Manhattan, NY – UES Community Board Members Want Cyclists to be Licensed

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    Manhattan, NY – An effort to curb rogue cyclists by forcing them to have licenses and registration is being put forward by members of an Upper East Side community board.

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    CB8’s transportation committee passed a resolution Wednesday night urging city and state officials to require bicycles have “clear and visible” identification on them — like a license plate — and that cyclists have some sort of license.

    They also want to require that commercial bicyclists — like the food delivery workers that pervade the Upper East Side streets — have insurance. 

    “Many cyclists have the sense that they are not under the obligation to follow the rules of the road,” CB8’s transportation committee co-chair Jonathan Horn said.

    Betty Dewing, a longtime Upper East Side resident, told the board members that she was “scared to death” at night because of bikes —  which she called “fast moving silent machines” — whizzing by without lights or going through stop lights.

    In New York, state Assemblyman Michael DenDekker of Queens had introduced one bill to require a $50 bike registration and another to require registration, inspection and insurance for commercial bicycles. But those bills were dead, a DenDekker representative at the meeting said, because it was too much of a “local issue” for other legislators to get behind.

    Yet, it’s the state that regulates licenses, not the city — which is why legistation for license plates introduced this year by City Councilman David Greenfield is likely to flounder, Horn said.


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    6 Comments
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    mewhoze
    mewhoze
    12 years ago

    i hope this happens. i also feel each cyclist should cary liability insurance to cover andy damages that they might be responsible for.
    i hope other community boards follow suit

    cbdds
    cbdds
    12 years ago

    I and any reasonable New Yorker agrees.
    Let us start the pressure to get this done!
    People are getting injured, maimed and killed weekly if not daily by rogue (most) cyclists.

    12 years ago

    There is no way that even with “regisration” the police will be able to chase down, identify and issue citations to bikers who run red lights, ride too fast etc. Get used to it. Bikers are a reality and will soon displace cars in the city. If you live in the city, be nimble and look both ways before you step off the sidewalk. If you don’t feel you can, than stay home.

    ProminantLawyer
    ProminantLawyer
    12 years ago

    #2 – move to new hampsire.