http://dailycaller.com/2011/01/12/t...s-and-adults-to-register-bikes-or-face-fines/ You can read the legislation here: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2010/Bills/A4000/3657_I1.HTM This is another money making scheme for a state desperate for cash...
Absolutely. Gerald Celente has been up in arms and warning people of this for some time now. As the US economy goes under, they'll strip the middle class to the bone to pay for it through scams like this.
They tell you save the planet, get on a bike, keep fit, take the pressure off the Hospital system. Then tax the bike !
I agree with Hobo, where I live come holiday season there are nut jobs on bikes all over the road, holding up traffic, risking their lives and getting angry at motorists. What's I find hard to believe is they ride on the road when there is a bike lane rite next to it! I pay rego on my car, trail bike, rubbish trailer and when I had a jet ski I had to pay rego on that and the tiny trailer it was on. At that time I was on the tools and was also paying rego on my tool trailer. I paid my rates that went towards building bike paths, then I get these brain dead moron tourists that think they have more rite to be on the road than me! Hit em up with rego I say!
Do you honestly believe though that this is in way a real safety endeavor or simply yet another tax on the public's purse to drive revenue? It's like a 'fishing' licence requirement which is an absolute load of rubbish. All of these processes are merely revenue raisers at the core. Stripping the middle class of their wealth through endless taxation for wasteful, greedy government endeavours. If there is a genuine concern for bike riding 'hoons' on the street, then it's a question of enforcement. Licencing will do absolutely nothing to fix this. Do you honestly believe that friggen idiots on the road in cars are held in check because of the licence plate on the vehicle? I think not. What are we going to say next? 'Sorry Timmy, you can't ride your trike out on the footpath, Santa forgot to include a licence plate for your 'vehicle'' Sometimes, common sense really needs to be the priority over trying enforce draconian 'law' for the sake of extra dollars. If the government had it's way, they'd tax you to even fricken breath the air if they could. Oh, wait....
Agree Aus, good see someone that understands what ETS really means. I was thinking the other day about a bloke I saw fishing of a sitdown jetski, to get where he was he needed a car- licence, rego, stamp duity/transfer fees, huge tax on the petrol he put in it and tax on maintaining it. The ski- another rego, a boat licence + PWC, more stamp duity and more taxes to run it. Then to drop a line in a fishing licence. I sure hope he caught a lot of " free fish"! Forgot to mention the trailer with rego etc and ramp fees!!
How many people do you honestly think will report it to the police? How 'reportable' will it actually be? How will you capture evidence that stands up in court? 'Bike' Cameras? Speed Traps? At what cost to implement? It's not like they're going to be doing burnouts in the street, 98% of it will be some dickhead cutting someone off and the best you'll get is a photo snap of the plate on your iPhone as they cycle away ignoring you. Good luck making that stand up in court. Eyewitness testimony will be worthless in any prosecution case. Just playing devil's advocate on this one, but I think this will be next to useless and simply another cost to the public, whether it's through licence requirements of hiring a government employee or six to maintain the backend of it. The very best you can hope for in controlling biking bad boys is a cop on the spot to book them in all honesty and you don't need a plate to enforce that.
I agree with Aus in this topic fully. What would happen to the tag-along bikes parents put on for the kids to ride behind them? Does the kid need a registration plate on his also? Considering he is helping the older rider motivate the bicycle, he is in charge of it also. The fishing licence is a croc of shit, go in and pay for it. Thats it, thats all you need to do. No need to learn the rules to get it.
Awww I don't think Hobo is quite like that. He's as cynical as any of us in regards to gubmint, I think it just comes down to personal experience. Thing is, we're moving from territory concerning common sense and self regulation into assuming beaurocracy is the answer to these issues. I just feel that bringing government in does the opposite many would expect. It's more of an enforcement issue at the core of the arguement than any real need for identification. I personally doubt those who ride bikes and play the fool are going to change any personal habits on the fact they have a plate on the bike. Motorised vehicles show this proven to be true.
I'm not so sure our car regos and fuel taxes etc... cover full the costs of maintaining Australian roads. I suspect that we motorists are actually subsidised.
If you look at the state of NSW roads in particular, I begin to really question if that's actually happening
Why do 'safety concerns' have to be met with more taxation? Those in favour of this idiot notion of bicycle registration here have clearly shown that their motivation is punitive. Man, if people swallow this crap, next thing will be a bunch of old farts who don't like those crazy joggers goin' so damn fast - 'Slow down and pay some tax for those fancy runnin' shoes, sonny!' It's stupid little stuff like this that's the very meaning of large government. Anyone that doesn't have some perverse need to be regulated by some faceless, lifeless, useless bureaucrat knows that government needs constant pruning back to a much smaller, less invasive size than this.
I don't necessarily have a problem with big government, but it needs to provide big value for the citizens it represents. If the $20 p.a. registration also bought you an encrypted GPS tracker so you could find your bike if some bastard nicks it (like that Find-My-iPhone app) I bet a lot of people would happily register their bicycles and accept being bound by the road rules as part of the deal. As it is, I'm not exactly sure what this scheme in New Jersey is trying to accomplish - how do you make the licence plates big enough for other road users to see without affecting wind resistance or creating an even bigger safety hazard? Imagine a standard car rego plate on the back or front of a bike - a sharp metal plate protruding out the sides to slice into unfortunate limbs and bugger up the drag co-efficiency. Make the licence plate smaller and its only useful in the event of a serious accident and does nothing to stop unsafe cyclists who cut people off or cause an accident and keep riding.
Rec rego for a trail bike is only about $70 a year and that includes TAC cover. Less chance of being hit by a car in the bush than on the road.
It's about tax. That's all. A broke government trying to bleed the population a bit more. Everything else that they say about safety etc. is bulls#t.
