it.  I just wish they'd do it on Saturday instead of Sunday--church, you understand.  There's nothing religious about that ride ;)

Back to the New Jersey lawmaker [Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker (D-Essex)]who proposed the license plate bill.  She withdrew it, not realizing the political backlash that would ensue.  New Jersey has quite a few cyclists--I see them over here all the time.  Apparently they all showed up at the hearing, booked all the slots, and told her that it was a foolish thing to do.

In her defense, she said she proposed the bill to help several senior citizens who called her to complain about kids on bikes.

"They had been knocked down, knocked over and they had no way to register a complaint. They couldn’t identify the person," said Tucker.  It there were clearly visible license plates on the bicycles, Tucker said the seniors would have "some kind of recourse in reporting the incidents."

 Derision aside, she's right.  When I go cycling I see more people who don't know that there are laws surrounding cycling than I see obeying the law.  I see cyclists cut cars off as they run red lights.  I see cyclists (especially BMXers) who treat all four lanes of two way traffic as if they were one big cycling path (with no brakes except their shoes).  I see cyclists who ride against traffic, exceed 10mph on the sidewalk, don't wear proper reflection or who fail to equip their bikes with lights for night riding.

And yet, when I bring it up to people, they self-righteously and vehemently attack cars and say that 'cars are the problem.'

With the exception of my wife and I and a few others, I don't know many people who cycle exclusively for transportation and recreation.  In which case, people's rebuttal becomes as much a self-accusation as anything.

Just be safe out there.

[http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/01/nj_assemblywoman_proposes_mand.html]