Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.E
But you know the way we Americans think. One law imposes what we currently have, we pull the "What happened to freedom" card.
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That's because the loss of civil liberties is a very slippery slope. It always starts with things that seem innocuous and a good idea but in the end, become oppressive.
Let's look at this one. We start people out on a 250, then let them graduate up. Great idea. But that sets a precedent. It's a known fact that younger riders are at far greater risk, so to protect public health, let's also prohibit the ownership of a larger bike until they're past the age of high risk. Say, 35 years old…. For that matter, it's known that big-bore sportbikes are far more dangerous than small bikes, so let's also introduce a "super license" requirement with drastically increased training requirements that include track days. Have I pressed your button yet?
You see where this kind of thing can go, once you get into the mindset that legislation to protect people from themselves and to protect society from its own citizens is automatically a good idea.
This is how police states start… bone up on your history. "If you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear." Yeah, right. Tell that to the citizens of the USSR under Stalin. It's easy to enact laws. It's much tougher to make them go away.
This is not to say that it's done intentionally, unlike what many of those on the far end of the political spectrum might suggest. Legislators aren't sitting in Washington thinking up ways to screw with us as if they were a bunch of James Bond movie villains. I truly believe they are trying to do the right thing, with the notable exception that these days, it looks like they're acting just to beat the other party and are not thinking of consequences at all.
Legislation almost always has unintended outcomes. Look at California… the state constitution allows the citizens to vote directly on laws, called "propositions." Great idea, right? Government by the people? The problem is that it has resulted in enormous unfunded mandates that are bankrupting the state.
Hence our tradition of erring on the side of caution that is as old as this country. We are a nation of skeptics, and a good thing, too.
So, do I think that we should mandate restrictions on new riders? You bet. But along with that should be a permanent lifting of restrictions once the trial/probation/testing period is over. I also believe that recurrent testing is a good idea. Private pilots have to get checked out every two years. I think all operators of motor vehicles should have to do something similar… but they should also be allowed to own whatever vehicle they choose once they've proven they can handle it.