St. Charles County update

The following update on the proposed bike ban in St. Charles County comes from Patty Vinyard, MoBikeFed board member and Executive Director of the St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation. Read more about the issue or act now to stop the ban.

On 7/12/10, the St. Charles County Council had a 1^st reading of Councilman Joe Brazil’s Bill 3620, banning bicycles on several state highways in the southwestern part of St. Charles County. By session’s end, Mr. Brazil tabled the bill, suggesting he’d hold working sessions to explore the issue.

During public comments, 14 speakers (7 pro ban & 7 against) spoke before a crowded chambers. One couple, the first to comment, claimed their daughter had a serious accident while attempting to avoid hitting a cyclist after coming over a blind hill and displayed graphic images of her injuries. They implied the cyclist was at fault in this accident. Other bill supporters’ comments were far less dramatic. 

Patty Vinyard, Executive Director of St. Louis Regional Bike Federation and board member of the Missouri Bicycle & Pedestrian Federation, commented to the council that Missouri statutes designate bicycles as vehicles and that riders of bicycles share same rights and responsibilities as drivers of motor vehicles. She noted the law allows them to ride on all roadways in Missouri, even interstates on the shoulder.  Council members were incredulous. They asked their clerk to fact check this. Vinyard also noted that no other place in the USA had enacted such restrictive bans. She noted that in communications earlier on Monday Melissa Anderson, MoDOT's Non-motorized Transportation Engineer, stated counties cannot ban bicycling on MoDOT highways and, further, that MoDOT doesn’t intend to do so. This also surprised council members.

Vinyard then restated points made earlier by Ginny Sullivan (Adventure Cycling Association) in an email to council regarding a national network of bikeways, and the tourism dollars associated with this. Vinyard mentioned the US DOT’s new Bicycle Pedestrian policy and that federal funding could be jeopardized as well as our MPO’s ability to compete for TIGER II grants if the ban, which is counter to stated US DOT policy, were enacted. To make roads safer, Vinyard suggested reducing speed limits in dangerous areas and enforcing existing laws governing the operation of both cars and bicycles. Finally, she invited them to work with MoDOT, St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation, and Missouri Bicycle & Pedestrian Federation to improve access and safety for all road users.  Ten more speakers followed expressing thoughts on both sides of issue.

Later Mr. Brazil noted that the bill includes provisions for organized, “permitted” rides and offers to “sunset” the ban when shoulders and/or bike lanes are added. He also claimed that the county’s “charter county” status allows them to trump MoDOT’s authority in regulating road users even on state roadways. Brazil expressed a openness to reaching a compromise solution(s): disallowing riding "2 or 3 across," requiring single file riding (even though Missouri statute already addresses this), and building a “bicycle loop”—off-road paved trails. The public was not offered a chance to comment on these ideas.

It seems that on the roads in question motorists travel above the speed limit, and there appears to be little law enforcement on these hilly, winding roads. Most of the council seemed to dismiss this factor, blaming cyclists for hazardous conditions. Councilman Daugherty suggested adding roadways in his district in northern St. Charles County to the ban, claiming that the agricultural industry also supports this. Councilwoman Hibbler challenged the proposed ban and other members of the council, using an analogy to smoking rights which Mr. Brazil called “idiotic.”

Claiming they each got multiple calls a week, two state legislators (Rep. Scott Dieckhaus & Rep. Chuck Gatschenberger) supported the ban, and suggested cyclists should only use the Katy Trail and stay off the public roadways. Rep. Dieckhaus mentioned that Crawford Co. Iowa and “a town in Colorado” (referencing Blackhawk, CO ) had similar restrictions. Both representatives called it a "good bill" that they could support.

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