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"Burdensome", I've seen the "burdensome" excuse trotted out in half a dozen different ways here.

Why does it matter what state you live in? So what if you bike in from Arlington every day. Tens of millions of Americans (including myself) cross state lines every year to hunt and fish, both of which require anywhere from 10 to 100 bucks in licensing, EVERY single year. Are you really saying cyclist don't have the mental facilities, personal responsibility or wherewithal of a bunch of redneck hunters and fisherman? If some random fisherman has to pay $20 bucks a year for the privilege of fishing, I don't think $20 bucks a year is an exorbitant, barrier creating amount for people to pay to register their bikes.

And we've wasted tons of electrons deciding for the DMV that it isn't worthwhile, or requires too much manpower. I renew my registration every two years online, completely automated nary a human touching anything. Are we really saying that bike registration is somehow more complicated than vehicle registration?

I also love the nonchalant claims that bikers could only possibly do minor scratches costing a mere couple hundred bucks to fix.

I've had bikers go the wrong way down a one way street and go flying onto my hood, caving it in. I've been waiting at a stoplight and had a cyclist filter up between two lanes of cars and leave a scratch through to the metal the entire length of my car. I've been t-boned at an intersection by a cyclist who decided redlights were only for uncool people. I am then left with the decision of paying a $500 deductable for the $1,300 worth of work and filing a claim which means my premiums go up the next year, or living with it and driving around with a man sized crease in the side of my car.

If you think a biker hitting your car can only be a couple hundred dollar affair, then you obviously have no idea what you are talking about.

Folks need to quit swinging at every windmill and ignoring legitimate issues for "bike hate". There is no legitimate legal recourse to recover damages from a cyclist other than spending a week of you life and thousands of dollars suing someone (if you were able to track them down and get their info)in small claims court, especially when cyclists can spend 10 minutes on the phone with someones insurance company and have a check in the mail the next day. Not exactly apples to apples.

Like I said before, it doesn't have to be a ridiculous rule. Something along the lines that any cyclist on a DC street (sidewalks can be left out) has to carry some liability insurance, and lets get real here, infants and 10 year olds aren't riding their bikes on downtown dc streets, if they are then they have hideous parents.

And believe me, if the law was passed, there would be 20 national insurers falling over themselves to offer policies for people.

by dcdriver2 on Jun 7, 2012 8:29 pm • link • report