Missouri Bicycle News :: Columbia bicyclist harassment ordinance brings out the bicycle haters

Ever wonder why your support of MoBikeFed and other bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations around the state is important?

Well, read some of the comments and commentary about Columbia's new bicyclist harassment ordinance, and you will wonder no longer.

The law makes it a Class A misdemeanor to threaten, harass, throw something, or knowingly create the risk of death or physical injury to a bicyclist.

That's the same penalty you would get for improperly parking in a disabled parking space.

You would think that an ordinance that makes road rage against vulnerable road users would be simple common sense, not the subject of controversy.

Well--you'd be wrong.

J Karl Miller says in an opinion column in the Columbia Missourian that the new law is "unfair to motorists":

When it comes to bicycles, however, I am sorry to say my acceptability quotient has bottomed out. Please belay that — I have nothing against bicycles per se. . .

The problem I am beginning to experience is not with bicycles, but rather with cyclists and some of their elitist attitudes. It is not unlike an observation of one I know, who, after visiting France, opined “Paris would be a good place to spend a vacation if not for those darn Parisians.” Translated, one might observe “If not for cyclists, the bicycle would be an acceptable mode of transport.”

Of course the Columbia Tribune's Trib Talk piles on (repeatedly), the Lawrence Journals' Andrew Hartsock worries that bicyclists are now a protected class (along with pedestrians and wheelchair users, presumably) and the KCStar's Mike Hendricks chimes in to say that such a law isn't really needed--at least not most of the time.

A rather vigorous discussion took place in the KCStar's letters to the editor as well as in comments to articles about the new law in the Columbia Missourian, Columbia Tribune, KCStar, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch (with over 130 comments about a four-paragraph article).

Out of state, there appears to be a bit more support--Port Huron, Michigan, Times Herald columnist Michael Eckert is prodding the Michigan Legislature to pass a suite a bills even more sweeping than Columbia's new law.

A few points that might help understand why this law was necessary:

The impetus for the law was continual motorist harassment--at almost every session--of Columbia's Bike Ed classes. So (after all the complaints about "bad bicyclist behavior" in Columbia's media and letters to the editor) you have a student and a teacher out actually following best practices as prescribed by national organizations including the International Police Mountain Bike Association.

And these Bike Ed students are being honked at, sworn at, swerved at, targeted by thrown objects, and all the rest, on a regular basis.
The specific impetus for the new law was, when the Bike Ed instructors approached the city police about the issue, the police felt they had no law at their disposal to address the situation--even when motorists where clearly threatening, harassing, and endangering bicyclists.

So yes, this law would be unnecessary if Missouri had reasonable road rage laws.

But we don't.

And it would be reasonable to protect all road users--including pedestrians, handicapped users, motorcyclists, and motorists as well.

MoBikeFed supports initiatives to improve safety for all road users--and the Columbia City Council appears to be moving in that direction as well. Within a few weeks they plan to amend the law to include other vulnerable road users.

What do you think? Feel free to share your opinion on this topic in the comments below.

Comments: 3 comments on this article

tim wrote:

06/25/09 09:37pm • 69.29.65.127

The really disturbing thing to me is the total inability to see the error of their thinking.

This is the VERY typical comment.

"Spending money on bikers is a stupid waste of money. THEY are trying to take away my right to drive and force me to ride a bike."

In case it needs to be pointed out...the error of this thinking is that the way we have built our roads FORCES people to drive automobiles. No one is trying to force them to bike but they ARE WITHOUT A DOUBT trying to force me to drive an automobile.

Dan Brady wrote:

07/06/09 11:02pm • 99.144.118.56

There is a lot of truth to what the cyclists are saying about the attitude of motorist in Columbia and there are no real easy answers other then making sure the police enforce this new law and the courts actually punish the offenders. The reasons for this behavoir in my opinion stems from two things. One is the political climate, this foolishness about man made climate change and cap and trade and the Government interfernce has people on edge. The other is probably related to the fact that the majority of cyclist don't obey traffic laws like stopping at stop sings or stop and go lights, or if they do they move up to the white line forcing the motorist to go through the dangers of passing the slower moving cyclist over again and again which in a age of road raged motorist is just asking for trouble. You probably will want to comment that you don't disobey the laws and maybe you don't but the majority of cyclist I see on the road do At least here in St. Louis they do and around the country I have seen this practice too.

tom wrote:

07/07/09 01:02pm • 170.29.248.3

my question is this, if a car, acting in a threatening manor comes towards a police officer, the police officer has the right to protect himself, including the discharge of his firearm. He is entitled to self defense. If an individual came up to your child in a threatening manner and attempted to harm the child, one has every right to protect the child, I suppose including force if necessary.

If I, carrying a legal permit to possess a firearm and carry one, were to feel my life threatened on a bicycle by a motorist driving in a threatening manner, using a weapon (car) placing my life at risk, I believe I share the rights of the police officer and the parents, to self protection, and therefore should be able to use deadly force, if necessary.

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