Representative Wayne Krieger of Salem is the chief architect of House Bill 3008, which would require every bicycle owner in Oregon to pay a mandatory $54 registration fee, and then renew it every other year for the same fee.
He explained, “This is an opportunity for the bicyclists to start contributing to our roads,” he said. “If you want to have something that everybody is going to use, than everybody needs to contribute to what’s there… if there were not bicycles we wouldn’t need bicycle lanes.”
He also said the tags would give drivers a way to track down cyclists who cause accidents.
Asked if he cycles, Krieger responded that he’s “not into it.”
For a full discussion of the bill and an interview with Krieger, see BikePortland.org’s A conversation with Rep. Krieger about his bike registration bill.
2 comments
Comments feed for this article
March 9, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Rob Ainsley
This is such a good idea, it should be extended to pedestrians. Each pedestrian would wear a license plate on their back so they could be identified by CCTV cameras. Aftear all, why should they get away with using sidewalks they don’t pay for? And they don’t have insurance. What about when they collide with a car crossing the road, possibly damaging it? And they’d have to take a walking test every couple of years to get their license.
What’s that you say, Mr Krieger? That such a move would be unenforceable, impractical, absurdly expensive, anti-social and stupid?
March 10, 2009 at 1:14 am
terry
The politicians will tax anything they can get their hands on! Next, when you can’t afford to drive a car or ride a bike, they will tax your feet (ala the Beatle’s song “The Taxman”). Electric bikes help the enviroment, traffic, health and your wallet. Why don’t they get it?
http://www.pedego.com