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Comment by petesergeant | Hacker News Reader

I assume governance is the art of the possible, and banning motorbikes is impossible for political reasons, where banning hobby vehicles looks pretty straight-forward.

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Governance is also the art of getting the most for your financial and political capital. The fact that the Mass RMV is taking the time and effort to write up and defend a bespoke policy for a super niche vehicle class is a bit of a head scratcher.

Only 7500 kei vehicles are imported into the entire US each year - is this really a problem that needs addressing?

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/07/14/business/kei-trucks-japan...

Given the huge volume produced in Japan, if you want to prevent them on the roads then it seems worth nipping the problem in the bud?

I’m biased because I bike everyday through Boston but - I just don’t agree with their assessment that they are a problem, or at least to the degree that it’s definitively worth addressing.

Being visible as a pedestrian or biker is a lot easier with kei cars parked on the street than some of the F150s I have to deal with now. Many of Boston’s streets are also notoriously tight compared to other sections of the country.

If there was wider movement kei cars (which is a big assumption - I can’t imagine many people would be willing to tolerate right side driving) there would be more road injuries of the drivers, probably, but that would also be weighed against injuries to non drivers.

> I just don’t agree with their assessment that they are a problem

And I don’t have an opinion either way, but it seems reasonable for the appropriate government agency to, even if the issue is currently pretty limited

Motorbikes are hobby vehicles.

Not in a city they aren't. They are an excellent commuting tool that offers much of the flexibility of a car for a fraction of the cost and much better commute time.

And several times the noise and pollution.

OK, I'll need to see a source on increased pollution. I really doubt that a motorcycle is putting out more pollution than an average American-size vehicle. For example, my sport bike gets 59MPG, and I've owned multiple bikes that got >100mpg. Even without a catalytic converter, how is that more pollution than a single commuter driving in a truck or SUV getting 20MPG and likely shedding more road and tire particulate due to the increased weight.

Edit: although the noise thing is valid, I'm perpetually annoyed with the "loud pipes save lives" crowd, that's obnoxious.

For exhaust emissions, motorcycles are often dramatically worse than modern vehicles with catalytic converters.

https://gearjunkie.com/motors/motorcycle-vs-vehicle-emission...

Of note, that article was mostly highlighting older motorcycles as dramatically worse when comparing them to newer vehicles.

See this article to show how a modern motorcycle would be ~100x less polluting than the example vehicle given in the article referenced:

https://www.acem.eu/new-euro-5-environmental-standard-for-mo...

Does that include motorcycles that have illegal aftermarket exhaust systems with all emission controls removed in an effort to make them as loud as possible? This accounts for about 80% of them, so it's irrelevant how they function by design.

This is absolutely false. Any motorcycle you can buy in the US is required to meet both noise and pollution standards.

They might have to be that way to buy them new from the factory.

But the moment it belongs to you and even before you leave the lot, you can have illegal aftermarket exhaust systems installed that not one governing body in the United States, nor most of the rest of the world, will come close to enforcing any noise or emissions laws against.

The point is that motorcycles are well-established cultural icons. While road safety folks would likely be delighted to ban them, there would be a huge political backlash. Kei cars are not, there's very few people that even know what they are compared to motorcycles, let alone want to drive them on the road.

Motorbikes as a category includes scooters/mopeds which are utility and commuting vehicles anywhere from Italy to Indonesia.

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