That will mostly create an incentive to not cycle, which is the last thing we need.

I doubt it.

Cycling is well established, but the rules around road use are insane. That won’t get fixed unless someone is getting a big bill.

I’m not sure where you live, but here in Ohio cycling is definitely not “well established”. When you compare infrastructure it’s not even a competition. Don’t want to deal with bicyclists breaking laws? Get them off the streets onto their own dedicated infrastructure. Then bicycling actually would become well established.

“Big bills” do nothing to stop drivers from breaking the laws, but go on thinking that it will change cyclists.

Yes! Yes!

Since most cyclists in the US also have car insurance, our rates could be based on computing the risk of each mode of transportation. Cyclists would pay less for insurance. Make my day.

Where I live, bikes are considered vehicles, like cars or trucks. It makes complete sense to me that you'd need to be licensed to operate a vehicle -- any vehicle -- on public roads. In this thread about how dangerous it is to ride a bike in cities, I'd love to hear an explanation for why we think it's a good idea for anybody to hop on a bike and ride in traffic with no training, no oversight, no insurance, and no registration.

Cyclists aren't exposed to the same liabilities. They don't typically cause death or injury to others when they fuck up, nor do they cause thousands of dollars in property damage.