🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <D.Nash-0911941817290001@bubba.ots.utexas.edu> D.Nash@utexas.edu (Donald L. Nash) writes:
>You pay taxes on you truck, not on your bike.  You own two vehicles but
>you only pay tax on one.
>You're getting road-use out of your bike for free. 

Well, this is true, of course, but a big part of the taxes and fees charged to
motor vehicles is designed to offset the damage they cause to the roads.  That's
why larger, heavier vehicles pay more.  Since it would be difficult for a bicycle
to cause any road damage, the fees should be pretty small if there were any.

>>In Texas, bikes are traffic -- therefore, when I'm
>>pedaling to or from work, or anywhere else, I've got the same rights and
>>responsibilities as idiots like you in the four-wheelers.
>
>Same rights, but not the same responsibilities.  You have to obey the
>traffic laws, but you don't have to license your bike (i.e. pay tax on
>it), have an operator's permit to use it, or subject it to yearly safety
>inspections.

I think a number of cyclists will agree with me in my wish for the situation to
be just as you describe - cyclists on the road should have to have a license for
themselves and their bike.  From my view, licensing (and the education on the laws
and proper procedures it would require) would eliminate a lot of the problems 
caused by riders who haven't learned either the laws or the etiquette of riding.
It's a problem that there are no requirements for cyclists to use the road, but
as one who'd like to cycle for transportation, I'd welcome a change to require
licensing.

>Of course you run into the problem that kids ride bikes, too.  But you can
>get around that by exempting residental streets from the enforcement of
>licensing and inspection requirements.  If a kid gets caught on his bike
>in a non-residental area, then the cops get to take him home and scold his
>parents, or something like that.

Sounds workable to me.  How about some legislation?


>Personally, I don't like having bikes on the same streets as cars.  It is
>a big inconvenience for the drivers and a big hazard for everyone.  I like
>separate bike lanes, but those have their own problems (like turning left
>when the bike lane is on the right shoulder).

The times when it becomes an inconvenience are when the road is too narrow.  I've
ridden on both types of roads when we lived in San Jose, California, a city which
actually built some of its roads to accomodate cyclists with bike lanes or wider
lanes.  The drivers there were much more polite than I've encountered in the
Houston area.  Maybe it'd help if I had a sign saying "At least I represent one
less car on the road".

-Mike Jackson
"My opinions are my own, of course, but they're still good ones."