Transportation Alternatives
is rallying the city's cyclists to "stand up" to City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Queens), who is proposing legislation that would require all adult cyclists in NYC to affix an ID tag to their bikes. Calling it a "draconian anti-bicycling bill," Trans Alt is encouraging New Yorkers to e-fax Ulrich's office (easily done here) to voice their opposition. And in a forceful critique of the still-vague plan, Trans Alt argues thus:
Bicycle registration would criminalize bicycling, waste valuable city resources and erect yet another obstacle for those seeking to ride a bike. It would do nothing to improve safety or enforcement, and would even make bicycling less safe by eroding the "safety in numbers" effect.
As documented in annual Department of Transportation bicycle and crash counts, bicycle crash rates go down as bicycle riding rates increase. There are sufficient traffic laws on the books, covering drivers, cyclists and commercial cyclists. What's missing from the equation isn't an ID tag, it's the NYPD's participation in enforcement.
Meanwhile, in Park Slope, a member of Community Board 6 intends to propose a similar bike registration resolution. "Making it easier to give people tickets with bikes will be good revenue for the city,” Nica Lalli tells the Brooklyn Paper. "I have to register my dog, my car, I think people should have to register their bicycles, too. It’s still a vehicle in a city with lots of rules that you have to follow to be a part of civil society. There’s nothing like the threat of an easy ticket to make you adhere to the rules of the road." Lalli, incidentally, is the author of Nothing: Something to Believe In—in other words, she's a nihilist who probably also wants to cut off cyclists' Johnsons.
