For some reason, I picture Eric Ulrich courting senior citizens in Queens like some sort of Adam Sandler character out of a bad movie. Perhaps his grandmother plays bridge or canasta with the majority of voters, I don’t know. Well, I just don’t know how someone so clueless ended up on the city council. He seems to be stuck in some sort of limbo. Apparently, he’s never owned a bicycle, and at 24, is well-suited to represent senior citizens. Go figure.
Anyway, Eric has recently (and frequently) been in the news for his suggestion that NYC cyclists should be registered. Now, he does point out that this is not a revenue generator, (at least, not the registration part) as it would only be a few bucks to register a bike. Fair enough. The revenue part will come from tickets, undoubtedly. Actually, even that is only in theory. Let me tell you why. Honest cyclists will be forced to pay a few bucks for their registration, and then display some sort of sticker. Better be a damn big sticker, if you want people to be able to record the registration and report scofflaws to the men in blue. But those negligent operators aren’t going to bother with registration, are they? And even if they did, how will this process make it possible to identify them, short of issuing auto-sized license plates? If someone on a bicycle runs a red light, unless they get hit, it’s virtually impossible to positively identify them. So it seems to me that registered or not, this is a losing proposition. Unless law enforcement witnesses it and is able to pull them over. Of course, if that was happening in the first place, then I wouldn’t be pointing out the folly of this youngster and his baseless “feel good, but do nothing” proposal, would I?
What I can’t get my head around is how he could possibly think that this will somehow make cyclists safer operators. But right as I was wrapping up this rant, I realized something. He’s 24, and lives in Queens. So he’s probably never driven a car or fired a handgun. He doesn’t understand the mechanics of what’s going on here. Requiring motorists to have a license and registration has had as much affect on reigning in irresponsible drivers such as drunks, speeders, and cell phone operators as gun laws have had on the criminal use of perfectly legal weapons. Pretty much none. Legislation has hardly been proven to change behavior.
Eric, explain yourself. If you care about safety, maybe you need to have a better look at the roads around you, and compare statistics regarding pedestrian vs cyclists and pedestrian vs motor vehicle accidents. And then stop this foolishness. I’m glad you’re not representing me.