Friday, November 11, 2011

Tell the Senate that bikes have a right to the road

The draft of the Senate's transportation authorization bill, S. 1813 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, includes language that would introduce a mandatory sidepath law on roads in our National Parks and other Federal lands. It requires cyclists on Federal lands to use a path or trail, instead of roads, if the speed limit is over 30 MPH and a trail exists within 100 yards, regardless of its condition or utility of the path. The provision sets a terrible precedent. Passing it would send the wrong message to transportation agencies that these policies are acceptable. Laws like this have been taken off the books in states over the past 30 years. This takes us in the wrong direction.
For more information, read Andy Clarke's blog post.
The League is working on many other aspects of the transportation reauthorization bill. This petition relates specifically to the mandatory sidepath law, which we felt deserved special attention. Stay tuned for news and action alerts related to this and other aspects of this critical legislation.
Please join us in telling the Senate that the mandatory sidepath law is a bad idea -Go here to sign the petition.

1 comment:

Steve A said...

Still on my way home, but my quickie post points here. Make a comment and add details as you think helpful.