Ordinance against cyclists????

[Mr. Bloom]

I'm taking the liberty of linking Silver's post from the more obscure Crazy Drivers Forum to get more feedback:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?p=257625#post257625

While I'm confident that there will not be a local ordinance passed (because it would violate state law), I do see this as a direct result of the accident that occurred in this area a year ago (that's gotten much forum space on TE).

What I see as very unfortunate in this case:

Note the sheriff's comments...he's right, but are cyclist infractions more rampant than car infractions? Me thinks - Ney Ney
The local cycling club (of which we're not a member) can be obnoxious in their violation of the "two abreast" law in Indiana and is likely contributing to the backlash...how do you confront a large group that should be a catalyst of advocacy and change behavior?
The attitude is evolving where cyclists will be held to a HIGHER standard than cars, not an equal one...


This is all occurring two counties away, but is representative of attitudes in the area.

Some good feedback on perspectives and ideas is posted in the linked thread...any other ideas.

[singletrackmind]

There's talk of an ordinance being made targeting cyclists in our area too, because a number of cyclists are breaking the rules and causing traffic impediment. Why do some cyclists feel they are above the law concerning the road? How else do they think things are going to go when they constantly ignore the fact that 'share the road' doesn't only mean cars?
Funny enough to me, the same cyclists who caused such hubbub are now screaming their heads off about it......and the ordinance is mainly laws they should have been following in the first place.

As far as cobs on the road. Yeah? Cobs happen certain times of year. So far avoiding them hasn't been a big deal over here and they are only there for a short time. Hollering at a farmer for his (it seems) unavoidable farm debris doesn't seem any better than a farmer hollering at a cyclist to 'ride on the sidewalk'. If a cyclist objects that it is too risky they shouldn't be on that road during those times in the first place, though I'll take cobs over tons of potholes or lots of gravel. At least cobs go away.

[redrhodie]

I know you don't agree with the way the local bike club is being run, so maybe you should join it. Change happens from inside. I would think you would have more influence as a member than as a non member. Or, start your own club, one where the members follow the laws. I can see the "share the road" jerseys being very cool.

When I told my BF about the people trying to ban cycling on your county roads, he said, "In Indiana? The birthplace of Breaking Away?". That didn't even occur to me. Cutters unite!

[Tuckervill]

Oh yeah! Breaking Away! I gotta rent that.

I think issues like these are usually about education. Most people speak about the issue without bothering to get informed. That makes them easy to sway, if you expose them to the facts.

I think Silver has already been doing that, no?

We've been homeschooling since the early-90s, and the homeschooling legalities have evolved over that time in all the states. Homeschooling is often under attack in legislatures. The most important thing we did as a community was mount an information campaign and provide sane arguments to the most common misconceptions. With the advent of the internet, this is easier than ever. We organized from the grassroots and didn't rely on experts. We picked the most harmful ideas and formed a counter attack around those. (We're talking about numerous fights on numerous issues in any and all states, so these are generalizations.)

I see many parallels to the share the road issue. The objections to homeschooling can be boiled down to 5 or 6, which are easily dispatched with a modicum of information and critical thinking. So, too, the objections to cycling. As soon as you boil them down to 5 or 6 objections, gather the information to rebut them. Be able to state the objections more clearly than your opponent, and try to state them first, so they can't obfuscate and confuse. Concentrate on one objection at a time. Beware the straw man.

This information campaign can be executed in city hall, in letters to the newspaper, in the halls outside the legislature, wherever the decision makers are. A public forum could be helpful, if properly moderated. An online forum, too. Many states have that one (or many) homeschool advocate that takes up the cause, creates the website to clear the information through, and basically becomes the subject-matter expert on her state's laws and idiosyncracies. You could be the cycling advocate. There probably is one in your state already, but they might not be taking up the cause. There is always room for more voices. It's been advantageous in my state for decision makers to learn that group think is not part of the homeschool landscape--that there are reasons one homeschooler wants it one way and one wants it another, and all the reasons are valid. So the laws must accommodate all points of view, within reason, of course.

I think in the case of cycling, the laws are already on the books in Indiana, and it's just a matter of enforcement. In this case, it may be the cyclists who need the most education.

Karen

[Deborajen]

What I see as very unfortunate in this case:

Note the sheriff's comments...he's right, but are cyclist infractions more rampant than car infractions? Me thinks - Ney Ney
The local cycling club (of which we're not a member) can be obnoxious in their violation of the "two abreast" law in Indiana and is likely contributing to the backlash...how do you confront a large group that should be a catalyst of advocacy and change behavior?
The attitude is evolving where cyclists will be held to a HIGHER standard than cars, not an equal one...



If this were in my home state, I'd have a tough time being impartial but since it's not --

I'll bet not all law enforcement officers in the area agree with that sheriff. I know that's the case around here because we have a friend who is an officer and is assigned to the "Bike Beat." He does some of his neighborhood patrolling on a bicycle, so he's seen firsthand how cyclists are sometimes treated by drivers, and he's pretty realistic about how cyclists and drivers should both assume some responsibility. When local law enforcement officers are interviewed on t.v. or in the paper, though, you can sure get the impression that they'd rather not have to mess with cyclists and the traffic issues that come up. But only one was interviewed.--

It's too bad your local cycling group doesn't stand firm on safety. In my opinion, it's downright hypocritical not to. Ours does advocate safety but, unfortunately, they don't seem to be referenced by our local media when those issues come up. The general public doesn't get to see how much they stand for sharing the roads safely. Usually, when our local paper shows a picture of a cyclist, they show some guy in jeans and a t-shirt (which is fine) but no helmet (not good!). Plus, our local cycling club never seems to make their presence known (or get it known - ?) in any of these matters. The cycling club does a great job with organizing events and helping cyclists, but it doesn't have much pull in the big picture.

Attitudes are certainly changing. The law in Kansas has always said that bigger/faster is ultimately responsible to look out for smaller/slower, but one way or another it doesn't end up that way. The smaller/slower think they "can't be touched" by the big guys and the bigger/faster think the little guys "can't prove anything was done to them on purpose." Well, that doesn't work.

Education is what's needed, and the biggest pull seems to be in the media - at least to start. Yes, speak sweetly. It's a good wake-up call, and maybe the ball will start rolling in the right way.

Deb

[PscyclePath]

It's a nice legal issue... and I hope the Posey County Quorem Court has a nice fat legal defense fund if they go forward with this idea, as someone will surely take them up on the challenge.

First of all, the highways are public highways, built for the use of the people as a whole. All persons have an equal right to use the highways for purposes of travel by proper means and with due regard for the rights of others. You may not camp on a public highway, since that's not travel, but you may use them with any legitimate vehicle to go somewhere. Your means of conveyance is wholly your choice, restrained only by the requirement to obtain and maintain a license to operate specific types of vehicles. For example, if you don't have an automobile driver's license, your right to drive a bicycle or ride a horse is still uninfringed. (American Jurisprudence; see also Bob Mionske, Bicycling and the Law, Velo Press, 2007)

Every state in the U.S. has a traffic law or code that's substantially consistent with the Uniform Traffic Code, and has a law which says something to the effect that “Every person riding a bicycle (...) , shall have all the rights and all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle, except those provisions (... ) which by their nature can have no applicability.” As a cyclist, when you ride on the public roads and streets, you're subject to the same traffic laws as the operator of any other vehicle. John Forester (Effective Cycling, 1976) has distilled this down to what is referred to as the "vehicular cycling principle," "Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles." This is the sort of stuff that the LAB's BikeEd program focuses on, not only riding safely but acting responsibly and predictably in traffic.

It's definitely an education issue. The County may not ban one particular type of vehicle from the roads simply because they aggravate the farmers. In turn, the farmers need to exercise due care in not scattering corn cobs all over the road (in most states, this is a misdemeanor offense called "littering," and subject to substantial fines and community service picking the stuff up). While a corn cob on the highway or shoulder may not be much of a road hazard to an automobile, it can be a substantial hazard to a cyclist or a motorcyclist, causing them to suffer a diverting fall and the injuries therefrom.

I live and ride out on the Grand Prairie of Arkansas, which is almost wholly agricultural like Posey County (where my ancestors once lived, and probably still have some distant cousins around there somewhere). We don't have the corn cob problem (yet); but we do have the big chunks of mud that tractor and combine tires drag out of the rice fields and scatter up and down the rural roads. And sometimes they get a little careless with the hydraulics on their disks, and scarify the soft summer asphalt with dozens of little parallel ruts from the blades... also a source for nasty diverting falls for cyclists.

Cyclists in turn need to be courteous to other drivers. Road rage, sadly, isn't confined to "cagers." Getting into confrontations/fisticuffs with other drivers is the wrong way to deal with this sort of stuff.

Working with the local cycling community & clubs is going to be just as important in helping this sad situation as dealing with the quorem court, local farmers, and the rest of the community. Maybe starting with some simple, short classes on cycling & traffic law to the local riders would be a good thing; Indiana has a good population of LCI instructors who may be able to help (http://www.bikeleague.org/cogs/resources/findit/?courses=1&instructors=1&state=IN&submit.x=18&submit.y=11 ; Ray Hess was in the same seminar that I attended early this month), and there's some really good resources just across the river in Louisville (Bicycling for Louisville, a non-profit advocacy group) who can give some good pointers.

"Share the Road" ain't just for cagers, either... In states where there's a bike-specific law or regulation against riding more than two abreast, that's part of the traffic law that we have to comply with. In cases where the traffic lanes are too narrow to safely share with a motor vehicle, cyclists are legally justified in "taking the lane" for safety's sake... but consider that part of the law that says, "with due regard for the rights of others"... The call "Car back!" isn't just a warning, but a notice to form single file and allow the faster traffic to pass when it's safe.

Hopefully both sides can bring a little sense to this situation before it gets any nastier... but there's a lot of outreach that needs to be done on all sides.

Tom
newbie LCI

[silver]

Tom, great post! Thank you for all that info. None of the LCI's are in our area. This is why I want to become one. I'm desperately seeking a Road I class so that I can go on to a certification seminar as soon as possible. I'm already VERY involved in Share the Road Advocacy.

I have not joined the local bike club because I have issues with the way they do things. However I think that possibly if I had the certification that maybe they would give me an ear (they don't now).

There is a Road I class in Little Rock this weekend that I had wanted to go to, but Mr. is not comfortable with me driving there. We've contacted the Bloomington LCI's to see if they would consider holding a Road one for me but only one has replied and it's going to be difficult to work something out with him.

Where did you take your Road I and how far did you have to drive to take your Seminar?

[PscyclePath]

I took what was probably the very first Road I course offered in recorded history in Arkansas back in September, here in Little Rock. For the LCI certification seminar, I came to Louisville, KY back the middle of this month. Awesome experience... I parked the truck Thursday evening when I got to Louisville, and the next time I moved it was early Monday morning when I started back home. Everywhere we went around town that weekend was on the bikes! And it was an eye-opener to really drive home that LCI status is really a continuing education, and how much there is still out there to learn...

Depending where you are, check with the Louisville club to see if there's a Road I course coming up. Barry Zalph with Bicycling for Louisville, one of our seminar instructors, is a good source, and they're building up a nice team of LCIs there with the plan to hold regular Road I classes through the year.

The reasons you named are exactly the same as what got me to seek out the LCI courses. I work with the local cycling club here in LR/NLR, as well as the cycling advocacy group, where we're reviving the bike education & outreach program.

Having just been through the wringer in the LCI process, I strongly recommend getting a copy of Forester's Effective Cycling and wading through it... a great deal of the background and course content is derived from there, especially the stuff in the pre-seminar written exam. In addition to the un-wavering requirement to pass Road I with a score or 85 or higher on both the written and road tests, it's a good idea to have at least sat through a Road II class... although Road II seems to be very hard to find anywhere. The League will send you the Road II manuals with your course packet, though, and you'll see about half of the pre-test comes out of Road II. Be very sure to absorb as much of the instructor manual as you can before showing up for the LCI seminar. The seminar is purely about teaching biking; you're expected to have the riding skills and cycling knowledge because you signed up to become an LCI.

The seminar focuses on teaching Road I, and our group got an equal emphasis on the Kids I and Kids II as well. They did cover all the various core courses, but the heaviest dose was on the Road I and Kids blocks.

Robert Hurst's The Art of Urban Cycling, Bob Mionske's Bicycling and the Law, and Lennard Zinn's Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance are also good prep reading... especially the Zinn book, since a big portion of the LCI skills they're checking for is basic bike maintenance and fitting. The parking lot drills are a very important part; while in our group each candidate had to satisfactorily present one of the modules out of Road I, every one of us had to present and pass every one of the on-bike Parking Lot Drills.

Best of luck in pursuing your LCI, and if I can be of any help, just holler...

Tom