Arrested in Texas for riding on the road

[Aggie_Ama]

This is not a statewide problem, looks like a police department with an agenda. The problem in Texas is a lot of close minded people not wanting to see other's lifestyle as acceptable. I am a native Texan but lost a lot of my love for the attitude of people that their way is the only way. In Texas roads can be made illegal to cyclist and several in Austin are although they are highways. I do question what road he was riding, it seems to be highway. Were there alternate routes? Highways do go down to low speeds in towns here but they still are heavily traveled by passing through traffic. He should not be jailed though, this police department must be getting complaints from someone with a lot of pull or money.

[Crankin]

We were almost arrested for riding on the road in South Carolina...
Granted, it was in Hilton Head, but when I looked up the statute, it clearly said that cyclists need to be off the road and on a path if there is one.
Sure, along with the 2 year olds and the tourists on beach cruisers.
But we obeyed and didn't ride the road bikes anymore, except for bringing our mountain bikes into an approved trail area.

[wawaski]

Yikes,
I plan on moving to Greenville, hope this isn't a Statewide prob! I was told by a local cyclist that H.Head isn't a good area for riding. Figure Greenville should be, G. Hincape is there, right?

[emily_in_nc]

Yikes,
I plan on moving to Greenville, hope this isn't a Statewide prob! I was told by a local cyclist that H.Head isn't a good area for riding. Figure Greenville should be, G. Hincape is there, right?

Sorry to disappoint, but I'm assuming you mean Greenville, Texas (I had to look it up as I'd never heard of it). Hincapie is in Greenville, South Carolina!

[denda]

We ride on 287 sometimes between Dumas and Amarillo. It has very wide good shoulders.

[7rider]

This is not a statewide problem, looks like a police department with an agenda. The problem in Texas is a lot of close minded people not wanting to see other's lifestyle as acceptable. I am a native Texan but lost a lot of my love for the attitude of people that their way is the only way. In Texas roads can be made illegal to cyclist and several in Austin are although they are highways. I do question what road he was riding, it seems to be highway. Were there alternate routes? Highways do go down to low speeds in towns here but they still are heavily traveled by passing through traffic. He should not be jailed though, this police department must be getting complaints from someone with a lot of pull or money.

Bikes are generally prohibited on limited access highways - like the interstates.
I'm not familiar with Texas law, but if that road's not limited access, unless State law prohibits it, he should be able to ride it, particularly in an area with a 30 mph speed limit (unless it's signed specifically prohibiting bikes, which I'd have to wonder..."why?"). Does the County P.D. have jurisdiction on that particular road which is labeled a US highway?

[Aggie_Ama]

I am not sure how the county jurisdiction works, I believe in Texas they keep much of the power at the local level but I would have to really look into that. My knowledge is going off the state and local government test I took for college credit 10 years ago. I know of one farm to market road locally that recently outlawed bikes, I believe they felt it was too dangerous given the road and the urban sprawl engulfing the city. We also have a toll road they made it illegal, the toll road is part of US 183 but other parts of 183 it is legal to ride, in those parts it is not a freeway but more like what Hwy 287 looks like. I still believe it is a police department with someone complaining that likely has a lot of pull or money. Seems like a waste of time and money to be locking this guy up not to mention the court costs.

[Deborajen]

We used to take regular trips to Texas when I was growing up. I haven't been there in awhile but back when we did go there were "Drive Friendly" signs all over the place. We used mostly State highways and in the two-lane sections with wide, well-maintained shoulders, drivers would almost always scoot over onto the shoulder to allow faster traffic to pass. I don't know if that's as common now but if it is, bicycling on those shoulders would sound like a bad idea to me. Great for cars, bad for bikes.

If it's still legal to drive a car on the shoulder in Texas (I think in Kansas you can only use the shoulder for emergency stops, etc. - they're not usually maintained for use at highway speed), then maybe bikes aren't supposed to be there. But going to jail for it? Sounds like there's something more to that story - one way or another.