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Licensing Bicycle riders

I'm also in favour of licensing and thinking aloud here... but how about licensing only those cyclists who choose to use the major public roads?

By "public," I'm excluding riding on private property, designated areas in public parks or bike trails. And by "major," I'm referring to primary and secondary arterial roads, particuarly consession, regional or municipal roads such as Yonge St. or Steeles Avenue; or other designated roads where the speed limit of any part of the road is over 40km/hr such as Broadview or Gerrard. Cycling on residential or other "minor" roads where the speed limit is 40km/hr will not require the cyclist to be licensed to use such roads.

This license could be a sub-class to the M license presently required for limited speed vehicles such as mopeds and scooters, but, unlike the M license, would only require a written test to be fully licensed.
 
dob467 said:
Hey caez - so you provided the rules that cyclists must follow and because you claim most cyclists don't follow these rules, they should therefore be licensed? Wouldn't police enforcement of those rules do the job? How would licensing cyclists make them know/follow the rules?

Look at car drivers, they're licensed and still don't know the rules regarding cyclists. For example, a cyclist can take the full lane. Here’s how the Ministry of Transportation interprets the Act:

“For cyclists, you must ride far enough out from the curb to maintain a straight line, clear of sewer grates, debris, potholes, and parked car doors. You may occupy any part of a lane when your safety warrants it. Never compromise your safety for the convenience of a motorist behind youâ€

For more on the cyclists’ rules, see http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/pubs/cycling-guide/section5.0.shtml

This might frustrate drivers, but it's the law. Did all you licensed drivers know that??
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Not to speak for ceaz40 but how does this contradict what he said, in particular, the reference to HTA 147 where it says "..as close as practicable to the right edge of the road..."? I note the word "practicable" because it would not be practicable if your safety is compromised. If I see a cyclist swearve slightly to avoid a sewer grate, as a driver, I would understand. However, if the cyclist is going along his merry way in the centre of the right lane during rush hour on Sheppard Avenue because he thinks he can, then I would not be as understanding. I can't speak for all licensed drivers, but I know it because it's common sense to me.

And I agree with you that licensing cyclists would not automatically make them know/follow the rules. A written test would be necessary, not unlike what riders of mopeds or scooters must do.
 
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So Today On Dundas West of Yonge in front of the Ryerson Business Building at around 2pm


A cabbie was sitting waiting in traffic when some clearly crazy (hair messy, ugly clothes) weaving in and out of cars hits the back of the cabbie.

The cyclist fell and got hurt and then got up and started fuming at the driver. The Driver says get lost you "retard"...

Cyclist goes crazy and breaks off the passenger side mirror of the cab and then runs away...The Cabbie and everyone around was shocked in disbelief.

Lol, I have been back here for 3 days now and I have been almost hit by a cyclist running a red twice and seen dozens of them on sidewalks.


Really if this is sort of what happened to Micheal Bryant, I can clearly see how the situation spirally out of control leading to the cyclist getting killed

The Cabbie most likley would have sped away when the crazy cyclist was breaking off the mirror but was caught in traffic.

I am certain if the cabbie had the chance he would have sped off and the cyclist likely was crazy enough to grab on.

Just telling you if you say what I saw...
 
I agree that road rules should be enforced eg. tickets for ignoring a red light.

But licencing is stupid, unless it is on a national level.

When a tourist from Montreal rides his bike through Toronto, how can he be expected to have a Toronto bike licence?
 
A cabbie was sitting waiting in traffic when some clearly crazy (hair messy, ugly clothes)
What was he wearing?
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well your typical messy hippie hair, ripped clothing and you can tell he never took a shower for a while.

So from that and his reaction, I assume the man is mentally unstable.
 
ceaz40 said:
Thanks for the first insightful question......at least for the first time someone is thinking......it doesn't matter if he is licensed in the Province of Ontario...in fact..no one does if the police do their job.......you break the law, you get caught and you are pulled over.....if a Quebec driver comes here and breaks the law and is caught...I hope they get caught....just like I would if I happened to be caught there...the "obvious rules" of the road apply....end of story....actually, the HTA for any province are quite similar...let's follow them wherever we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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So you're admitting that a licencing isn't a good idea? Especially on a municipal level?
 
ceaz40 said:
Thanks for the first insightful question......at least for the first time someone is thinking......it doesn't matter if he is licensed in the Province of Ontario...in fact..no one does if the police do their job.......you break the law, you get caught and you are pulled over.....if a Quebec driver comes here and breaks the law and is caught...I hope they get caught....just like I would if I happened to be caught there...the "obvious rules" of the road apply....end of story....actually, the HTA for any province are quite similar...let's follow them wherever we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Um...oddly. I'm not sure how the law works. Seems to be only on provincial or municipal levels. If someone has a license plate that's not for the province, the offender doesn't seem to need to pay the fine.

Example: Someone living in Toronto has a Quebec license plate. The person always gets parking tickets but never pays them, citing their plate isn't from the province so they don't need to worry about it. Not exactly sure how that makes him so special.
 
lordmandeep said:
So Today On Dundas West of Yonge in front of the Ryerson Business Building at around 2pm


A cabbie was sitting waiting in traffic when some clearly crazy (hair messy, ugly clothes) weaving in and out of cars hits the back of the cabbie.

The cyclist fell and got hurt and then got up and started fuming at the driver. The Driver says get lost you "retard"...

Cyclist goes crazy and breaks off the passenger side mirror of the cab and then runs away...The Cabbie and everyone around was shocked in disbelief.

Lol, I have been back here for 3 days now and I have been almost hit by a cyclist running a red twice and seen dozens of them on sidewalks.
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I think these are the situations where requiring bikes to have licensed plates might come in handy. Like cars doing a hit and run. Bikes will do hit and run too. However without a license, it would be hard to track the person down. For cases like these, if bikes all had a license plate and the owners addresses are kept on a database it would be easier to find offenders. If someone sees a bicycle disobeying the law, they can easily take a photo or remember the plate number to inform the police.

I think Japan has their bicycles with license plates. I remember a tv series with serial murders and the clues left behind related to bicycle plates. They were able to solve the case because they had a database of the plates.
 
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AKS said:
I think these are the situations where requiring bikes to have licensed plates might come in handy. Like cars doing a hit and run. Bikes will do hit and run too. However without a license, it would be hard to track the person down. For cases like these, if bikes all had a license plate and the owners addresses are kept on a database it would be easier to find offenders. If someone sees a bicycle disobeying the law, they can easily take a photo or remember the plate number to inform the police.
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You're right it will help in these situations, but it doesn't make it a practical, or a good idea. Far more crimes are committed by people who are on foot than bike.

There's no question that if everybody had to wear a visible ID number on their clothes at all times in public, it would be easy to track down a guy who you witnessed violently slapping his girlfriend at the park. He was "citizen number 702394" as indicated on his mandatory ID shirt.

So the benefits of this are obvious, yet I will personally fight to the death the growth of such a police state.
 
Then, what's the point of licensing cars? They don't really need to license them either. Why license pets either? Let's not license anything.
 
dob467 said:
Hey caez - so you provided the rules that cyclists must follow and because you claim most cyclists don't follow these rules, they should therefore be licensed? Wouldn't police enforcement of those rules do the job? How would licensing cyclists make them know/follow the rules?
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Before cyclists are licensed they write an exam (same as a driver) so they cannot plead ignorance when they are pulled over and fined. Many (but not all) will think twice before they ride a sidewalk, run a stop light, make an illegal turn, drive down a one way street and on & on... It will definitely lesson the chaos out there.

License plates make it possible to report cyclists disobeying the rules of the road, leaving the scene of an accident etc. as noted in the story above.

It's anarchy out there on the roads downtown, I see it most every day and it's getting worse each summer as more & more cyclists take to the roads.
 
Yep California is a classic example where you just keep increasing taxes and so you hope it covers your of out of control expenses.

Then your revenues drop but your expenses continue to increase...


Anyways...


why do we License cars again... :D

People can get away in crimes in bikes and easily get away.

I recall the man who shot those two innocent men in a suv ran away in a bike...
 
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