Guest blogger, Anthony Aisenberg, is a Sustainable Transport Consultant, studies a Master of Urban Planning at Melbourne University and heads up the More Bike Lanes Please Facebook page. Follow Anthony on twitter @aaisenberg. Here’s what he has to say on whether or not cyclists should be registered.
“Shane Warne. I’m not sure whether to thank him or loath him. While his ignorant attitudes to road behaviour last week may have been filtered down to his 600,000 + twitter followers, he’s also managed to thrust some key Motorist Vs Cyclist issues into the mainstream media.
Rather than attack the cricketing legend over his narrow-minded call to register all cyclists, I thought it’d be a better opportunity to equip you with the facts…
While I understand that Warnie wants to identify law-breaking riders if they do the wrong thing, the reality is that registering cyclists just doesn’t stack up, especially when you consider that cyclists aren’t the red light road rule breaking menace to society they are made out to be. In reality, only 6.9% of riders don’t stop at red lights and 87% of the time drivers are at fault in Motorist vs Cyclist incidents.
Here are more reasons why cyclists shouldn’t be registered:
Registration doesn’t go toward construction and maintenance of roads; it goes toward third-party insurance and administration. Bicycle riders don’t required third-party insurance, so why should they pay for a registration administration system?
The majority of cyclists own at least one car and already pay registration
The administrative cost and bureaucracy generated to register every bicycle would be massive, especially when you consider that more bikes are sold each year than cars. We’d all be better off with the money spent on an education campaign or more separated bike lanes.
It would cost the state far more than it would to collect in revenue
Register children’s bikes? Really? That seems effective use of time and money.
The majority of bikes are gathering dust in the garage. These are a particular menace on society.
Registration is a disincentive for people to ride. That’s a good thing if you want more congestion, pollution and traffic incidents.
While Shane Warne may have generated discussion at dinner tables last week, it seems that talk of the crazed cycling menace will re-surface again soon. Only this time, you’ll be equipped with an arsenal of responses to educate the uniformed.”
That's not a helmet!
Your arguments are retarded.
Registration doesn’t go toward construction and maintenance of roads; it goes toward third-party insurance and administration. Bicycle riders don’t required third-party insurance, so why should they pay for a registration administration system?
– Maybe they should require third-party insurance. If you come off your bike in an accident you cause and your bike flies into a car or a person, your third party insurance would cover that. The cost of this insurance would be significantly cheaper too since it’s far less likely and would be comparable to your risk. Administration is a necessary evil.
The majority of cyclists own at least one car and already pay registration
– Then these people are motorists. Regardless, their third-party insurance doesn’t cover them when they’re on their bicycle.
The administrative cost and bureaucracy generated to register every bicycle would be massive, especially when you consider that more bikes are sold each year than cars. We’d all be better off with the money spent on an education campaign or more separated bike lanes.
– This is the dumbest argument of all. You’ve just said how a part of the registration goes to administration, what do you think that means? The part about lanes and education is a very ugly way of pushing your agenda too, by the way.
It would cost the state far more than it would to collect in revenue
– As above, no it wouldn’t. That’s what administration fees are for.
Register children’s bikes? Really? That seems effective use of time and money.
– Don’t register them then. But if they/you get pulled over by police and don’t have registrations for the bikes you’re using then look forward to removing your cube from the VicRoads carpark.
The majority of bikes are gathering dust in the garage. These are a particular menace on society.
– No different from cars. If you don’t plan on riding it, don’t buy registration.
Registration is a disincentive for people to ride. That’s a good thing if you want more congestion, pollution and traffic incidents.
– It’s a disincentive for people to drive too, but that doesn’t seem to stop too many people.
Urgh.
You’re an idiot Samuel. We want to encourage people to ride bicycles and drive less. Education and more bike lanes will only help this (regardless if its the agenda or not)
Arghhhhhh.
So Samuel, what’s your agenda?
Registration is a disincentive for people to ride. That’s a good thing if you want more congestion, pollution and traffic incidents.
– It’s a disincentive for people to drive too, but that doesn’t seem to stop too many people.
- Many people need to drive because they don’t have other options. The point is that we need to reduce barriers for people to start riding, not increase. This would just be like when the helmet law was brought in.. cycling rates dropped dramatically.
Register children’s bikes? Really? That seems effective use of time and money.
– Don’t register them then. But if they/you get pulled over by police and don’t have registrations for the bikes you’re using then look forward to removing your cube from the VicRoads carpark.
- What the hell does this mean? You don’t make any sense!!!
I don’t have an agenda, but I don’t see what the big deal is with registration of bicycles. Who says we want to encourage more people to ride more and drive less? Who says need to reduce barriers for people to start riding, not increase? Who is “we”?
Samuel, there is not a city council in Melbourne that doesn’t want to encourage more people to ride bikes. Government represent people… so ‘we’ are the majority of people.
I think you’ll be able to acknowledge 3 major reasons to promote more riding:
- Healthy exercise to combat increasing sedentary lifestyles
- Reduced congestion
- Reduced pollution. Climate change?
You do have an agenda and it’s your own. There is no problem with that. It’s ok to admit that you’re frustrated but registration is not the answer.
I think that if a cyclist rides on the road, they should have third party insurance, and if they already own a car, why not link it to their car insurance? If a cyclist hits a pedestrian, they should have the same liability and insurances as a car driver.
I drive, I have a bike that I rarely ride on the road because I feel uncomfortable riding in traffic and regularly walk approx 3 km each way to work and back. As a pedestrian in the inner city I find that car traffic can be dangerous and aggressive, mainly in terms of refusing to give way to pedestrians when turning at intersections. My personal experience is that some cyclists have a dangerous disregard for pedestrian crossings and regularly cycle through when pedestrians are crossing and often do not slow down. With the uptake in cycling in the last few years there are now some cyclists on the footpath, which can be dangerous in some circumstances. Obviously not all drivers and cyclists behave this way, but we all have the right to be safe on the road whether we are driving, cycling or a pedestrian. This means that we ALL have to obey the road rules.
Some people will break the rules if they think they can’t get caught. Watch the different behavior of traffic at a standard intersection and at a red light camera intersection if you need an example. So unfortunately for those of us that respect the law and the safey of others, maybe cyclists do need to be indentifiable, maybe there should be cameras at pedestrian crossings.
Personally I would rather the money and effort go into proper bike paths, but like the road system for drivers there will always, unfortunatly, be a need to catch and penalise some people to maintain safety for others.
I do think there is a lot of frustration on the roads because the system (the whole roads and public transport system) is not right, and there is a bigger and more wholistic issue that needs addressed, including attitudes and behaviour.