Today, I sent a message to Senator Manchin http://manchin.senate.gov/contact_form.cfm asking him to vote against a bill http://tinyurl.com/3fd336k UP FOR VOTE TODAY that contains a provision that would prohibit bicyclists from riding on the road. If you want to continue to ride on the roads, I recommend that you also take action.
Frank
Here's what I sent:
Concerning: A BILL To reauthorize Federal-aid highway and highway safety construction programs, and for other purposes.
I urge you to vote against this bill because it eliminates bicyclists' access to public roads. With today's traffic congestion, obesity and poor air quality, we should be promoting bicycling, not discouraging or even prohibiting it.
The bill has adverse effects on funding and contains a mandatory sidepath provision that prohibits bicyclists from using the road. Get-bikes-off-the road provisions like this one were deleted from the laws of most states which had them in the 1970s.
This is on Page 226 of the bill: (d) BICYCLE SAFETY.The Secretary of the appropriate Federal land management agency shall prohibit the use of bicycles on each federally owned road that has a speed limit of 30 miles per hour or greater and an adjacent paved path for use by bicycles within 100 yards of the road.
Even if the trail is in very bad shape, and the road is perfectly safe, the Secretary will have no leeway to allow cyclists to continue to use the road if a trail is available.
This is very bad policy. Among other things it would end biking on portions of the Rock Creek Parkway where the speed limit is 35 mph.
Note that this applies not only to roads in parks but to any Federally-owned road. If there’s a trail within 100 years of a road, then to get to a destination on the other side of the road this law would require you to lug your bicycle through some environmentally-sensitive area in a National Park, or through private property, or swim across a river. If the trail is covered with snow but the road is clear, you would still have to use the trail. The legislation does not even state that the trail has to serve the same destinations as the road, or refer to any standards for design, etc.
The conclusion the states reached in the 1970s is based on a simple principle: let bicyclists decide. If the trail is better than the road, they will use it.
Furthermore, the Federal Government does not have jurisdiction over traffic laws. The states do. The predictable outcome is dozens of court battles which will be an embarrassment to the Congress. There also is liability exposure in restricting bicyclists to a substandard path.