As reported today by the Detroit News:
The Detroit City Council voted 7-0 Tuesday to repeal a controversial ordinance that allows police to issue tickets to people who don’t register their bicycles.
Bike registration law rolls toward repeal
A Back Alley Bikes/Trips for Kids Detroit ride through Downtown
Detroit’s Council’s Public Health and Safety Committee wants to put the brakes on enforcing the bicycle licensing program. During today’s public hearing, the Committee heard many perspectives from the police and public.
Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel motioned for removing all of the current bike licensing language. She wants to meet with the police and stakeholder groups (including cyclists) during the Council’s August recess to develop new bicycle ordinance language that makes sense.
There was perhaps a three dozen cyclists in attendance, most of whom provided public comment in support of the motion. Some cyclists in the audience had already received tickets for riding a bicycle without a license. One cyclist had also received a ticket for not having a bell or horn on their bike — another Detroit ordinance.
Perhaps the best quote of the day was from Bike Riders United’s Ron Scott. Scott invited the police to “Get on the bike with us and ride in the same direction.”
The Committee motion was approved and will be voted on by the entire Council tomorrow.
Detroit, Michigan
The Detroit City Council’s Public Health and Safety Committee is holding a public hearing to remove the Detroit bike license requirement. That meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 28th at 10:30 AM at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center (Jefferson at Woodward.) Please plan on arriving prior to 10 AM to avoid disturbing the Committee meeting.
We certainly could use some Detroit residents at this hearing to voice their support for this change.
The hope is that Council and Mayor can remove the required licensing prior to their August recess. During that recess we will work with Council and others to look at alternative ordinance language that would still allow police to identify and return stolen bikes without heavy fines for those cyclists who are unlicensed.
The City Council members at yesterday’s Public Health and Safety Committee meeting expressed support for biking in Detroit. Council President Ken Cockrel commented that he rides 3-4 times a week. He rightfully noted that unswept streets with broken glass is one issue he faces during his rides.
Overall it was a great discussion and it certainly seems we are making lemonade from the original lemon.
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.
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.”
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 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.
The Detroit News ran an article today about Detroit Police plans to ticket cyclists in Detroit on unlicensed bikes:
In a city that has one of the nation’s highest crime rates, Detroit cops have been given the order to start cracking down on unregistered bicycles.
Starting Aug. 7, officers will start issuing $55 tickets if bikes are unregistered. The dollar-a-year licenses are good for five years.
“You’d think the Detroit cops would have better things to worry about than giving out fines to people who don’t register their bikes,” said Detroiter Marv Adams, 56.
But the real story is the law is unenforceable under state law.
To begin with MCL 257.606 sub-section (1)(i) states that local authorities can “[Regulate] the operation of bicycles and requiring the registration and licensing of bicycles, including the requirement of a registration fee.” The CIty of Detroit can require bicycle licenses.
However, MCL 257.606 sub-section (3) says that such a requirement “shall not be enforceable until signs giving notice of the local traffic regulations are posted upon or at the entrance to the highway or street or part of the highway or street affected, as may be most appropriate, and are sufficiently legible as to be seen by an ordinarily observant person.”
Detroit does not have any such signage nor have we heard of any plans to add any. Posting such signs around all the major city entrances would involve a major cost. I am unaware of any city within Michigan that has taken such a drastic step to make bike license registration an enforceable ordinance.
The Detroit Chief of Police has been alerted to the state law.
The Detroit News expects to run a follow up story tomorrow. They have received considerable feedback on this. Needless to say, this police announcement has not made very many people happy.
In these times of high fuel prices and people looking at alternative means of getting around, we shouldn’t be looking to penalize those riding bikes in Detroit.