It was a misunderstanding that got quite a number of people very upset on the island and one which cost quite a number of residents their bicycles. Over the weekend the San Pedro Police Department took it upon themselves to confiscate bicycles from people who did not have proper documentation for it, lacked reflectors, a bell and flashlight, without any notice being given to the community.

Click here for the rest of the story in the Ambergris Today

Good grief! The police jumped the gun on this issue? How about performing police work to alleviate more pressing issues to the community and tourists at large such as patroling for criminal behavior such as thieving, drug selling and prostitution in local bars.

Thank goodness they have the resources to rid the island of this scourge. Incidents of being on time for work and riding while intoxicated should plummet...

Another good example why San Pedro & Ambergris Caye should have is own police department and divorce these GOB police. They don't want to be here anyways. They should be ashamed of themselves and whomever is in charge should get some common sense. Explain to me how relieving folks of their bicycles is serving and / or protecting the public?

Ridiculous! There are many more pressing issues on the island, but this one is certainly "easier" (for the PD) than dealing with preventing crime and stopping drug dealing and prostitution, so it doesn't surprise me at all that this happened.

A few questions immediately came to my mind if and when they do start enforcing these new rules:

1. How to prove ownership of your bike if you bought it used and don't have a receipt? We shipped ours from the US after purchasing on craigslist and have digital photos of them we took before we even shipped them, but we don't have a receipt. I suspect most locals are going to have a hard time documenting "ownership" since they didn't know they needed to keep their receipt for years, if they ever got one. Many, if not most, bikes are bought used from an individual and receipts just don't change hands.

2. If you aren't riding at night, why should you be stopped for not having a light? We have headlamps for riding at night (and mine has bright red blinky in the back), but I don't plan to equip my bike with lights for the very few times we ride at night. They'd get stolen, I'm afraid. I doubt I can even buy them on the island.

3. Helmets? I always wore one in the US and think they're a good idea on the road, but I don't wear or have one here. Are they even available for purchase here on the island? It's hard enough getting motorcyclists to wear 'em, if the folks I see riding north of the bridge (many sans helmets or with the straps not even buckled) are any indication.

It will be interesting to see how all this develops...

Ridiculous indeed. But not new.
In years past the police would go on rogue-bike arrests ..... I read a report where they charged a child for the offense of "being under the age of 11 and riding on handle-bars". No kidding - it was in the SP Sun's court news.

On the mainland and especially PG this is an ongoing policy with the PC's even the riding on the handlebars for any age will get your bike confiscated.

Agree it's idea to stop the handle-bar riding, especially around cars.
Education about traffic safety is woefully missing in our community.

They'll get my bike when they pry it from my cold, dead ass.

eeewww...