Thursday, April 5, 2012

Rule #7 - You will have your bike inspected

Bike service (What is he doing, BTW?) (Source: Shutterstock)

I know you would like to be entertained so here is something that may make you laugh. I already wrote about the most absurd, in my opinion, ideas for cycling laws. They were:
1. Cyclists should pay a "road tax"
2. Mandatory insurance
3. Bicycle license plates
4. Mandatory helmets
5. Move all bikes off the streets
6. Signal all pothole-evasive maneuvers

Today, I would like to add #7 to this list. This invention came recently from the country of my origin. Maciej Mroczek, one of Polish MPs, suggested a law (read in Polish) that would require all bicycles to undergo an annual technical inspection. His reasoning is that since all road vehicles are required to obey this law, bicycles should not be excluded.

I am not sure if he thought about the consequences, should such law become real. Bicycle inspections would require a national bicycle registration system and this is not going to be cheap. In fact, given the price of an average bicycle, registration fees would have to be low and it is unlikely that all cyclists would even bother to register their bicycles (Unless it is strictly enforced, which again, generates more costs). Any income from such fees would be negligible compared to the cost of the system. This absurd law would not make anyone happy except, maybe, bike store owners as they would get more business.

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