I JUST WANT 2 RIDE!!

Generic French Motorcycle Protest

In a bid to reduce pollution in the city, the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo (a Socialist of course) is attempting to ban all motorcycle produced before 2000. She is also going to ban cars built before 1996. From what I can tell, as there has been little English reporting on this (or at least that is what Google reports), she pulled the dates for those bans from her …. Thin air.

This ban is all about age as it does not allow for upgrading your vehicles to current EU exhaust standards. But, if you cannot afford a new vehicle Paris will help you finance a new one or provide you accommodation on public transport.

So from my limited results research I was able to discern the following:

1. The poor citizens of Paris are out of luck buying cheap vehicles.
2. Any small businesses working on retrofitting exhausts are out of luck.
3. The Socialist are going to buy your vote with low/no interest loans for your new bike. (and then raise taxes to pay for it)
4. Vehicle dealerships are, most likely, the largest contributors to the Socialist Party in Paris.
5. A year from now Comrade Mayor Hidalgo will be calling for a tax increase to support public transportation based on all the poor folks who cannot afford a vehicle.

Of course, as with all socialist and progressives, their good intentions are more important than if there are any actual results. I would be surprised if she is basing her proposed ban on actual science (or what is passing for it today). I would be very interested in seeing the air quality results 1 year after the ban is imposed. I am sure it will report that the air in Paris is 10,000% better now that the terrible vehicles have been removed…..no matter what the instrumentation really reports. Of course the real reason is for the state to be in your business and direct your life as they see fit and make you pay for that privilage.

This ban will go into effect April 2015 unless it is defeated by the city council on the 9^th of February. The French Federation of Angry Bikers (I did not make that up) is going to attempt to shut down the roadways in Paris on the 8^th of February in protest. Let us hope this craziness is stopped before it spreads to the rest of the world.