Queens Councilwoman Vickie Paladino says NYC bicyclists should be forced to get licensed and insurance

Queens Councilwoman Vickie Paladino peddled the idea Monday that biking in New York City should be subject to licensing and insurance requirements — drawing backlash from safe street advocates who flew off the handle in response to the logistically dubious proposal.

Paladino, a Republican, floated the notion of regulations on two-wheel riding in response to a bike crash that happened in Prospect Park over the weekend.

“If only cyclists were required to register, display plates, and carry liability insurance … incidents like this — which happen frequently — would have accountability,” Paladino tweeted of the Sunday bicycle accident. “As cycling becomes a bigger part of our transit mix, it is crucial that accountability follow along, for the sake of everyone who must share space with these riders. Cycling can no longer be a free for all in New York City.”

Paladino did not elaborate on which agency would regulate bike riding in the city or how exactly a registration system would work. A spokeswoman for Paladino did not immediately return a request for comment.

The crash referenced by Paladino involved Brooklyn resident Kathy Park Price, who alleged a race biker named Kevin crashed into her from behind while she was riding a Citi Bike down Prospect Park’s west side hill Sunday.

Recounting the incident on Twitter, Park Price wrote she tried to get Kevin’s information “multiple times” after the crash, but that he peeled off without providing it after a group of other bikers he was riding with told him to bail.

“Dude is a complete d–k and so are his friends,” tweeted Park Price, an organizer with the Transportation Alternatives group.

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Park Price, whose group advocates for making biking, walking and public transit more accessible in the city, could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon on Paladino’s biking regulation push.

Other bike enthusiasts and safe street activists blasted Paladino’s proposal.

“How about my 8 year old. How about my nephew who comes to visit and brings his bike. How about citi bike riders,” Brooklyn-based filmmaker Eric Jankstrom tweeted at the Republican lawmaker. “How about rewarding folks for cycling instead of punishing them and making it harder.”

Patrick Bobilin, a onetime Democratic candidate for an Upper East Side-based seat in the State Assembly, questioned what good a bike registration system would do.

“We can’t even keep a lid on cars, which are required to do all of the above and literally kill more New Yorkers than guns,” Bobilin tweeted at Paladino. ”So explain how this would magically work better.”