Bikers of the world...Unite!
Back in 2001 when gasoline at the pump first went over $2.00 per gallon I purchased a small motorcycle. A Kawasaki 125 Eliminator to be precise. Well, I just never got around to riding it as much as I anticipated. For a number of reasons I didn't. So, I decided to sell it.
What did I replace it with? How about a 3 wheeled adult tricycle?
A Sun tricycle... A "Made in the USA" trike. (Mine is Henry Ford Black)
I took possession on this past Saturday... the day that gasoline went over $4.00 in my hometown.
Look at that basket on the back. I can carry stuff in that! I did yesterday. I went to the grocery store and had two bags full.
While reading my Sunday papers yesterday I then came across this article about bikes in the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram.
Fourteen bicyclists ticketed by police for riding two abreast during rush hour on Hastings Way last month are fighting their $20 citations.
"It isn't a big deal to pay it, but we weren't doing anything wrong, so why should we?" said 19-year-old Katherine Hahn of Eau Claire, who uses her bicycle often to get around the city.
Hahn and 13 others ticketed entered not guilty pleas last week in Eau Claire Court. Three other bikers entered no contest pleas.
Yup, that's right. Eau Claire, WI is writing tickets to bikers for riding on the street.
State law allows bicyclists to ride two abreast if the lane is wide enough to allow them to travel safely and such operation doesn't impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic.
"It was rush hour, and there were a lot of vehicles out there, and (the bicyclists) were causing traffic to go less than 10 mph," said Jason Kaveney, the Police Department's community relations officer. "Hastings Way also is too narrow for them to ride side by side safely."
Hahn disagrees.
"We weren't impeding traffic at all," Hahn said. "We were just doing our thing in the far right lane, and people (in motor vehicles) just switched lanes and went around us."
The posted speed limit is 35 mph on the section of Hastings Way where the bicyclists were ticketed.
"We also talked to the officer and he said there wasn't any minimum speed limit," said Drew Kaiser, 26, of Eau Claire. "His justification was that any vehicle, whether it be a car or bicycle, if it's going that slow it's dangerous because it's impeding traffic.
"But he also conceded that a car going 5 miles per hour isn't illegal."
"It's a $20 citation," Kaiser said. "It's not like it's breaking the bank, but it's more the point that there isn't any postings saying that bicycles aren't allowed.
"There isn't a sidewalk or bicycle lane for us to bike in, so our only other option if we want to travel in that direction is riding in the street."
When I rode my little Kawasaki, I didn't feel a kinship with the Harley riders.
But, I do feel a kinship with these riders.
Fight on...and Good Luck!
Al Arnold
1 Comment
Reader Comments (1)
I purchased two bikes this spring for my wife and myself. What I won't do is ride two abreast in the traffic lane and I live in a small town. Why is it that some cyclists think that the traffic lane is their domain. I won't risk my life to prove a point and I believe that the officer that wrote the tickets was doing the bike riders and the public the service that he was hired to do. When driving a car I always give bike riders plenty of space but I have a real problem with bike riders that refuse to ride single file when in the traffic lane. Ride and drive responsibly and we all survive.