I will never pay for bike registration – NEVER.
December 6th:
I will never pay for bike registration – NEVER.
Yes, we have heard it all before - we don’t pay our way, we have no right to the road, we can’t be held accountable, and we will behave better if we can be identified.
Then we have the bicyclist that says ‘bring it on, if I pay for it I will take the full lane’ or ‘it will give us legitimacy to be on the road’ or finally ‘it’ll only be a buck fiddy so it doesn’t matter.’
I hope in a few short paragraphs to answer these opinions. I have no problem with these points of view; they just are not mine. Feel free to add yours in the comments.
Carlton Reid is a UK reporter, a very smart man who wrote a very good book called ‘Roads were not built for cars’ which is truer for the UK than for Australia. In Australia most roads were built for cars. So this argument doesn’t work for me, wish it was that simple. http://www.roadswerenotbuiltforcars.com/
If cars and trucks did pay their way, it would be in the form of a huge fuel tax or duty charge, but taxes from fuel really don’t build roads, in fact even the tax break down on fuel is not an exciting amount to build a park bench to watch the cars go passed.
No one pays for more or less right to use the road. We all pay our share, kids pay when they start work, you have been paying since you started; this is through your income tax. If you pay rates; you pay for the roads. If you buy a packet of chewing gum, you pay GST that goes into consolidated funds and end up on the roads.
You are entitled to a full lane. Rules govern that we should be in a bike lane ‘when practical’ so we use the bike lanes. But don’t be ashamed to move into the lane when you need it, it is already yours.
It’s not based on your size, or weight, even emissions. It’s a bike; not a motorised weapon. You ride a legitimate vehicle.
The argument that you have a car already doesn’t help that much, not all bike riders have cars. Every motorised vehicle must be registered. It really doesn’t even matter why we pay for registration (3rd party accident, rego systems, duties). It is a cost for motorised vehicles to be on the road.
Bikes are our last freedom, they carry no cost because they never have. They carry no insurance cost because they don’t kill. Bikes are allowed full use of the lane because they are a vehicle under the law.
I will never pay a registration for my bike because I will not have that freedom removed. I will not entertain the idea, and I will never suggest it is a good idea.
