Gerry Breen at it again: Call for all bicycles to have reg plates

droidus

ALL bicycles should have registration plates, a Dublin City councillor has claimed. Cllr Gerry Breen (pictured) will call for cyclists to bear the plates at tomorrow’s transport committee meeting. The meeting is being held to re-assess the controversial new 30kmh city speed limit.

According to the herald/metro freerag. Thats the full article - dont bother checking the website - its hellishly slow. http://e-edition.metroireland.ie/

Lumen

Lumen

Cabaal

How the hell was dumb enough to elect an idiot like that?

blorg

Fine Gael really don't do much to come across as a cycling-friendly party.

Bunnyhopper

droidus wrote: »

IF you cycle in Dublin don't vote for Fine Gael, a Dublin City councillor has claimed. Cllr Gerry Breen (pictured) will call for cyclists to vote for someone else.

According to the herald/metro freerag. Thats the full article - dont bother checking the website - its hellishly slow. http://e-edition.metroireland.ie/

fyp

Lumen

blorg wrote: »

Fine Gael really don't do much to come across as a cycling-friendly party.

doozerie

It's not him, but it's close enough:



For no good reason, other than maybe to give people some reason to scream at their screens, this is him and I see that he lists environmental protection as one of his priorities which seems a bit at odds with his childish "you cyclists are responsible for this so I'm gonna pull your hair and make you cry" antics.

blorg

Lumen wrote: »

Sunday Business Post wrote:

Kenny gets into happy slapping
Sunday, May 06, 2007 -
The government might be hell bent on outlawing ‘happy slapping’, those random attacks perpetrated by youths on strangers which are caught on video or photographed and circulated among their friends and on the internet. But what to do when some would-be members of the government are involved in this less than jocular activity?

For the slapping was anything but happy for one Last Post agent caught out while cycling through Donnybrook last week.

Snared between a bus and a politician’s election placard, the cyclist had no choice but to be slapped on the head by Enda Kenny as he jutted out from a lamp post and into the cycle lane - not once, but every time the poster appeared along the busy thoroughfare.

Now, cyclists must endure all sorts in the capital: they are invisible to Aircoach and Bus Eireann buses, a piece of sport for taxis and car drivers on their mobile phones and are regularly ‘taken out’ by jaywalking pedestrians.

Perhaps, as with the real happy slapping, the point of the assault is not to injure the victim or to steal anything from them, but rather to humiliate and terrify them into submission. But as the only people doing anything at all to cut down traffic chaos and carbon emissions, Kenny’s poster etiquette has merely terrified cyclists into voting for someone else.

http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2007/05/06/story23267.asp

RobFowl

Lumen wrote: »

Cycling 'loolahs' were taking control of the city and should be stopped, Cllr Gerry Breen claimed today.
Cycling extremists had taken centre stage and "their unstated aim seems to be removing all car traffic from the city". Calling the move a health and safety issue was rubbish, he said. "Anything can be pushed under that heading. If we all stayed in bed there would be no car accidents and we'd all die of obesity and boredom," he quipped.


http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/end-this-madness-now-says-breen-2047942.html

Ghost Rider

What a brilliant piece of rhetoric. If we all died of obesity and boredom, that would hardly be "health and safety". Dipstick.

RobFowl wrote: »

"Anything can be pushed under that heading. If we all stayed in bed there would be no car accidents and we'd all die of obesity and boredom," he quipped.


http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/end-this-madness-now-says-breen-2047942.html

kenmc

Most bikes do have registrations... usually on the bottom bracket or down tube or rear dropout.

blorg

kenmc wrote: »

Most bikes do have registrations... usually on the bottom bracket or down tube or rear dropout.

We need visible registrations so we can arrest errant cyclists and throw away the key.

Chips Lovell

This is the political equivalent of trolling to be honest. He knows well that there is no chance of it ever being introduced, but is just coming out with it for the attention he'll get.

blorg

el tonto wrote: »

This is the political equivalent of trolling to be honest. He knows well that there is no chance of it ever being introduced, but is just coming out with it for the attention he'll get.

I doubt the council even have the legal standing to implement it.

Chips Lovell

blorg wrote: »

I doubt the council even have the legal standing to implement it.

I'm pretty sure that's case actually. If I was a reporter on that story that's the first question I'd be asking him.

niceonetom

Is he the same toolbag that called for the wearing of styrofoam hats to be made compulsory?

blorg

niceonetom wrote: »

Is he the same toolbag that called for the wearing of styrofoam hats to be made compulsory?

From a post by monument:

2/03/2009

59. It was proposed by Councillor P Crimmins and seconded by Councillor G Breen “That the City Council ask the Manager in the interest of cycle safety if cycle helmets could be made compulsory for all?” The motion was put and defeated.

I don't think they had legal standing to do that either.

ednwireland

niceonetom wrote: »

Is he the same toolbag that called for the wearing of styrofoam hats to be made compulsory?

i think anyone in dublin should have to wear a gorilla suit when cycling (with visvest and helmet of course)

can i be a dublin city councillor now ?

tomasrojo

Tormey (FG) and Breen (FG) are doing valuable public service. I know which party not to vote for now.

Lawr

I don't think registration is a bad idea; it's what these slobs in office do with it. Legislating mandatory registration of bicycles is only the first step. Then comes the user tax: the registration fee.

Maitre And finally, monsieur, a wafer-thin mint.
Mr Creosote: No.
Maitre Oh sir! It's only a tiny little thin one.
Mr Creosote: No. **** off - I'm full...
Maitre Oh sir... it's only wafer thin.

What they gave with the cycle to work scheme, they'll take away with the registration fee. And how will they set the fee? By gears on your cassette?

You'd feel bad for those choosing the Campy 11-speed, wouldn't you? That's high-end gear, though. You won't feel bad for them for long. The new F'GOligarchy (distinguished from the F'FOligarchy only by the colour and location of their fundraising tent--they are slaves to the same powerful influences and only get into office by having browner noses than the F'FOligars, if that's possible) would demand equality. The five, six and seven speeders would be getting off scot-free. The F'GOligars couldn't stomach that any more than the F'FOligars. They would have to find an equalizer. After all, what's good for the golden goose is good for the lame duck.

Weight. There would be some indecipherable equation that balances the number of gears on the cassette against the bicycle's weight.

Given that most of those six, seven and eight speeds are probably steel or low-end aluminum bikes ridden mostly by over-weight secondary-school/college-aged kids and older working-class commuters with suspended licences (as a result of predictable indiscretions), they'll include the weight of the cyclist in with the weight of the bike.

All bikes will be NCT'd each year. Officials will check for lights, reflectors, condition of the chain, cables, shifters and derailleurs, number of gears and weight of cyclist and bike. All the information will be fed into the magic mathematical calculator. Presto! Chango! Registration fee.

There will be some consternation when after the first year it is revealed that lower-geared, heavier bikes owned by the same people that tend to come form poorer neighbourhoods, work in low-end jobs and eat a lot of unhealthy fast foods are paying the bulk of the registration. The F'Goligarchy will inevitably argue that, sure, there are many more of these types of bicycles on the roads and doesn't it make sense that the amount they pay is commensurate with the girth of their demographic profile, and don't the people who pedal these bikes produce most of the green house gases anyway. Shouldn't they pay for their contribution to the deterioration of the ozone? If they want to pay less, they should eat less meat, get a a 10-speed, carbon-framed bicycle and listen to old Beatles recordings on their iphones while cycling.

Should we talk about specialized plates?

DirkVoodoo

I'm getting one of these for my license plate:



As for the custom registration, hmmm:

"W4NK3R"
"3URO"
"CLIMB3R"

I can't see why people are against it, it's another chance to fly the colours! More customization options, more things to buy!

Lawr

That's the spirit, Dirk!!!

sy

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

....
As for the custom registration, hmmm:

"W4NK3R"
"3URO"
"CLIMB3R"

"X32 LARO" (laterally inverted for rear view mirror)
"MAF 14"
"U T0S5ER"
"M0R4N"
"B0ARD5"
"UR LAT3" (might be blorgs number!)

sy

This might be mine

delta_bravo

Im sick of this bullsh*t from councillors. Spouting populist nonsense just to drum up support from non cyclists and to make them look good by proposing ideas which are completely illogical. I sent him an email to inform him as such, I wonder if he will respond.

Victor

RobFowl wrote: »

Cycling 'loolahs' were taking control of the city and should be stopped, Cllr Gerry Breen claimed today.
Cycling extremists had taken centre stage and "their unstated aim seems to be removing all car traffic from the city". Calling the move a health and safety issue was rubbish, he said. "Anything can be pushed under that heading. If we all stayed in bed there would be no car accidents and we'd all die of obesity and boredom," he quipped.


http://www.herald.ie/national-news/city-news/end-this-madness-now-says-breen-2047942.html

Is he suggesting that cyclists are encouraging obesity?

And doesn't he know how many people die in beds?