Number Plates News

Jersey Drags Up The Cycle Plates Idea Yet Again

26 April 2010

The spectre of the number plate for cyclists raises its head again as the government of Jersey is considering road tax for two-wheelers. The proposals involve a £50 registration fee topped up by a £5 annual charge.

If the experience of governments around the world is heeded, the idea is unlikely to get off the ground. The proposals contain no magical solutions to the age-old problems of fixing any form of readable number plate to a bicycle without it becoming a safety hazard to pedestrians, other than a half-serious suggestion that the cyclists themselves might wear the number on prescribed high-visibility clothing.

The root of the Jersey initiative and all similar plans lies in the misconception that motorists alone pay road tax, so why should the peddlers be let off. This, of course, reveals a somewhat flawed and simplistic comprehension of the way in which taxation works in practice.

Jersey actually abolished the road fund licence as far back as 1937. As in all other parts of the UK, road maintenance is funded from central and local taxation. The 'Road Tax' paid by motorists is, in reality, little more than a token levy on the privilege of motoring itself. It bears no more direct relationship to building or maintaining roads than National Insurance does to the cost of supporting the National Health Service.

As a consequence, the roads are available to anyone and everyone: cars, bikes, horses, prams and pedestrians. Rarely has anyone seriously suggested a charge to use a zebra crossing.

Nevertheless, Jersey seems determined to resurrect an earlier cycle registration scheme which it abandoned back in 1973 after it became apparent that the administration cost exceeded the revenue achieved.

An official report argues that, "Across the world, from Sark to Tonga and America to Australia, plus many European countries like Switzerland, have cycle registration.”

However, Switzerland is set to drop its scheme due to the cost involved, most North American systems have been abandoned, and there has never been one in Australia anyway.

With such flawed background information, it would be comforting to think that common sense would prevail. But, depressingly, this is rarely the way government works and it looks like a lot of hot air and taxpayers' cash will be expended before this latest episode is consigned to the footnotes of Channel Islands history.

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