Mell: Could Chicago Require Bicycle Licenses?

33rd Ward Ald. Dick Mell is one of City Council's longest-serving and powerful aldermen. When he asks a question, people listen.

Mell, chairman of City Council's Rules Committee, posed a question for Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein yesterday during budget hearings. (Emphasis ours.)

“I wonder if it’s possible. I guess you can’t do it. But, have ’em licensed. Have a bike license. Put a little tag on it. Pay a couple bucks. But if not that, at least say, ‘Here’s what we’re doing for you. How ’bout doing something for us? How ’bout adhering to the traffic signs?’” Mell said.

Don't take Mell's quote, or what we emphasized, as an indication that bicyclists across the city will suddenly have to pony up for the privilege of being cussed out by drivers. The complications that would arise from trying to implement it are untold and it would only exacerbate the frosty relations between cyclists, pedestrians and motorists. This is more a case of Mell simply thinking aloud, especially as Klein moves to install over 100 more miles of protected bike lanes in the next four years to fulfill Mayor Rahm Emanuel's pledge to make Chicago the most bike-friendly city in America.

Mell did indicate he's content with public service announcements that all moving vehicles must adhere to the rules of the road.

“Some of the bike riders, even in my ward, are upset with some of the other bike riders who put them in the same bag as everybody else. They run right through the red lights. They could care less,” the alderman said.

Mell took the words right out of our mouth.

Active Transportation Alliance executive director Ron Burke said the best deterrent to reckless cycling is enforcing the laws that are already on the books.

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By Chuck Sudo in News on October 27, 2011 8:30 AM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

Mimihaha

What's so terrible about having a bike registry? Wouldn't it make it easier to trace stolen bikes?

Steven Vance

You can register your bike on the police department's website. You do have to register a username on the site.
https://portal.chicagopolice.o...

ChicagoD

We already have that. I think Mell was thinking about a revenue-generating bike tax (i.e. license) more akin to your city sticker on a car.

Navin_Johnson

Was almost hit by a driver who drove through a stop sign this morning in Humboldt Park, she was also yammering on her cell phone at the same time. Fuck this prick.

ChicagoD

Wait, what? I mean, Mell is a prick for a lot of reasons, but what is the relationship between you almost getting hit and this proposal? Can you self-link to one of the fallacies you keep on hand for this sort of thing?

P.S. This morning I drove to work. I realized that all of these discussions have made me much more aware of cyclists than I was before. Some good has come out of all the yammering.

Navin_Johnson

He's a prick, because cyclists aren't the actual problem here as he seems to saying. The comment about "doing something for us" is ridiculous. Once again the cart is put before the course. As for the rest, you're both a bore and a boor.

As the person in that boingboing thread said to you: "Dude, is it your goal to be "that guy" in every single BB thread?" It was polite of them to say "guy" instead of something else.

ChicagoD

Poor Navin. I'm sorry you almost got smeared by a tool on a cell, but I think you need to take a breath before you say something you might regret later.

ChicagoD

El Gringo is loco.

ReverendSlappy

I'm with Chuck in thinking that Mell was just spitballing and nothing will come of it. And even from my perspective (as one who suspects, for example, that the "I don't give half a shit about stop signs/red lights/sidewalks/most applicable laws/pedestrians" contingent of the wider bicycling population is far, far larger than many within it have the stones to admit) it's a tremendously bad idea.

I'm all for increased awareness and enforcement of laws pertaining to bicycles in the city (on both sides of the biker/driver equation). But licensing? A pointless, unsustainable effort.

ScooterLibbby

Just what we need, another bureaucracy!
I wonder which one of Mell's relatives would run it?
I know, his daughter Patti needs a job!

Steven Vance

Every year, a politician somewhere in this country brings up bike licensing. Many municipalities have ceased their licensing schemes when they find out it's a barrier to cycling (which goes against their goals to increase cycling) and the scheme costs so much all of the money goes to pay for administering it.