On 22/04/2017 18:43, Bret Cahill wrote:

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/livab...421-story.html

QUOTE:
In Los Angeles and virtually every city in North America, bicycle theft
has almost become a crime without consequence, so widespread that it is
treated less as a problem and more like one of the costs of urban life.
Thieves can quickly cut locks on a target that serves as its own getaway
vehicle, sell their ill-gotten goods to fencers for pennies on the
dollar, and rest assured they will almost never be busted.
ENDQUOTE

Wouldn't it be easier to combat that sort of crime if bicycles were
easier to track once stolen - and pouldn't just be re-used with impunity
as long as they were just a reasonable distance from the true owner's
home ground?

There could be a manufacturer's ID built into the frame somewhere.

We could call it the Vehicle Identification Number.

And if the bike had a clear and unique public registration plate,
visible to any passer-by, any road-user or any police officer, renewed
annually (except where the VIN marked them as stolen or had been
erased/defaced or was otherwise not on the list of valid VINs), it would
be much harder for a market for stolen bikes to exist. Thieves would be
reduced to cutting them up for spares, which is W O R K.

If cars didn't have VINs and registration plates, I dare say that even
more of those would be stolen and never reappear.

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