CYCLE IMPORTER SUGGESTS DIVERTING ILLEGAL DIRT BIKES TO MONEY-MAKING TOURISM PROJECT
By Emmanuel Joseph
One of the island’s leading cycle retailers and importers is recommending that transport authorities grant an amnesty to operators of bikes which are not now eligible to use public roads and help them turn an illegal endeavour into a legitimate tourism project.
The suggestion has come from manager of Demario’s Cycle World Ralph Redman, in light of last weekend’s seizure by police of more than half a dozen dirt bikes during an operation at Rose Hill, St Peter.
Police spokesman Acting Inspector Rodney Inniss told Barbados TODAY on Monday that the motorcycles had been taken into custody due to a lack of insurance and licence, even as law enforcement officers await proof of ownership “and other traffic-related matters”.
Inniss declined to specify if that operation was part of an island-wide exercise but said investigations are ongoing.
However, Redman is adamant that the trouble the bikers were experiencing with the police could be resolved if the Government recognised the economic benefits dirt bike competitions can deliver for the tourism industry.
“With the tourism industry…they could put up a track, people can come and ride and do what they want to do because it is a big sport…in St Lucia and those places. We go down there to the rides and the competitions…even in the United States. The guys see what’s happening on TV in the sport and they do the same thing [in Barbados],” the businessman told Barbados TODAY on Monday.
“The only way to control it [dirt bikes on public highways] is for the Government to look at it seriously and do a little amnesty and bring these guys together. I tried bringing them together when I first started this business and all the push-back I got just affected me, and I just forgot about it.”
Stressing that the bikes that were seized were not road worthy as they did not have lights and indicators, the cycle retailer added: “Years ago, I sat down and was trying to get the Government to come to terms to help in the areas that they getting so many problems now, but at the time the Supervisor of Insurance wasn’t really interested and the Government wasn’t interested even though I had put it plain out to them. These things are on the road, they are not insured nor they are not licensed.”
Explaining his amnesty call, Redman noted that under the current system, a person cannot get a licence unless their name is attached to bike insurance.
“Now, I think that is wrong,” he contended.
“So, I figured that if the Government would do an amnesty and bring in the guys [for discussions]…. that would have helped in many ways. As long as [a person] can prove that he owns the bike, he would be able to get the licence and insurance. But not being able to get insurance is one of the things that make matters bad for the guys…. A guy brings in a bike and he can’t get it insured, of course he is going to put it on the road,” asserted Redman who explained that while his core business is the sale of “business bikes” such as those used by postal workers, he also imports dirt bikes by order.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
