Missouri lawmaker calls for big flags on bikes : STLToday

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Beginning in August, Missouri bicyclists would have to attach a brightly colored flag to their bikes if they want to take a spin down a county road under a proposal introduced in the state Legislature.

The measure, sponsored by state Rep. Jay Houghton, R-Martinsburg, would require every bike operating on a lettered county road to be equipped with a fluorescent orange flag “suspended at least 15 feet above the roadway.”

Houghton has argued his idea will make roadways safer by making bicyclists more visible, but biking groups say it’s an idea that has little merit.

The Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Foundation is already gearing up to fight the idea. On its website, the group is calling on bicyclists to attend a lobbying day at the Capitol on April 11 to “ensure that our rights and our safety are protected.”

The bill “will not help the safety situation for bicyclists or drivers, will be impossible to enforce and comply with, and is intended as another backhanded way to keep cyclists off the road,” the group noted.

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Missouri lawmaker calls for big flags on bikes : STLToday