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Bicycles banned on Manor road
Did you read that Manor has adopted a city ordinance banning bicycles from a half-mile stretch of Brenham Street, also known as Blake Manor Road?
That sets a terrible precedent for cyclists.
Ban bikes from a rough stretch of public road in Manor today and who knows what roads will be off-limits to cyclists tomorrow.
“From our perspective … banning any legitimate road user from public infrastructure is never the correct solution, as it sets an ominous precedent for us all,” Lane Wimberley of the League of Bicycling Voters wrote me in an email. “The correct response is to figure out what needs to be done to accommodate the legitimate demand.”
City leaders adopted the ordinance on Oct. 21, saying they had concerns about safety and liability because the two-lane road is cracked and in bad repair. BikeTexas, the Austin Cycling Association, and the League of Bicycling Voters all say the solution to bad roads is not to ban cyclists, but to fix the roads.
Enforcement will begin at the end of the month at the earliest. Violators can be fined up to $200.
Read the entire story in the Austin American-Statesman here.
This is discouraging news.
Bicyclists are tax payers and have a legal right to the road. To ban them is wrong.
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Comments
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By Tim
November 19, 2009 3:23 PM | Link to this
Not only is it a bad idea, it borders on being unconstitutional. If it is deemed unsafe for bicycles, it’s probably not too good for motorcycles/scooters and may even present an issue for motor vehicles. Fix the darn street already.
As a side note, a quick look at several mapping sites shows there are some (very limited) alternatives to that 1/2 mile segment of road.