Archive for the ‘Commentary’ Category
Posted by Paul Taylor on November 22, 2011
Yes and no. State laws make no distinction, but many cities and towns add restrictions, usually to protect pedestrians. I compared the laws of four area communities: Chicago, Elkhart, Mishawaka, and South Bend.
South Bend has the most straight forward ordinance: “No person shall ride a bicycle upon a sidewalk within any business district.” Interestingly, it fails to define a ‘business district’. At least I couldn’t find a definition.
Chicago has the same ‘business district’ restriction as South Bend, but adds some complexity. Adults (and children 12 years and older) can’t ride on any sidewalk anywhere. There are a few exceptions, and they will be so indicated with bicycle route signage.
Elkhart is pretty straight forward. Bikes are permitted on sidewalks except in a clearly defined area of downtown. See the above map. Interestingly, Elkhart just redefined the area: until last month, the restricted area was about three times the size of the current district. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Commentary, Infrastructure | Tagged: accidents, Law | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Henry Scott on November 13, 2011
Despite being a fan of fenders, I’ve recently contemplated removing them from my Dahon Boardwalk S1 folding bicycle. Normally I don’t worry about weight for utility bikes, but to take the “monkey bike” on the South Shore not only must I fold it up, but usually I have to place it in the overhead luggage racks as well. At 31.5 pounds, however, this can be an unpleasant task on a moving train. Accordingly, I’ve been motivated to lighten the monkey bike, and I’ve been thinking about ditching the fenders.
Yesterday, however, convinced me to seek other solutions.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Commentary, Gear | Tagged: Monkey bike chronicles | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Paul Taylor on November 12, 2010
Nancy Tibbett, Executive Diretor of the statwide bicycling advocacy group submitted the article, which was published earlier this month. She submitted the piece to several newspapers around the state, and the South Bend Tribune was one of the media where it was published. The article follows…
“In recent weeks, Indiana has experienced an unsettling spike in the reports of bicyclists and pedestrians struck by automobiles. Last week’s crash involving a team of cyclists in Bloomington was only the latest in a string of incidents resulting in everything from minor injuries to fatalities. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Advocacy, Commentary, News | Tagged: bicycle, Bike, Law, Legislation | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Henry Scott on June 30, 2010
The South Bend Tribune editors published an opinion column on June 28th advocating the need for new Indiana bicycle laws and specifically mention State Senator John Broden’s bill which includes provisions for a three-foot passing law. They note increased cycling in Michiana as indicated by the successful Bike the Bend event and recent census data as part of their motivation.
Posted in Advocacy, Commentary | 1 Comment »
Posted by Henry Scott on November 17, 2009
Today’s South Bend Tribune has an article about Elkhart police utilizing decoy bicycles under surveillance to catch bicycle thieves. If I recall, this is something Adam has advocated in the past. Seems like a smart approach to me!
Posted in Advocacy, Commentary, Gear | 1 Comment »
Posted by Henry Scott on October 12, 2009
According to a brief article published in the South Bend Tribune, a cyclist was hit from behind Sunday afternoon near Dowagiac, MI (Google Map). Apparently the cyclist, Kiefer Hall, was following traffic laws by riding with traffic. Hopefully this unfortunate accident won’t reinforce the tendency of some cyclists to ride against traffic, which is known to be far more dangerous. Most importantly, however, here’s hoping that Mr. Hall’s injuries are relatively minor, and that he’ll recover quickly!
Posted in Commentary | 6 Comments »
Posted by Henry Scott on October 5, 2009
Reading the flyer (PDF) Danny Graber provided in his recent post to advertise Bicycle Indiana’s upcoming bicycle summit, I learned that Indiana has dropped five places to number 29 in the League of American Bicyclists’ list of bicycle-friendly states for 2009. If interested, here are links to complete rankings: 2009 and 2008. And, here’s a breakout showing 2009 rankings by category (PDF) — IN is disturbingly close to the bottom for infrastructure. On the one hand I’m pleasantly surprised to see we’re as high as we are overall, but am disappointed to see that we’re losing, rather than gaining ground relative to other states according to this assessment.
Posted in Advocacy, Commentary | 1 Comment »
Posted by Adam Bee on August 8, 2009
It’s less difficult than you might expect to get around the most auto-dependent sections of Michiana, as long as you’re willing to cut through a few parking lots.
I’d imagine that the practice is officially illegal, potentially dangerous, and probably not LAB-approved, but those are true of a lot of well-established, practical cycling techniques. The hard fact is that currently if you want to ride to Wal-Mart and you’re not prepared to take arterial traffic sewers, parking lot skipping is the only way to go.
When you start looking at infrastructure that way, you really start to notice details about the landscape, like the lack of any bridge over Juday Creek under 4 lanes. Or which parking lots link together, which require off-road curb hopping, and which are unfortunately impassible. Or which parking lot entrances are directly opposite each other and which require the dreaded right-to-left. (I myself cut through two lots every commute to round off an ugly right-to-left!)
This all ties into a greater facet of bike infrastructure that I think is perhaps obscured from recreational cyclists and other would-be advocates: Often the greatest benefits to utility cyclists come from careful planning and tiny changes to stuff that will be built anyway.
What do you think? Do you ride through parking lots? Which ones are your favorites? Which are the most heartbreaking non-connecting lots?
Posted in Advocacy, Commentary, Facilities, Infrastructure, Routes | 2 Comments »
Posted by bspitzer on July 6, 2009
Just inside the back door of the home I grew up in hangs a small, artsy-craftsy sign that reads, “Back door friends are best.” I suppose that sign still hangs by that back door; truthfully, I haven’t checked in years. But I think that’s a very true sentiment. Only your best friends approach your house at the back door. Formal visitors and strangers would never presume to knock on the back door, and most of us would get creeped out by strangers lurking around the back of our homes.
So what does this have to do with biking . . .
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Commentary, Ride Reports | 1 Comment »
Jerry Hinnefeld
Henry Scott
judithrobert
Jeff Nixa
memooney
Adam Bee
bspitzer
Nate Barnett
Paul Taylor
Danny Graber
lhierony
Phil G-E
petercolan
Jim Moffitt
Judy Lee
2wheelpeddler
dickkuehl
Despite being a fan of fenders, I’ve recently contemplated removing them from my Dahon Boardwalk S1 folding bicycle. Normally I don’t worry about weight for utility bikes, but to take the “monkey bike” on the South Shore not only must I fold it up, but usually I have to place it in the overhead luggage racks as well. At 31.5 pounds, however, this can be an unpleasant task on a moving train. Accordingly, I’ve been motivated to lighten the monkey bike, and I’ve been thinking about ditching the fenders.
Can I ride my bike on the sidewalk?
Posted by Paul Taylor on November 22, 2011
South Bend has the most straight forward ordinance: “No person shall ride a bicycle upon a sidewalk within any business district.” Interestingly, it fails to define a ‘business district’. At least I couldn’t find a definition.
Chicago has the same ‘business district’ restriction as South Bend, but adds some complexity. Adults (and children 12 years and older) can’t ride on any sidewalk anywhere. There are a few exceptions, and they will be so indicated with bicycle route signage.
Elkhart is pretty straight forward. Bikes are permitted on sidewalks except in a clearly defined area of downtown. See the above map. Interestingly, Elkhart just redefined the area: until last month, the restricted area was about three times the size of the current district. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Commentary, Infrastructure | Tagged: accidents, Law | Leave a Comment »