Fifty Plus (50+) - They're trying to keep us off the road again!

League of American Bicyclists * Petition -- We have the right to be on the road on federal lands!

Sign the Right to the Road Petition (11.10.11) The draft of the Senate’s transportation authorization bill, S. 1813 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, includes a mandatory sidepath law for roads on Federal land that would force cyclists off certain roads and onto trails and paths, regardless of their condition or utility. Tell your Senators that bicyclists have the right to be on the road on federal lands.
Sign the petition! (http://www.bikeleague.org/petition/)

I just sent a message to my Senator (Jeff Merkley), who happens to be one of the 18 votes in favor of this horrific bill from the Environment and Public Works committee. I let him know that he will lose several campaign volunteers in three years if this bill passes with the sidepath clause intact. I feel doubly betrayed since I also worked on Sen. Boxer's first two campaigns for the Senate and she chairs the committee.

With friends like these...

Signed!

Cmon folks- everyone is potentially affected by this. Please sign, and spread the word...

I think the issue is that they want to force bicycles onto sidepaths, by law, rather then doing what is done in other places, and that is to make the sidepath the preferred riding place. Which is actually easier then fat old politicians who haven't been on a bicycle since Nixon think it is.

Make the sidepath wide, you need two lanes 3½' wide minimum with a line between you need proper passing signage, it needs to be maintained to a higher standard then the road, and it needs to be kept clear of snow, water, debris at all times. It should be fenced off from dog and child play areas, during maintenance you need to have proper detours. Forcing all cyclists onto a broken up, muddy trail that is under snow or water for half the year, isn't acceptable.

They got my against vote plus my nasty comment.

I sent in my vote with a comment that the proposed law probably is unconstitutional since a bicycle is a legal vehicle.

Is there a posted site with the proposed law so we can view it? I know we don't have some of the weather considerations as some but some of our bike trails are pretty nice here and if they are required to put in seperate bike trails or paths it might not be so bad. We are already restricted from most interstate freeways already and bike trail running next to them would be nice.

Signed the petition. I will encourage others to do the same.

Bill

Mobile - I thought that was one thing Obama promised, when he was soliciting votes to get elected. He promised transparency and posting proposed legislation on the Internet for at least 10 days for all to see. Now, you can't find a copy of the bill, to review? Seems to me somebody's forgotten there's another election cycle coming around.

http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=20f89548-8b2e-4498-89f7-c9f4ff22484f

All 600 pages of it. The offending paragraph from page 226...

"(d) BICYCLE SAFETY.—The Secretary of the appropriate Federal land management agency shall prohibit the use of bicycles on each federally owned road that has a speed limit of 30 miles per hour or greater and an adjacent paved path for use by bicycles within 100 yards of the road."

I'm against the restriction just on general principle, but especially if there are no criteria for the alternative path. That path must be wide enough, smooth enough, and straight enough, and be free of pedestrians and other impediments to expeditious road riding.

signed!

To the OP? Please post this on BROL as well? I do not wish to 'steal your thunder' - but think it needs to go up there as well?

Signed.

To the OP? Please post this on BROL as well? I do not wish to 'steal your thunder' - but think it needs to go up there as well?

Please steal all the thunder you want, and repost wherever you think there might be a signature!
And I have no idea what BROL is...

Again, everyone, repost!

Please steal al the thunder you want, and repost wherever you think there might be a signature!
And I have no idea what BROL is...

Again, everyone, repost!

OK :) BROL = BentRiders Online - another forum, mostly about recumbents, etc... will repost as you have the original...

Signed - No political bullchit in my post....;-)

Signed gladly, but with alarm. Another skirmish in the ongoing battle to discriminate against bikes.

I hate to be a killjoy here, but, internet petitions have no validity at all. You need a LEGAL signature for a petition to be valid. I am all for this action, but you would get far greater results by actually writing your congressman or senator. If this petition even gets looked at, it will be a miracle. Please don't flame me but this could end up being a colossal waste of time and energy. If we think our elected representatives don't give a shyte about us now, they certainly won't care if we don't take the effort to express our displeasure in REAL and tangible ways.

Cheers,

Brian J.

I hate to be a killjoy here, but, internet petitions have no validity at all. You need a LEGAL signature for a petition to be valid. I am all for this action, but you would get far greater results by actually writing your congressman or senator. If this petition even gets looked at, it will be a miracle. Please don't flame me but this could end up being a colossal waste of time and energy. If we think our elected representatives don't give a shyte about us now, they certainly won't care if we don't take the effort to express our displeasure in REAL and tangible ways.

Cheers,

Brian J.
You're right, at least as far as my experience goes. I sent my Senator an email yesterday and will follow up with a phone call tomorrow if he (actually a staffer) hasn't replied by then. My wife will also send him one and I expect several relatives/friends and associates to do the same. Mine is a small state, so the loss of even a few campaign workers is a very real concern.

I wish we could stop fighting battles we won a long time ago so we could use our time/energy to move forward. We need some better means of killing zombie ideas.

I hate to be a killjoy here, but, internet petitions have no validity at all. You need a LEGAL signature for a petition to be valid. I am all for this action, but you would get far greater results by actually writing your congressman or senator. If this petition even gets looked at, it will be a miracle. Please don't flame me but this could end up being a colossal waste of time and energy. If we think our elected representatives don't give a shyte about us now, they certainly won't care if we don't take the effort to express our displeasure in REAL and tangible ways.

Cheers,

Brian J.

While you are technically correct, bear in mind that this petition is but one part of a campaign by the premier bicycling advocacy organization in the US. Right now, their efforts are focused on the committee drafting this bill. I expect that at the right time, they will launch a full scale effort to have people contact their elected officials about this as they have had success doing on several other issues in the past.
"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."
In the past they have provided links to sites that will determine your particular senators/representatives and send customizable messages to them or provide mail addresses and phone numbers to assist you in contacting them personally.

edit - In fact, this post by Bike League President, Andy Clark, does encourage such action and provides a link to help.
http://blog.bikeleague.org/blog/2011/11/proposed-law-would-force-cyclists-off-roads-on-federal-land-and-onto-paths/

I hate to be a killjoy here, but, internet petitions have no validity at all. You need a LEGAL signature for a petition to be valid. I am all for this action, but you would get far greater results by actually writing your congressman or senator. If this petition even gets looked at, it will be a miracle. Please don't flame me but this could end up being a colossal waste of time and energy. If we think our elected representatives don't give a shyte about us now, they certainly won't care if we don't take the effort to express our displeasure in REAL and tangible ways.

Cheers,

Brian J.

Even with a "Legal signature" (whatever that is), a petition has no special validity. It is simply a means of showing support of - hopefully - a large number of people for an idea Nothing more, nothing less. And, yes, it is better to contact a legislator personally - but that is something that. few folks will actually do, while they may sign a petition.

I currently have a petition I started with over 12,000 signatures. The major benefit has been the comments that we have collected and used. These are very effective. This has been presented to congress and the President, among others.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/noewait/signatures.html

Also, the voluntarily supplied email addresses can be used to advantage in furthering the cause.

http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&FileStore_id=20f89548-8b2e-4498-89f7-c9f4ff22484f

All 600 pages of it. The offending paragraph from page 226...

"(d) BICYCLE SAFETY.—The Secretary of the appropriate Federal land management agency shall prohibit the use of bicycles on each federally owned road that has a speed limit of 30 miles per hour or greater and an adjacent paved path for use by bicycles within 100 yards of the road."

I am going to be killjoy #2. Note: I have not read the entire bill. Just how many "Federally owned" paved road miles are there? If a highway runs through federal grounds it usually is state owned. So unless there is a paved MUP adjacent the road you do not have an issue. Most of the roads on federal land in the West are dirt roads. The only place I have been where this might apply is Grand Canyon NP but I think the speed limit is 25mph. Not that I am overjoyed with my legislators any more than you'all, I think we might get some more facts about the impact before we pile up the fire wood for a burning at the stake.

Signed.

I am going to be killjoy #2. Note: I have not read the entire bill. Just how many "Federally owned" paved road miles are there? If a highway runs through federal grounds it usually is state owned. So unless there is a paved MUP adjacent the road you do not have an issue. Most of the roads on federal land in the West are dirt roads. The only place I have been where this might apply is Grand Canyon NP but I think the speed limit is 25mph. Not that I am overjoyed with my legislators any more than you'all, I think we might get some more facts about the impact before we pile up the fire wood for a burning at the stake.
It's been a while since I last rode there, but I think Yosemite Valley has a bit of 35 mph road with horrid sidepaths. The last thing I want to have to do after riding up Priest Grade and then up and down into Yosemite is deal with pedestrians on a narrow rock-lined MUP. I also fear this is just the beginning of an effort to delegitimize the use of bikes for transportation.

signed!!!

I hate to be a killjoy here, but, internet petitions have no validity at all. You need a LEGAL signature for a petition to be valid. I am all for this action, but you would get far greater results by actually writing your congressman or senator. If this petition even gets looked at, it will be a miracle. Please don't flame me but this could end up being a colossal waste of time and energy. If we think our elected representatives don't give a shyte about us now, they certainly won't care if we don't take the effort to express our displeasure in REAL and tangible ways.

Cheers,

Brian J.
Ah, but they do have an impact.
The bill is not at a point where it is open for change, nor has it come to a vote yet. When it is ready to vote, or open for amendment, there will be an action alert and letter writing campaign to the senate. On the LAB site, there's a letter writing tool- enter your zip, it'll identify your senators, and let you compose an email to them, and mail it for you. It's also pretty painless, I just used it to compose a letter urging my senators to do whatever they could to remove the offending portions of the bill or vote it down when the opportunity arises.
The petition will be used to show how much dislike there is for the bill in its present form. And whether they are legal or not (I've asked LAB to respond to this claim), they do make a difference ( at least when LAB is presenting them).
Please, sign it. And sign up and respond to LAB action alerts. And join LAB.

Baj,
This isn't a petition that needs verifiable signatures like a recall election petition and registered voters, one signature only. As Denver and others said it is to show a mass of support for a position. I worked with the American Motorcyclist Association on a big petition drive for mini-cycles and no verifiable signatures were used or claimed. Just a show of a large number of people with support for a position on an unfair law. The bill was modified to our requested position this summer. The actual numbers on a well organized petition drive can be pretty large, as Denver said. Just wanted to point this out.

Bill

It's been a while since I last rode there, but I think Yosemite Valley has a bit of 35 mph road with horrid sidepaths. The last thing I want to have to do after riding up Priest Grade and then up and down into Yosemite is deal with pedestrians on a narrow rock-lined MUP. I also fear this is just the beginning of an effort to delegitimize the use of bikes for transportation.

It will happen, and then someone will get injured and sue the government over this law. The other issue is that can such a law work in States where bicycles are defined as vehicles under the law. In a day and age where it's known that oil is getting expensive, it's back over $100/bbl as I type, pollution is setting records, the green movement is more and more popular. How will the public take laws where politicians are encouraging more and more personal motorized transportation?

I stand (somewhat) corrected. I guess I lost a bit of my activism since I left the US:D:innocent:
I will go ahead and sign it anyway as I still have a legal residence in The States. Couldn't hurt, right?

Regards,

Brian J.

I hate to be a killjoy here, but, internet petitions have no validity at all. You need a LEGAL signature for a petition to be valid. I am all for this action, but you would get far greater results by actually writing your congressman or senator. If this petition even gets looked at, it will be a miracle. Please don't flame me but this could end up being a colossal waste of time and energy. If we think our elected representatives don't give a shyte about us now, they certainly won't care if we don't take the effort to express our displeasure in REAL and tangible ways.

Cheers,

Brian J.

You are not a killjoy when you alert us to the facts. In fact, you are just the opposite. You are giving us good information on how this information will be taken.

However, this thread does ALERT us, and ENCOURAGES us to write our lawmakers and express our opinion on this. IMO, that is a plus, making this thread a big plus!! :thumb:

Just my take,

Signed - No political bullchit in my post....;-)

:lol:

From the League of American Bicyclists. I removed the phones numbers, email and personally identifiable info to afford a little protection. This response was in regard to the belief that online petitions were not effective or "legal"

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not sure what you mean by "not legal". They are certainly not illegal. So do not worry about that.
Some people (http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/internet.asp) question the effectiveness of online petitions, if:
1. the petition doesn’t target a decision-maker -- ours does: the Senate
2. that target can't influence matters -- our target can
3. no one is in a position to deliver the message -- we are
4. the petition focuses on a broad ask on a complex issue -- our issue is straight-forward and our ask is simple

Further, cynics argue:
5. Signatures aren’t votes, so politicians don’t listen -- True. They’re not votes, but the message behind our “I Bike. I Vote.” message is that the mandatory sidepath issue and bicycling funding are major a priorities for the millions of people who bike. They will become votes. I have heard time and time again from staffers and elected officials that bicyclists are among the most civically engaged of all of the constituencies they deal with.
6. Online petitions can be easily faked – I supposed this is true, however our comment field has generated thousands of unique and personal comments that mitigate this concern somewhat. Normal petitions do not have that feature.

Even skeptics recognize that online petitions can raise awareness of an issue. This one has clearly done that – just look at facebook and twitter. We have engaged hundreds of new cyclists, who have asked to be kept in the loop on this and other issues.

Bottom line: It takes longer to explain why the petition won’t work than it takes to sign it. I would strongly encourage anyone who doesn’t want to sign the petition to write a personal letter to their Senator. There’s no question that helps.

Also please know that we are working the issue on Capitol Hill, looking for a Senator-champion to fight to remove the clause. All hope does not rest on this petition, but if we achieve the 10,000 signatures we are shooting for, it may make our job at least somewhat easier.

I hope that helps. Please keep spreading the word. We’ve had a great response, but we’re not where we need to be yet. (Signatures from Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana may be particularly helpful, if you have any connections to bicycling networks in those states, but all are needed and welcome.)

Sincerely,

xxxxxxx
Policy Analyst
League of American Bicyclists
1612 K St. NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: xxxxxx
Fax: xxxxxxx

^^^:rolleyes:
+1

I signed this petetion back in November and have been receiving regular updates from the bikeleague. They just sent one requesting that I write my senators, which I just did. Still keeping an eye on this bill; it's a slow process.

Anyone know who had this language inserted into this bill? I asked the bikeleague in an email, but they said they were investigating it. I just sent another email to them trying to ascertain this info.

I have a friend who has a friend who knows a friend of Rand Paul (please don't go weird, or the thread may be closed). I hope for the opportunity to chat with him. Contrary to political stereotyping, I hear he's a reasonable guy.

When you speak cross-culturally, it's important to set your parochialism behind and communicate on even terms. Brow-beating won't achieve anything.

I would say this: Rand, sir, we're talking about freedom, freedom and independence. Right now a large part of our population is in chains wrought by poor dietary choices and even poorer lifestyle choices. The Feds, by removing healthy alternatives to the auto for travel, is in effect enslaving us to the Arabs and Persians.

Rand, small monetary investments in the pedestrian and cycling infrastructure will pay huge monetary dividends: less obesity and better fitness which means lower health care costs and lower drug usage (except for PED and Medicare doesn't cover those anyway :) ). As people get out and exercise, they meet their neighbors and a sense of community grows.

Take the great state of Kentucky. We have some of the most beautiful scenery and cycling roads in the Union, but only a handful of people even know about it. Look at the Redbud Ride in London and see how a cycling event can pull the town together, bring people from all over the region (and their tourism dollars).

So, pay no attention to the Greenies, the Luddites, and the return to the cave enviros. Pay no attention to the entitlement freaks and the statist redistributionists. Advancing the cycling infrastructure is just the right thing to do.



You may adopt this into a letter to sound to conservative legislators. I guarandamntee you they're consider it more carefully than what you're sending out now.

Well, sure I don't like being put on the side path, but what I really don't like is being banned altogether ... for example Going to the Sun Highway at Glacier National Park after 11 am, complete ban for bicycles at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge in upstate New York, Kilauea National Wildlife Refuge on Kaua'i, Punchbowl National Cemetery of the Pacific. These are just the ones where I've personally encountered the ban, from but I'm sure there are lots more I don't know about.

Would I, on my road bike, theoretically be forced to use a dirt or gravel path? That works just fine as long as I'm dismounted and pushing.

I signed this petetion back in November and have been receiving regular updates from the bikeleague. They just sent one requesting that I write my senators, which I just did. Still keeping an eye on this bill; it's a slow process.

Anyone know who had this language inserted into this bill? I asked the bikeleague in an email, but they said they were investigating it. I just sent another email to them trying to ascertain this info.
I wrote my Senator who happens to sit on the transportation committee. Some staffer sent me back a form letter that clearly indicated that he/she had not understood a word of what I wrote. I think I need to look for a more direct way to get through. Unfortunately, much of the rhetoric from LAB and other Copenhaginistas has somewhat poisoned the well. Many people think that pushing bikes to side-paths is what cyclists want.

they say that if you want to influence a politician, you should call, fax or write a letter. email effectively does nothing. I don't know about this kind of internet petition, there have been some internet actions that have worked recently.

I deleted all the off-topic politics. Please take that to P&R. Thanks

they say that if you want to influence a politician, you should call, fax or write a letter. email effectively does nothing...


Thanks for the advice. I'll give snail-mail a try and see if I can get someone to read it.

when I was in high school, you got an automatic A for the six week marking period if you wrote a letter to your congressman or senator. I hated that guy, and when I sent him my letter his office sent me a letter thanking me for supporting his position -- 180 degrees from the truth. You generally aren't going to turn someone around, but if people are waffling, it might have some effect. In this case, the bill is going to annoy the cyclists and nobody else will care if the language disappears. So we have a chance.

This works:

1. individual emails always referencing the previous articles and the index

2. Follow up individual letters from 100's of folks

We have made quite an impression on the state.

http://www.ourwebs.info/IssuesFromPadco.htm

Would I, on my road bike, theoretically be forced to use a dirt or gravel path? Yes. Someone probably got the idea taking a shortcut rush hour drive through Rock Creek Park and seeing a cyclist commuter using the road rather than the rough dirt path next to it. I can't tell you how many times Washington DC fools yelled "get on the path". They think the park is their motoring short cut. Every few years they get on the radio to say bad things about cyclist legally riding in the park and slowing them down. They are too dumb to understand that they are the ones causing the traffic jam in the park.

I signed the "E" petition but I want to know why the Federal Highway Act requiring that all new roads and resurfaces of existing roads that required bike lanes be included stopped being enforced? Did miss where this requirement got stripped away in a later funding bill? We had some very good, useful bike lanes here for a while but the last few in out part of the county have excluded the bike lane. If they do put us on paths I hope they are built to a specification that has them wide enough, well drained and maintained. As to our banning from national parks in some places, that is just wrong. We represent the clean and efficient means of getting around a park.

Bill

I will follow-up my email with a phone call, actually a few phone calls. This is a dangerous precedent if passed.

signed

+1 B. Carfree "I wish we could stop fighting battles we won a long time ago so we could use our time/energy to move forward. We need some better means of killing zombie ideas. "

Snickering, but only slightly on this one. Please take this in the manner it is meant.
When us dirt bikers were telling you guys to help us out from getting public lands closed to us, we told you this was going to affect you(at some point). Did you send letters then? You should have because this AFFECTS US ALL!! Public lands are......PUBLIC! We all need to support one another, as recreationists.
This crap started over 10 years ago. I shudder to think where we'd all be right now if Gore got elected. All lands would be closed to anyone but a hiker and maybe even them!!