Iiidiots!

Is the New York City Council made up of, as Napolean Dynamite would say, "Iiidiots!?!"

Some entrepreneurial individuals from New York City have found a partial solution to the city's traffic problems (link):

Known as pedicabs, these vehicles look like giant tricycles with a passenger carriage in the back. Some tourists and New Yorkers see them as an affordable, pollution-free way to see the city and sail through gridlock.

Of course, as Alex Tabarrok points out, the almighty New York City Council (peace be upon them), in their omniscient way, have decided that to save the ignorant and stupid masses (particulary tourists), they must impose regulations on the innovative pedicab operators.

"It is disconcerting that New Yorkers and tourists are riding in these devices without oversight in place -- non-inspected devices that may not have proper safety equipment or insurance," said Iris Weinshall, New York's transportation commissioner. "We simply cannot wait for a tragic accident involving a pedicab to occur."

Yeah, I bet you're losing a lot of sleep over it, Iris. And your solution sounds like a great idea. Subject small business owners to so much red tape that they go out of busineess. Then the people that would have ridden in a pedicab--which so far has never been involved in a fatal accident--will instead ride in regular taxis. And of course, New York taxis never crash (PDF).














Image from here.