Defending Children's Rights to Ride Motorcycles
(They're under threat)
Dear readers,
Our mission at Marin Lately has always been to serve and alarm this community. In the course of successfully completing that mission, we have published any number of upsetting news stories. But none more retroactively poignant than this one:
To be dangerously frank with you, we never thought that day would actually come. We assumed outraged families would fight to end the long history of discrimination against children re: motorcycles (which goes back, cruelly, to the invention of the technology). In a very real sense, our reporting was meant to drum up that very outrage.
Now, unfortunately – as we warned, but certainly not as the founders intended – police in Mill Valley have begun seizing motorcycles from children. And not just any children.
Our children.
Specifically, our son.
After raising awareness about this important issue affecting our family, we received an outpouring of support, as well as an inpouring of less supportive comments. Some of these latter have been very hurtful to our son, who in the wake of the confiscation has been forced to ride a very embarrassing “regular old bicycle” to school.
We also shared our story with news outlets, joining a growing chorus of parents speaking out about this important transportation-rights issue.
We are prepared to take this fight all the way to the Supreme Court, which is now stacked with justices who probably consider childhood access to e-hogs to be inalienable. If that fails, we plan to write a letter to you-know-who. We believe he will be inclined to pardon our son and order the immediate release of the motorcycle.
Thank you to those of you who have supported us during this difficult time, and we hope this goes some way towards explaining “what’s going on with us.”
Honesty, I surprised and disappointed by this piece, as well as the June 24 article "The Nanny State is Coming for Your Child's Motorcycle."
I've ridden motorcycles since I was old enough to get a driver's license, so I'm not against dirt bikes, scooters, street bikes. In college, I worked at several motorcycle dealerships over the years, chiefly as the parts department guy who prepared damage repair estimates. A disproportionate number of the bikes brought to those were ridden by kids 16 or younger. Parents I talked to reported concussions, broken bones, impact damage to vital organs---but fortunately no deaths. Those cases tended to be young adult men under 25 riding high-performance street bikes.
Younger kids (10-14) favored dirt bikes in the 80-125cc range, older (and taller) teenagers preferred more powerful bikes in the 250-350cc range. None of these models were approved for on-street use; any kind of data on accidents and injuries is scarce because there was no requirement to report them.
Today, the performance of some Class 2 and most Class 3 eBikes is comparable to late 1990's vintage 125cc dirt bikes. What's striking is that California law currently sets no age limit or licensing requirement on them for on-street use. As a pedestrian and motorist, I think that this is a dangerous public policy that will end in tragedy for a number of families.
The Department of Motor Vehicles, not the eBike industry, should be responsible for classifying eBikes based on their horsepower and performance characteristics. Licenses and proficiency tests should be required for models that are comparable to gasoline-powered machines and used on public streets. Off-street use should be limited to designated areas, just as motorcycles are.
As a motorist and pedestrian, these seem like basic common sense public safety measures.
Naturally, parents will make their own choices about the transportation and the recreational activities available to their kids. That prerogative, however, should not include the right to allow minor children to operate powerful eBikes on public streets and sidewalks.
Just to clarify; you do like your son, right?