Newsroom

Bicycle registration not the answer

Bike registration – rego won’t stop crashes, won't make our roads safer and registration doesn’t pay for roads. It would, however, stop people from riding bikes.

Bicycle Network response to Tasmanian Motorcycle Council call for bicycle registration from Public Affairs Adviser, Alison Hetherington: 

“Riding a bicycle is one of the easiest ways to get the physical activity we need to stay healthy. We want it be easier to ride a bike not harder, and registration would make it harder.

“The motorcycle council’s main complaint seems to be about riding two abreast, which is legal in Tasmania.

“Riding two abreast is considered safer than single file as the riders are more visible to vehicle drivers.

“Each year some more than 30 people die and close to 300 are seriously injured on Tasmania’s roads. We want to see the road safety levy spent on initiatives that will bring that toll down, bicycle registration would be a waste of this money.

“No other Australian state, or indeed other countries, have bicycle registration.

“Bicycle registration would do little to help compliance with road rules. If someone riding a bicycle breaks the law, then police can pull them over and charge them, just as they would stop and charge a pedestrian.  

“We want to see greater respect and patience from all road users to each other because our lives depend on it.

See the article as it appeared in The Mercury

Read more about why bike rego is and always will be a bad idea