Institute a pocket-bike ban

Sorry kids, there's no way to argue your way out of this one. For the sake of your young lives and your delicate noggins, the pocket bikes have to go.

Rep. Brad L. Dee, R-Ogden, wants them off public property, which would include streets, highways, paths and sidewalks. He has introduced HB159, which would also prohibit anyone under 8 years old from operating a minibike and prohibit drivers from taking any passengers on the bikes. The legislation also addresses "souping up" minimotorcycles, pocket bikes and motor scooters.

The statewide ban on pocket bikes on public property would expand bans imposed by cities and at least one county in recent months. The thinking behind the bans has been that low-profile vehicles are a growing hazard to riders and other motorists. They are difficult to see on roadways and most lack safety devices such as brakes on both tires, lights, horns or mirrors. Riders can travel up to 40 mph or faster with their feet about 6 inches from the road. There have been instances nationwide in which riders — even those wearing helmets — have been killed or seriously injured.

If history is a guide, there will be some people who decry a statewide ban as state government playing the role of nanny. Government can't save people from their bad choices, but if it can curb certain trouble in public places, it ought to, especially if the victims tend to be minors. A ban of pocket bikes on public property will limit their use to private property, where they become matters of private liability. If people elect to buy these bikes for their children, they do so at their own peril. The government, through this legislation, will have discouraged the use of these bikes as much as it possibly can. Some communities have gone so far as to ban the sales of pocket bikes, period.

Dee's bill doesn't go that far. But it would go a long way toward relieving riders and other drivers of the potential of horrific — but preventable — traffic accidents.