Riding to bike rack on the sidewalk now legal in Denver
One of the things that has always irked me is that, to be strictly lawful about it, you have to mount and dismount your bicycle in traffic and walk to a bike rack.
I never cared much about it until, naturally, I got a client who had been ticketed for riding his bike fifteen feet from the bike rack to the curb. The poor kid had made the mistake of riding from the bike rack in front of Breugger’s Bagels on Campbell to the curb, which it so happens is right across the street from the U of A police station. They ticketed him and laughed.
Why should cyclists have to get on and off their bikes in traffic?
Well, now in Denver anyway, they don’t.
Maybe we can try that here.
Hat tip to SW.
–Erik Ryberg
December 11th, 2009 at 7:00 am
Wait a minute – when you first reported this you made it sound like the cyclist rode directly from the rack to the street. In front of Breuggers the racks are RIGHT AT THE CURB – what your client did then is ride along the sidewalk parallel to the street (I’m guessing against traffic) to the corner? A different thing entirely. If I were there I might have laughed at his excuse too. Of course an argument can be made that riding on the sidewalk shouldn’t be illegal, but we both know that if he had gone straight to the curb that wasn’t even a whole bike length away – even if he were riding – he wouldn’t have been ticketed.
December 11th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Scott–
At least at that time, the bike racks were kind of on the corner by what I think was an ice cream shop. It really was just fifteen feet. He got on his bike, rode to the corner where he could enter the street, and that’s where he got the ticket.
EBR
December 11th, 2009 at 10:54 am
[...] its bike laws to conform with the new state laws; Tucson Bike Lawyer notes that it’s now legal to ride to a bike rack on the sidewalk. The police can’t — or won’t — keep cars out of NYC bike lanes, but maybe [...]
December 12th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Anyone read this:
A Tourist from Tucson
by DL Byron
December 11, 2009 · 7:57 PM
Known simply as “the Guy from Tucson,” this tourist was spotted in downtown Seattle. He just spent the past three months riding from there to here with the last part on the train because it was so cold.
A Tourist from Tucson – Bike Hugger