Detroit Bike License Updates

As we posted earlier, the Detroit police will soon enforce a 1964 ordinance requiring all bicyclists within Detroit to have a licensed bike.

As expected, the Detroit News published a follow up article:

Detroit Police spokesman James Tate insisted the reason for enforcing the obscure ordinance is not to fine bicyclists.

“We’re trying to get people to register their bikes,” Tate said. “We’ve got hundreds of bikes piled up with no way of knowing who they belong to. The idea isn’t to start handing out tickets to little kids on tricycles.”

If the Detroit Police are seriously concerned about returning stolen bikes, why aren’t they using the National Bike Registry system? The National Bike Registry does provide a way of finding the owners of stolen bikes — and it does it on a nationwide basis.

Unfeasible to Enforce

Yesterday we spoke with attorney Michael Salhaney, who represents the City of Birmingham. We discussed the state law that allows cities to register bikes. He concurred that the state law requires appropriate signs through out the city, making bicycle license enforcement “unfeasible.”

Unreasonable Expectation

Also, as Dustin commented earlier, imagine if all cities started enforcing similar registrations? It’s an unreasonable expectation for cyclists to visit the police station of each city they ride through to register their bike. And it’s even more unreasonable in Detroit since the bike licenses are only for sale Mondays through Friday from 9am until 5pm.

Note that riding an unlicensed bike to the police to get it registered is against Detroit’s city ordinance.

A Better Solution

A much better solution for registering stolen bikes is to use the National Bike Registry, especially since the advent of craigslist and eBay mean stolen bikes are less likely to stay in the city where they were stolen. Cyclists can register their bike on a nationwide basis for roughly $1 per year. Or, they can pay 99 cents to register a recently stolen bicycle, which is a no-brainer.

It’s also critical that cyclists record the make, model, color, and serial number of their bikes. In case a bike is stolen, this is invaluable information that make it more likely the bike can be found. Bike serial numbers are typically found underneath the bottom bracket, where the pedals go through the bike frame.

If you have a camera, you may want to take some photos of the bike and serial number. They may come in useful in case it’s ever stolen.

Another part of the solution? The Detroit Police should set up an account with the National Bike Registry so they can clear out their “hundreds and hundreds” of recovered bikes.