Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Places that Repealed Mandatory Registration

Detroit - repealed Mandatory Registration in 2008. Calls for reform began after police crackdown on an existing laws. Campaign created new bicycle advocacy group - Detroit Bike Riders United. (ClickonDetroit.com M-Bike)

Houston - Chris Hutto dubbed "The Mayor of Montrose" successfully urged City Council to repeal the registration law using the argument that the program was ineffective and only registered 10 bikes per month. (Free Press of Houston AHN)

Washington DC - In early 2008,the DC Council passed a bill officially repealing the mandatory bike registration requirement, long a goal of the Washington Area Bicycle Association. (WABA Fall 08 Newsletter).

Los Angeles - Repealed after a recommendation by LAPD. Bike advocates argued that "... police officers too often harass them for not having a license - which costs $3 and is valid for three years - but do nothing when licensed bikes are stolen." (Daily News Los Angeles 6-2-09)

Albuquerque - Repealed in 2007 a measure to repeal that section of law, because, among other reasons, the city doesn't operate a registration program. (Albuquerque Tribune - May 9, 2007)

States:

Minnesota repealed a mandatory registration law in 2005 after the City of Minneapolis made bicycle registration optional in 2002. (Minnesota Repealed Statutes)

Massachusetts repealed a mandatory registration law earlier this year. (Bikeportland.org Jan 21, 2009)

18 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

What these proponents spin is some fallacy that calling in a scoflaw cyclist's plate number to 911 will result in the immediate search and apprehension of the offending operator. ...Because this is what currently happens when you call in a stoplight-running automobile's license plate. Right?

Actually, what these registration proponents really want is to get everyone back in their cars like good little sheeple and stop all this sustainable living crap. They're seeing the non-car modes getting popular and change is very scary to the olds.

Anonymous said...
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John Boyle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Please ask the councilmen to ride from the Academy of Music to the Academy of Art and explain the safest route. I bet they would ride straight through Center Square Park (City Hall). Would they even attempt to stay on the road (Broad Street)?

Anonymous said...

The question is, do bicyclists have a reasonable fear of being hurt by a car? The statistics seem to confirm that self preservation is a strong motivation to fine the safest route possible even if it means breaking a law.

http://www.bhsi.org/stats.htm
# 698 bicyclists reportedly died on US roads in 2007.

# In a typical year over 90 percent of cyclists killed on US roads die in crashes with motor vehicles.

# The "typical" bicyclist killed on our roads is a sober male over 16 not wearing a helmet riding on a major road between intersections in an urban area on a summer evening when hit by a car.

# About 540,000 bicyclists visit emergency rooms with injuries every year. Of those, about 67,000 have head injuries, and 27,000 have injuries serious enough to be hospitalized.

Anonymous said...

"The first reading of the bills will be this morning at 10AM in Council Chambers. We'll be there, will you?"

I have to work for a living, but thanks to technology I don't have to be there to read the bill since it will be posted on line. I'll be at the hearings where my opinion may make a difference.

Someone should be fact checking all posts in this matter before they go up. To make sure they are effectively communicating the authors intent and not giving ammunition to the authors of the bills.

Anonymous said...

Are they going to ticket those who visit from the suburbs and ride on Forbidden Drive or follow the Schuylkill Trail from Valley Forge? What a great way to welcome visitors to the city!

John Boyle said...

Brookline Mass Town Meeting voters defeated a bike registration bill last night 192-4

Anonymous said...

I LOVE HOW THEY DO READINGS AT 10AM. SRSLY PHILLY, PEOPLE HAVE TO WORK. WTF?

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

How does Councilman DiCicco recommend riding around the Art Museum ? And I hope they're going to license the Segways, too.

Chrissy said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Whoever runs this page needs to prohibit the foul language and ad-hominem attacks. I can get this in CityPaper.

John Boyle said...

Agreed - Anonymous comments will no longer be allowed on this blog. Any personal attacks will be deleted upon inspection.

If the abuse continues we will require approval of all comments.

John Boyle

Anonymous said...

John said...

Brookline Mass Town Meeting voters defeated a bike registration bill last night 192-4
#######
please provide a web link so we can find out how this happened.

John Boyle said...

Apparently repeals don't make the news, but there is a brief mention on Boston.com
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/brookline/2009/11/brookline_town_meeting_regulat.html

My original source was a Brookline activist attending the town meeting.

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