Comment 40576

By moylek (registered) - website | Posted May 08, 2010 at 11:31:15

Heck, why stop at licensing cyclists? How about pedestrians - look at all of the infrastructure in place for people walking around. Not to mention skateboarders, pram pushers, rollerbladers. "If it moves, tax it ..."

I'm not completely opposed to licensing cyclists as a matter of principle. As a child, I lived in Stratford where we had bicycle licensing and firm enforcement of traffic laws for cyclists (children included), and it was there that I learned (with the help of several tickets) how to behave like traffic. And there also that I was run over by a drunk driver while stopped at a red light, one of only two car-bike accidents* in my life. But I digress ...

My not-immutable objections to bicycle licensing are 1) I have a knee-jerk distaste for red tape and bureaucracy; 2) it's generally a punitive red herring introduced by disgruntled non-cyclists; 3) I don't think that the benefits justify the costs.

I agree with A. Smith that cyclists need increased credibility, but I believe that that credibility will come with infrastructure which acknowledges cyclists and - more importantly - with increasing numbers of grown-ups using bicycles for getting around town.

  • For the record, the second was shortly thereafter when the replacement bike purchased by said drunk driver lost brake traction and I rear-ened a police car. So I'll take the blame for that one.

Comment edited by moylek on 2010-05-08 10:39:30

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