These old rich pricks probably think, let their hired drivers who normal chauffeur the limos get the license, they aren’t riding a bike period.
I think this is inevitable in the USA. We nanny state everything.
I’m personally all for it, in my part of the world.
A fair chunk of bike riders are pretty sane and as good as you’d expect.
Then a large chunk are just terrible. They are mostly young guys, or kids, on the street, doing wheel stands at traffic speeds, with the traffic. Weaving all over the place. Riding on the road without any knowledge of road rules, nor regard for safety.
Yes, we can police them harder. In my opinion though, better to put a barrier to entry in place.
It doesn’t need to be a large financial burden, more one that separates the young, erratic and foolish riders, from the sensible ones.
The problem with your example, is that punishing everyone with a license and registration, won’t deter that kind of behaviour.
If it did, you’d never hear of people speeding, stunt driving, or driving dangerously in cars.
But I would also add that since bikes are stolen at an alarming rate, what would licensing and registering do to stop someone from joyriding on a stolen bike? Nothing, and they won’t get caught, so it’s no loss to them.
That said, those examples you give are infuriating. There are youtube channels where people “show off” with that kind of riding, even on motorcycles going over 200km/h. I’d love to say just enforce more, but people who do things dangerously on purpose won’t stop because they once got a ticket for it.
Forcing people to go through additional barriers to get out of cars is a massive step backwards, and one that I can only imagine people who advocate for more cars would be behind.
That also ignores that fact that MANY people riding e-bikes are doing so because a traditional bike would be too physically difficult for them to ride. Think: elderly, people with disabilities, people with injuries, people hauling groceries or towing kids, people with hills to climb on their commute, etc. Barrier laws like what’s being proposed discriminate against these people.
