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Should bicyclists need a special license?

September 16, 2011 @ 3:32 am (Updated: 4:50 am - 9/16/11 )

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn says it's time to drop the rhetoric about cars versus bikes on the roadways and work to make everyone safer as they commute.

"As part of my commute I bike the same route taken on Dexter Avenue by Mike Wang, a 42 year old father of two who worked at PATH. One afternoon, on his ride home just two blocks from his office, he was killed in a hit-and-run accident while crossing the intersection of Dexter and Thomas," says McGinn on his blog. "I see the flowers and the white ghost bike, reading 'A cyclist died here,' almost every day."

Mayor McGinn says in his bike travels this week he also went by the intersection of University Way and Campus Parkway, where Robert Townsend, a 23-year old man who delivered sandwiches on his bicycle for Jimmy John’s, died after being struck by a car last weekend. He also rode to the spot on Fairview Avenue where Brian Fairbrother, who worked at Espresso Vivace, died after crashing on a set of stairs on August 30th.

GhostBike

"It’s time to stop finding fault with each other, and to start finding a remedy," says McGinn. "There has been a lot of overheated rhetoric about cars versus bikes or bikes versus cars, and it’s not helping make our roads any safer. It’s not even accurate."

To begin working on improving safety and responsibility on the roads, McGinn is calling for a community summit. The date hasn't been set.

Seattle will also invest in several education programs and improve enforcement of rules for both cyclists and motorists, and invest in road projects that make it safer for bicyclists to use city streets.

A reader, John, came up with this interesting idea I'd like your thoughts on. Require cyclists to get a license, just like anyone else who operates vehicles on the roads. Here are his suggestions:

Cyclists get trained about the rules of the road formally. No exceptions. It becomes a requirement.

Cyclists have a license plate on their bikes. That provides a means of accountability if they break the rules of the road.

You’d get a license plate on a bike once the bike has been inspected and is found to be equipped with a standard, DOT approved lane signaling and brake indication device.

Instruct police to ticket bike scofflaws who don’t follow the rules of the road. Set the fines to be the same as car fines. If you cross an intersection on a red light, that’s a $124 fine.

Create legislation that puts the traffic violation riding a bike on the person’s car driving record. A person that drives a car responsibly should also be forced to drive a bike responsibly.

The revenues collected from licensing bikes and bike traffic fines can go directly to pay for educational efforts and bike infrastructure. The higher the need for more infrastructure, the higher the license fee. Or, just base it on the price of the bike.

Photo from GhostBikes.org

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Comments (90)


  • Add A Comment

  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    assiah
    September 16, 2011 6:35 am
    QUOTE: "Why do I get the feeling reader John is a Righty who hates government involvement in things he feels hinder him in his daily routine but will quickly ask for this same government involvement to fix daily matters that he feels are an inconvenience to him." You get that feeling because his suggestions are logical, pragmatic and involve common sense, including holding bike riders accountable. This goes against your liberal ideals, which contain none of the above.
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  • Realitycheck wrote...
    HPD 5-0
    September 17, 2011 6:45 am
    You hit the nail on the head there, lol
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    Bikes, McSwchwinn and reader John.
    September 16, 2011 6:44 am
    McScwhinn's "solution": 'Seattle will...invest in road projects that make it safer for bicyclists to use city streets.' Translation: we're using money & taking lanes from the driver's that pay for them & giving those lanes to bike riders that don't. John's suggestions on the other hand are logical & treat bikes & riders as they should be treated; like vehicles, which according to state law, they are. One GIVES bike riders an asset they don't fund, the other holds riders accountable. Imagine which one McSchwinn will pursue? (rhetorical question)
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  • uh,really? wrote...
    Don't pay for them?
    September 16, 2011 8:12 am
    "...using money & taking lanes from the driver's [sic] that pay for them & giving those lanes to bike riders that don't." I've been commuting year-round for the last five years or so, as do many of my co-workers. Guess what each of us have at home? That's right, a licensed, registered, paying-for-road-use car (or two)! Given that I'm paying for the road and at the same time taking another CAR OFF THE ROAD, I have no problems with my money being used to further support road usage by bicyclists.
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  • Realitycheck wrote...
    HPD 5-0
    September 17, 2011 6:46 am
    That is a tough question, can I take a day to think about that...roflmao.....another good one :)
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  • DontTreadonUs wrote...
    No more licenses.
    September 16, 2011 7:07 am
    I have never had any particular soft spot for bicycles sharing the road with cars (just got yelled at a bicyclist this morning because I didn't yield to him over the Ballard bridge, sorry buddy, honestly couldn't see you until it was too late), but no more licenses. No more government permission slips. Maybe this is a bit extreme, but wouldn't we need to start attending some sort of government run bicycle-ed at about, say 4-5 years old to get our learners permit? Snowball it from there.
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  • suzh wrote...
    Pike Street
    September 16, 2011 7:58 am
    On a consulting job, I had to drive up Pike Street from I-5 to Madison on Capital Hill. Bike Lanes, Bike boxes, multiple crosswalks, stop signs on multiple corners, and two colleges (Seattle U and Seattle Central) made driving a nightmare. The bicyclists were rude, and never obeyed any traffic laws, swerving in and out of traffic, ignoring lights and stop signs. Both pedestrians and bicyclists crossed the cross walks without bothering to look. Pedestrians would cross the street in front of buses mid block. It was a nightmare. I was grateful everytime I managed to navagate that stretch without hitting somebody. Definately license bicyclists. And enforce the laws for everybody - drivers, pedestrians and cyclists. Or just close the road. On that stretch? That may be the only solution.
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  • messiah101 wrote...
    suzh
    September 16, 2011 8:15 am
    I have this feeling suzh that your entire life is a "nightmare""Close the road"?Anything to make your life easier for you to cope honey!
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  • CH wrote...
    Time to water board Billy
    September 16, 2011 7:55 am
    License bikes trikes and roller skates. That when it stares at $30 they can keep jacking it up every year. Do you have to die of old age for Sound Transit Taxes to end?
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  • luckystriker wrote...
    I have thought it over quite a bit
    September 16, 2011 7:59 am
    And have decided that despite the need for bike riders to be held accountable for their poor riding and illegal use of the road .. I am against licenses for bike riders and tags for bikes. The reason is this: Right now, bike riders have no excuse. They are outlaws, criminals, scofflaws who regularly violate the rules of the road. If you call them on it, they respond like petulant teens who have been caught. As an evil cager, texting my stock portfolio while i'm changing stations to listen to more sports, the last thing I want is a legal bike rider asserting his legal right to ride on the road. I know that no matter what this guy on a bike does, he'll be doing it illegally and probably with a lot of attitude on top. If you license and tag bikes, not only is he now clothed in the same laws I am, but he's paid the same legal fees as I have. He will want the same rights. I may actually have to pay attention to his riding and try to read his tag in order to take it down and report him. Lets leave bike riders as the last bastion of liberal freedom, as cars evolve away from using gas and using renewable fuels instead, we can all look back on the days when bikes had the moral superiority because they used organic power instead. In 50 years it won't make any difference, bikes will be faster, cars lighter and probably electric, and the bike may well be the stronger vehicle in traffic, quite possibly the faster. Meanwhile.... let the angry teens ride.
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  • firebolt428 wrote...
    Crazy
    September 16, 2011 8:12 am
    I am a avid cyclist and racer. The problem is with both sides. The cops on the bikes need to post up downtown and start handing out tickets. We may even get out of debt. Problem solved. That will start teaching them to ride by the rules of the road. I commute via car everyday and have to drop my wife off downtown. I got yelled at by this lady on her bike because she jumped from riding on the sidewalk to riding on the street and I didn't give her enough room. I am split on the tabs for bikes as it would just lead to another area the government can get money then spend it in all the wrong areas. I think the tickets need to be handed out more when you see bikes running red lights and being generally unsafe. To me that will solve the problem. Tickets. If you are in a car and get a speeding ticket. It will result in you not speeding as much.
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  • uh,really? wrote...
    Agreed...
    September 16, 2011 8:24 am
    Cyclist should get tickets for disobeying traffic laws, just as cars (and pedestrians!) do. I commute by bike and for the most part see safe riding and safe riders, but there are plenty of reckless riders who weave in/out of traffic, run lights, and generally ride unsafely. SAME with drivers -- most seem to pay attention, but just last week, I was almost hit by a driver who was running a red light at Dexter & Roy, was almost sideswiped by a driver who drifted into the bike lane -- guess who was texting? , and was seconds away from ramming into a van, the driver of which decided to dart out of an alley and stop IN a bike lane to wait to make a turn. Good times all.
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  • Kitsapbass wrote...
    They already have more rights than you anyways.
    September 16, 2011 7:49 pm
    They get all the rights without the responsibilities of being on the road. If they get hurt (sometimes due to their own negligence), the motor vehicle driver is always at fault. So, if they swerve into your lane, and hit you because they lose control - it's still your fault.
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  • dori monson fan wrote...
    here's my remedy
    September 16, 2011 8:11 am
    bicyclists ride on bicycle trails, or take a competency test and pay $400 annually to ride on the streets once they pass that test. Since they don't pay any gas tax and their road diets clog up streets it is a fair amount.
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  • Ernie in the East wrote...
    Reader, John is right...to a point
    September 16, 2011 8:23 am
    While Reader, John is right...it is only to a point. The licensing of bikes would be another revenue stream by government. Instead, how about actually ticketing those bikers for the traffic laws they break. You don't need to be licensed before being ticketed for traffic violations. Licensing bikers WILL NOT STOP the deaths. Just look at the vehicular side. We are licensed to drive cars, we have tags on our cars and yet there are still traffic accidents. Why? Because people break traffic laws, even though they have been taught otherwise. Why in the world would anyone foolishly think that if we "educate" bikers that they will all of a sudden obey traffic laws? I understand there is no easy solution to this but then there is no easy solution to stopping any death when people willfully disregard the laws of the land.
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  • dcnilsen wrote...
    ...
    September 16, 2011 8:42 am
    If a person riding a bike is on the sidewalk and following pedestrian rules, then don't licence them. If they are on the rode with cars...then do. But it has to be consistent.
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  • 0623 wrote...
    license bike riders?
    September 16, 2011 8:45 am
    I have never understood how bike riders came to be allowed use of the roads. In the State of Washington, 100% of the gas tax money is dedicated to road maintenance. Bike riders (and pedestrians) do not pay that tax. The gas tax is our toll, paid for the privilege of using the road. Bide riders get to travel toll-free. How come?
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  • WingNut2 wrote...
    0623...
    September 16, 2011 8:56 am
    I will help you understand: gas tax pays to repair road that the cars damage. General taxes pay for the roads, gas tax maintains them. Bikes are paying for the damage that they cause which amounts to ZERO. And to argue that road diets increase maintenance costs is silly because there is LESS pavement to maintain. Also, bicyclists didn't ask for road diets, the SDOT did. I think bikes and riders should be licensed. It will be administered by the new Department of Bicycle Licensing.
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  • messiah101 wrote...
    0623
    September 16, 2011 9:56 am
    So do pedestrians do you want to license and tax them also? Moron
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  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    Why?
    September 16, 2011 10:55 am
    See "liberal Democrats".
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • artimus wrote...
    You'd think
    September 16, 2011 9:13 am
    ...that great minds would be able to reach a comprimise on how to share the roads. Can't we all just get along?
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