...Group 1 seems to be populated entirely by multiple DUI offenders who lost their drivers licenses and now want to ride their China Girl powered bikes on the street with no restrictions whatsoever. I think this is a losing strategy destined for failure. When laws get passed you never get less restrictions, always more...
@CroMagnum, quite a good post above but know that you've throwing light upon one of the dark little secrets of the motorized bicycle world that mostly gets avoided.
It's the elephant in the room no one wants to talk about...
I disagree - I personally think it's absolutely ridiculous to require a license for such a low speed, simple vehicle as a motorized bicycle as defined by most states (and I have
never been ticketed, suspended or otherwise penalized for drunkenness) & it's hardly a conspiratorial "dark secret", something "no one wants to talk about" rather it's just futile & pointless, the public passive, the perpetrators are so commonplace and impenitent, even incorrigibly self righteous
despite the obvious - that it isn't the license that's an issue, it's the fact they have and continue to show a complete and absolute disregard for responsibility, perpetually endangering themselves as well as others with reckless behavior, intoxicated or otherwise - as this is most often why a license was lost in the first place, obviously it's requirement & subsequent suspension is ineffective.
Requiring or not requiring a license to operate a motorized bicycle is almost beside the point, it's primarily used to facilitate identification (a political trend) - you don't need a license to be penalized for reckless endangerment, you can get an OUI/DUI/DWI on a pedal bicycle, a drunken disorderly just walking down the street intoxicated & boisterous. There's been an increase towards mandating having identification at all times, but this has very little to do with trying to reduce offenses and far more to do with generalized tracking & control of the population - regardless of if there's a motor vehicle involved or not.
The state of Maine requires an operator's license to utilize a motorized bicycle on public roadways and I can assure you this does
nothing to reduce the number of repeat offenders or to discourage them from choosing motorized bicycles to try and "cheat" their restriction, the number of shoddy budweiser bikes is constantly on the rise regardless - as are illegal mopeds, scooters as are unregistered, uninsured Ford Escorts for that matter.
I'm both offended and dismayed by the association of drunk drivers with motorized bicycles, furious at the "right to travel drivel to justify riding on the street without a license" would be so demeaned by that reference alone w/o consideration, that due the incompetence/sheer laziness/agenda of our lawmakers & enforcers that I should be required to carry my "papers" with me at all times despite my law abiding nature, the general criminalization of the populace that has done no wrong, but suffer the consequences of those that have.
If one simply manages to ride/act in a safe, mature & respectful fashion requiring or even having identification/licensing is a moot point - being stopped anyway to check ID harassment. If someone is riding/acting recklessly then and only then should they be penalized & if they should so choose to not have identification they can easily be held, their identity confirmed for subsequent repercussions.
...but this simple, appropriate approach that sufficed for years untold won't be permitted, or continue for much longer where it still is. In the above, I'd say "When laws get passed you never get less restrictions, always more..." is far more relevant than "the DUI crowd" as while they're a problem, they are far more an excuse than a cause, their association with motorized bicycles due to their numbers - but that's a symptom of a far larger issue (socioeconomics, ie gasbikes are cheap). An interesting example of this is when I ride one of my gasbikes, there's the assumption that I'm suspended (to the point I want a shirt that says "I'm not a drunk FFS"), yet when I ride my far more costly ebike
no one has
ever made that association.
I may well be a minority - but their
are those of us that choose to ride motorized bicycles, that haven't lost their license yet still think mandated identification excessive.
