St Charles County Bicycle Ban - latest news coverage and current situation

The bill to ban bicycles on a number of rural highways in St Charles County was recently defeated by a unanimous vote of the St Charles County Council.  

Two bills to regulate bicycles and bicycle rides in the County are still in play--and though both have improved considerably during the public hearing process that has taken place over the past month or so, both still require considerable work to address serious problems in them.

See the full text of the currently proposed bills here.

Local, state, and national media have picked up the story of the St Charles County bicycle ban--here is a roundup of some of them:

• Fox 2 News in St Louis story emphasizes the two bills that are still under consideration and points out that harassment of bicyclists in St Charles County has clearly picked up since the County Council brought this issue forward.
  
  
• The St Louis Post-Dispatch article prior to Monday's County Council meeting summarized the situation up to that point. It summarizes bicycle groups' reasons for opposing the two remaining bills as they are currently written:
  
  

[St Louis Regional Bicycle Federation Executive Director and MoBikeFed Board Member Patty Vinyard] said her organization doesn't oppose a new county permit process but recommends that the minimum number of riders affected be increased from 25 in Brazil's proposal to 50 or 100.


She said the group opposes new rules proposed for bicyclists on some roads — such as use of a mirror — as unnecessary and difficult to enforce.




• The St Louis Post-Dispatch article summarizes the two bills remaining--one will "require organized events with 25 or more riders to get permits to use any road in an unincorporated area and to work out a safety plan" while the other will "go beyond state law and require bicycles on certain stretches to have a mirror and both a rear light and rear reflector".
  
  
• Biking Bis gives a thorough update and summary of the situation.  He emphasizes that it is cooperation among local, state, and national groups, as well as individual cyclists, ride organizers, and bike shop owners, that has allowed us to successfully oppose the ban. (Local groups St Louis Regional Bicycle Federation, TrailNet, and Great Rivers Greenway have had representatives at nearly every public and private meeting about this issue, as has MoBikeFed.  Local cyclists and bike shops have spent many hours in discussions and meetings about the issue.)
  
  
• The League of American Bicyclists' blog summarizes the situation.
  
  
• Roger Kramer Cycling's take on the situation.
  
  
• Other coverage on KMOX, KSPR, the Columbia Missourian, the Springfield News-Leader, the Jefferson City News-Tribune.