Posted on 06/15/2010 6:49:48 AM PDT by MissTed
Jamie Webb thought maybe she was speeding when a police cruiser pulled her and three friends over as they rode their bikes into Black Hawk from Central City.
Actually, the crime was pedaling. She was violating Black Hawk's ban on bicycling through town — the only such ban in Colorado.
"They said we had to walk through town. I think this sets a pretty bad precedent," Webb said. "There's really no reason for it."
Webb was the first cyclist ticketed under Black Hawk's new rule, which prohibits bike riding on nearly every street in town, including the only paved thoroughfare in Black Hawk.
City Manager Mike Copp said the reason for the rule, enacted in January, is safety.
The roads in Black Hawk are narrow and do not have shoulders. They teem with tour buses and delivery trucks that feed the bustling casinos. Demanding that those trucks provide 3 feet of space when passing cyclists — as required by a 2009 Colorado law — means trucks and buses must move into oncoming traffic, Copp said.
"We saw the conflicts going on with buses and with trucks, and we decided to be proactive on this," Copp said, noting that no accidents prodded the ban. "We don't want to be the city that knows we need a traffic light but waited until someone gets killed. This is what our city believes is best for its citizens, its businesses and its guests."
But Webb said she has often ridden on shoulderless canyon roads and has had no trouble with trucks.
"To say we all can't fit on the road together is ridiculous," she said. "We are all moving so slow through Black Hawk anyway, it's not like anyone is passing anyone."
After a period of issuing warnings, police this month began citing cyclists. To date, the town has issued eight $68 tickets.
Cyclists using the road to connect to the popular ride along the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway from Black Hawk to Estes Park are decrying the ban, which forces them to walk their bikes a half-mile through town. Another option is to ride over Berthoud Pass — but that excludes most of the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway.
"This is unbelievable. We are going to do as much as we can to fight this," said Rick Melick, spokesman for the 380-member Rocky Mountain Cycling Club. "Now that cyclists have almost the same rules as motorists, the idea a small town can ban bikes is ludicrous."
Since news of ticketing began trickling into the cycling community, opposition is forming. A Facebook page called "Bicyclists and Tourists Boycott Black Hawk Colorado" launched last week. The website dismountblackhawk.com is peddling shirts protesting the ban. Bicycle Colorado, a nonprofit dedicated to all things cycling in Colorado, is fomenting a grassroots push to get Black Hawk to overturn the ban.
"They are singling out one classification of vehicle," said Charlie Henderson, president of the Rocky Mountain Cycling Club. "I wonder if motorcycles will be next."
Black Hawk officials expected the uproar. And they are not going to revisit the rules, Copp said.
"Our council looks at what they think is best for its citizens, for its businesses, which in this case are casinos, and its visitors, which are patrons that come to visit the casinos," Copp said. "We have had positive feedback from citizens, casinos and our guests."
and how many more bicyclists are there in major metro areas where that stereotype holds true? plenty!
Certainly before the days of lock up torque converters there was a big efficiency disadvantage. All sorts of folks complain about all sorts of things. This is my argument to trot out to point out that most complaining folks are hypocritical.
"Never explain, Never complain"
A good rule to live by (with rare exceptions).
Huh? There are six million people here in the metroplex. This IS a major metro area.
Taxation is a measurement system with strong negative feedback.
Measurement systems disturb the systems they are trying to measure.
It is often unclear on what behavior the taxation system wants to drive.
Then there is the law of unintended consequences.
Combined with the fact that "life is not "fair"", grousing about the details of taxation is not a good use of one's short lifetime.
Better to grouse about and reduce ALL taxation.
so, HOT DIGGITY, there are cyclists in TX that cut against the grain. i assure you that your run of the mill major metro areas in the rest of the country are rife with cyclists who fit Vast’s stereotype to a T. The mentality that just because your little subset isn’t like that, it’s an unfair stereotype is ridiculous. It’s a similar mentality to that of my NYC jewish liberal friend telling me yesterday that i could not fairly assume that two lawyers based in NYC were NOT conservatives, because he PERSONALLY KNOWS several conservatives who live in NYC.
Threads about bicycles vs. automobiles always devolve into side fights that are much louder than the original article, with the usual sides forming up. That's why I always pop up a fresh batch of popcorn before I start reading them.
Be honesty with me here. How much first hand knowledge do you really have about bicycles and bicycle culture? I’m no expert, but I’m a life-long rider and employed in the industry. I’ve seen a bit here and there. A bit more than I’d wager most have.
I find it amusing that threads like these attract all three of us....lol
you can have all the experience in the world, that doesn’t negate the stereotype. i live in NoVA suburbs of DC, this area, as well as most major metro areas is loaded with spandex wearing crunchy granola eating libs. and because there are bound to be more bicyclists in major metro areas than in the heartland, that means more like them, than like you. my experience with cyclists is having them IGNORING traffic laws, avoiding bike paths which run parallel to the roadways in order to ride the damn road and IMPEDE traffic flow. That is my experience. and the ones i know PERSONALLY, are exactly as i have described.
I considered that as a possible motivation for your comments. Thanks for the clarification (and I'm not being a smart-aleck). It does take a developed skill to manipulate gears, one I'm proud to have. Learned it on a '72 VW. During the Michigan winter on icy roads.
I live in a city, too. I bet they walk their bikes right into the office and park them by their desks. You know what chaps my hide? My employer has to maintain bathrooms with showers to accommodate these guys.
Most automatic trans drivers are idiots.
You drive an automatic.
You are likely an idiot.
Well, Paladin, ya gotcher ipsos, ya gotcher factos, and yer QEDs....
Oh, I forgot....sometimes I AM an idiot...LOL...
QED, et. al.
;-)
i live in an area where traffic is the BANE of my existence. DC area is #1 in traffic congestion. Bicyclists add to it and annoy the living he!! out of me.
Living there just encourages them.
What bugs me is the social engineering aspect of it. A lot of the large metro areas pass special laws to benefit bicyclists in an effort to “get people out of their cars.” As in, “You are a bad person to want to drive a car 15 miles to work.”
Congestion is dreadful in SoCal, and people become infuriated with the bicyclists there for the same reason.
LOL!
Eschew SoCA, but don't even think of moving to Montana. Try Austin, TX.
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