User login
Assault on Family Bicycling!
Sat, 01/23/2010 - 12:28 — SushiK
Update: new information from Tom Armstrong - click through.
Kentucky Representative David Osbourne has introduced a bill that would prohibit the transportation of people under the age of 18 in a bicycle trailer or "other apparatus."
The text of the bill is quite short and doesn't provide much specific information. However, what details are available can be found on the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission's website. No one seems to know what prompted this bill's creation or what the likelihood is that it might pass and become law.
As more infomation becomes available, I will share it with cartky.org readers.
Tom Armstrong writes:
Kirk Kandle spoke at length with David Osborne, who placed the bill. Kirk reports that Mr Osborne's issue is not with riders in urban areas, but far more rural. From what I've been told, Mr. Osborne encountered a cyclist (with a kid trailer like my grocery buggy) who was making a u-turn too close to a blind curve on a state-maintained road out in the rural area of his district (Prospect/Crestwood corridor). The nearness of disaster was apparently such that Mr Osborne had to get out of his car and relieve his stomach distress.
There also is a constituent in the district who is vehemently against having to share "his" road with cyclists, since (he claims) they pay no taxes and hinder his activities to no end--to the point that this constituent is demanding something be done about the scurge of cyclists. I think I know the guy...really. I know a particularly officious guy who lives in the area, and he's been known to wreak havoc during the Iron Man race in some passive-aggressive BS mode. I'm tempted to visit him, but I'd probably get in trouble. His mind is made up, and he won't be swayed by facts.
In any case, Osborne has emailed a couple of people to say that the bill will go no farther, as he recognizes that it's poorly written and doesn'tg do what he wanted it to do. I, for one, am not appeased.
One thing that comes to mind is the claim by anti-cyclists that they are often surprised as they come around a blind turn and encounter a cyclist moving at (they perceive) five miles an hour (I suppose if one is going fifty in a thirty-five zone, anything under twenty is virtually stationary). Having ridden a fair bit on the roads in Mr Osbornes district over the years, I can say that the claim is spurious at best, IF a driver is paying attention and obeying the speed limit.
My note to Mr Osborne addressed that banning such bikes from the roadway would be akin to bubble wrapping the china instead of corraling the bull that has gotten into the china shop (I even provided him with this link: http://www.copenhagenize.com/2009/10/sacred-bull-in-societys-china-shop.html as an explanation of what I had in mind).
It seems to me that if we want to improve road safety for ALL road users, it behooves us to address the dangerous behavior, rather than "blame the victims" when things go wrong. How is it acceptable that we kill tens of thousands of our neighbors with car crashes every year?
Tom
Comments
More details have come to
More details have come to light. Apparently, the cyclist Mr. Osborne encountered exchanged words with him, and angrily insisted that she has the right to be on state highways (despite her lapse in wisdom shown by making a u-turn too close to a blind curve). Mr. Osborne attempted contact with bike clubs and KTC, and didn't get the answers he sought. He introduced the bill in an effort to do something--get folks' attention on the matter in some way--but admits it didn't work as hoped.
Perhaps it will work, if not in the way he had intended. I would love for this to lead to better road safety for all road users, regardless of their vehicle type. If it means better education for drivers--teaching them that driving too fast around a blind curve is a bad thing, in this case--I'll accept that as a positive outcome.
I am still concerned, however, that this bill is still out there for someone else to revive at a later time. I would be far happier if it were retracted in such a way as to prevent re-introduction altogether.
Have you forwarded this to
Have you forwarded this to Burley and other trailer manufacturers? They might be interested in this ridiculous prohibition.
They just don't get it,
They just don't get it, think a bike is a toy that shouldn't be in traffic. Maybe he could be mollified by those pennant flags....