Got A License For That Thing?

We have licenses to allow military personnel into nuclear facilities, but can they drive?

Get a license for your vehicle, they said, you can't drive without one. But what does a driver's license actually say about your skill as a driver? Pretty much not a damn thing.

This matters to cyclists because we are at risk every day we ride in public by drivers who may, or most likely not, be very good at actually driving. It's pretty ridiculous, actually. Think about the following:

• We make semi-tractor trailer drivers actually prove their skill at driving.
• We actually make motor cyclist prove their proficiency at handling a motor cycle. 
• Race car drivers are held to high standards for driving skill.

But every day drivers can pretty much waltz right into their living rooms, fire up a computer, and order up an extension on their license for years. Young people are sent through a rudimentary driver's education class, charged an exorbitant fee, and when they pass, they get a license to drive without ever having to show their skill set in driving a car. Then they are never tested again for the remainder of their lives. 

Wut, wut?!! 

So, maybe you are one of those that thinks I belong on a bicycle path. Get offa my roads! You don't want to have to "deal with me". Okay, so like the bicycle path I went by yesterday with a smashed bench where a car went right across the path? Hmm.....yeah. Bicycle paths will keep me safe from blithering idiots that cannot slow down in inclement weather. Right........

Anyway, I've said it for years, (and this article prompted me to remember) cars and trucks are too easily gotten by unskilled drivers and are too easy to drive in the first place. 

You want to license cyclists? I'm good with that if you have to prove your acumen in a car/truck every three years for the rest of your life. Not by some "pat on the back", wink-wink testing procedure either, but a Bondurant driving school type testing procedure. If you don't know how to safely make evasive maneuvers, when to use slower speeds in inclement weather, or ......pay attention, then why in the world should you be allowed a license to pilot a potential 5,000lb death machine?


The answer is that you shouldn't. Period.


 

Got A License For That Thing?

We have licenses to allow military personnel into nuclear facilities, but can they drive?

Get a license for your vehicle, they said, you can't drive without one. But what does a driver's license actually say about your skill as a driver? Pretty much not a damn thing.

This matters to cyclists because we are at risk every day we ride in public by drivers who may, or most likely not, be very good at actually driving. It's pretty ridiculous, actually. Think about the following:

• We make semi-tractor trailer drivers actually prove their skill at driving.
• We actually make motor cyclist prove their proficiency at handling a motor cycle. 
• Race car drivers are held to high standards for driving skill.

But every day drivers can pretty much waltz right into their living rooms, fire up a computer, and order up an extension on their license for years. Young people are sent through a rudimentary driver's education class, charged an exorbitant fee, and when they pass, they get a license to drive without ever having to show their skill set in driving a car. Then they are never tested again for the remainder of their lives. 

Wut, wut?!! 

So, maybe you are one of those that thinks I belong on a bicycle path. Get offa my roads! You don't want to have to "deal with me". Okay, so like the bicycle path I went by yesterday with a smashed bench where a car went right across the path? Hmm.....yeah. Bicycle paths will keep me safe from blithering idiots that cannot slow down in inclement weather. Right........

Anyway, I've said it for years, (and this article prompted me to remember) cars and trucks are too easily gotten by unskilled drivers and are too easy to drive in the first place. 

You want to license cyclists? I'm good with that if you have to prove your acumen in a car/truck every three years for the rest of your life. Not by some "pat on the back", wink-wink testing procedure either, but a Bondurant driving school type testing procedure. If you don't know how to safely make evasive maneuvers, when to use slower speeds in inclement weather, or ......pay attention, then why in the world should you be allowed a license to pilot a potential 5,000lb death machine?


The answer is that you shouldn't. Period.