Iowa Group Wants To Ban Bikes On Rural Roads

[mrgarci1]

I wish this were an article from The Onion, but....

http://www.kcci.com/news/20218300/detail.html

they might just get away with it. I bet you there's enough cage-ragers out there to get 1000 people to sign their petition. They seem to forget that, as Reid has pointed out, they owe the existence of their road system to the desires of bicyclists, long before the automobile.

 

[bluesrocks]

It doesn't sound like they are simply against having bikes on county roads. They are trying to stop 50mph cars from suddenly coming upon cyclists who might be in the middle of the car's path. In my neck of the Amish woods (raised in northern IN), the issue was more about horse and buggies clogging up the roads. Even for auto's traveling within the speed limit, too many stretches of road easily hide cyclists and other slow moving vehicles, creating a serious problem.

However banning bikes is a mistake to say the least. It's illegal and unsafe to drive too fast for the road conditions. Thus if your cruising down a country road and you can't see what's just over the hill or just beyond the curve in front of you, you're required to slow down until you could safely avoid an accident.

I would be in favor of (1)requiring bikes to stay toward the side of the road, as well as (2)signs warning auto drivers to (sufficiently) slow down any time your visual pathway is obscured/restricted. If the problem is bad enough, (3)increase and advertise fines for those who break this law even though it's difficult to clearly phrase so much into smallish road signs. Lastly, (4)I'd concentrate these signs at hot spots of bad viability (sharp/hidden curves/hills).

After that, if you still consistently get accidents at certain location(s), reduce the speed limit for that high risk area.

 

[Cackalacka]

If it weren't for the spandex, this wouldn't be an issue. Seriously. People just don't like seeing a strange dude's ass in their faces when their late for work.

The only way for this ban to work is if they find a way to ban:

- deer
- geese
- construction workers
- road construction barrels
- pedestrians
- mail carriers
- ...
- essentially, everyone on the roads save for the petition signers.

Think about it, they ban an 'inconvenience,' and suddenly the road seems 'safer.' So rather than hold 45 mph on a hilly road with blind spots, they start crusing at 60, 70, 80, etc. With greater speeds comes less response time & longer breaking distance.

One day Aunt Mabel is checking her mailbox while Cletus the petition signer is barreling down the road over the hill/curve, now confident that he is free of an additional obstruction. He doesn't see Mabel, and Mabel's family has to lay a wreath next to the mail box.

Country roads will never be completely safe for high-speeds, I'm always amazed when I'm travelling at night in the country and someone tailgates me. Do these folks think these deer carcases on the roadsides are the result of spontaneous combustion?

 

[gogo]

Iowa had legislation to adopt a 5 foot clearance that didn't pass this year. I almost think this "ban bicycles" was cooked up by bicyclists to get the subject of bicycle safety into the public eye.

The logical legislation would be to lower the speed limits on the roads in question.

I like John in CR's situation where the motoring public regards traffic signals as guides and as a way to assign blame when an accident happens. Then no one cops an attitude towards bicyclists when they see a few safely run stop signs.

 

[John in CR]

I really have it made down here compared to you guys. Drivers here are accustomed to slow moving obstructions (bikes, pedestrians, cows, scooters, small motos, cars stopped in the middle of the road to chat with a neighbor, etc), and they must focus on driving due to road conditions and obstacles like missing manhole covers. I feel infinitely safer here than I would on an ebike stateside. Add to the equation that my bikes keep up with and pass traffic except on the highway, and I'm safer than you guys by a long shot even when I only use a baseball cap as my helmet.

John

 

[dogman dan]

It's true John, here in the US, we expect the road to be straight, and free of potholes, pedestrians or anything going less than 70 mph, so we can concentrate on our texting while also watching some dvds on the portable player. Sheesh! It's a miracle the carnage isn't worse.