Photo by Les Bikes/Facebook
Month: September 2012 (Page 2 of 3)
After getting the ticket for “disregard of a red signal light†back on May 25th, I commented to my husband Mark that I would give up the $119 fine, but I wanted something good to come from it.
Something good did – meet the new ordinance for affirmative defense for cyclists passed by the Edmond City Council Monday, September 10, 2012:
I can’t begin to convey how pleased I am that this was accomplished. It is a big help for cyclists and I’m thankful that my experience helped to bring it about.
Today I finally had my day in court. I found the Judge to be both fair and empathetic; finding me guilty of the offense, but waiving the fine and court costs. Most meaningful to me was that she stated several times that she admired my riding and that she wished our community could be accessed better on foot or by bike. She genuinely seemed sorry that she had to find me guilty because she understood the dilemma I was faced with.
The Affirmative Defense ordinance for bicyclists will go into effect next month. Although I got the ball rolling we would not have this ordinance if not for the efforts of the Edmond Bicycle Committee, particularly Jan Fees, Steve Murdoch (City Attorney), and of course the City Council.
This ordinance is an accommodation for cyclists which recognizes that not all traffic signals detect cyclists and gives us an affirmative defense should we receive a ticket – if all conditions are met.
I would like to state here for the record that my incident met all of the criteria specified in this ordinance – in other words I did not roll through a red light. Mark and I waited through two cycles before proceeding safely through the intersection.
There seems to be some belief out there that this ordinance gives cyclists the license to roll through stop signs or red lights. It does not and it is imperative that every cyclist obey traffic laws. If you’ve spent much time here on my blog you know one of my pet peeves is cyclists who blow through stop signs or red traffic signals.
The fact is I recognized the red light and stopped and waited; unfortunately the red light didn’t recognize me and change. As every cyclist knows, the infrastructure is geared towards motorists not bicyclists, and presents us with a myriad of challenges where we must do our best to act safely and responsibly.
Edmond is moving forward on becoming a bicycle friendly community, this is just one step toward that. The Bicycle Master Plan is a huge step as is the proposed Arcadia Lake Trail. For local cyclists, please support and acknowledge Edmond’s attempts to better accommodate and encourage people to ride bikes.
Keep riding and stay safe.
There’s a new ordinance in town!
An ordinance allowing for a cyclist to have an affirmative defense should they proceed through a red light that fails to recognize them was unanimously passed by the Edmond City Council tonight. This ordinance resulting from my ticket back in May goes into effect in 30 days.
Thanks to the Edmond Bike Committee and local cyclists for working with the City Attorney and others to get this done.
A big victory for local cyclists!
I can’t speak for everyone, but my advocacy efforts on behalf of cyclists with the City of Edmond and the Edmond Bike Committee have been successful both times – back in 2007 to get the 3 foot ordinance adopted and now the affirmative defense ordinance.
Edmond is obviously motivated to be a community that is safe and supportive of bicycling. In addition to the ordinances mentioned above Edmond is in the process of developing and implementing a bicycle master plan, as well as working with private sector partners to build a paved trail around Lake Arcadia.
The future looks brighter for those of us who ride bikes or would ride with better infrastructure and safer roads.
(Updated 9-10-12/10:00pm)
My day in court to contest my ticket (for proceeding through a traffic light that failed to detect me on my bike) is almost here – finally.
Originally scheduled for July 12, 2012, it was canceled and rescheduled for August 9th which didn’t work for me (out of town) so rescheduled again for September 13th.
In the meantime I’ve been busy working with the City of Edmond’s Bike committee, the City Attorney and fellow cyclists to get an ordinance passed similar to the Affirmative Defense statute in Missouri. It isn’t a city ordinance yet, but we’re close.
Once again I have found the Edmond Bike Committee and city officials (in this case the city attorney) to be responsive and willing to take necessary action to correct problems.
All that I wanted when I posted the $119 bond to have “my day in court†was to have something good come from it for those of us that ride bikes.
I hope to have the fine waived because given the circumstances I feel a ticket was not warranted, but if not, having an affirmative defense ordinance in place as a result of my ticket will be a positive outcome for me and every other cyclist navigating through traffic lights here locally.
With any luck and some justice I’ll get my $119 back and the ordinance!
Having never watched the full Vuelta a Espana before this year, I don’t know if it is usually so difficult (mountainous) or relentlessly contested, but I’m glad I decided to watch it this year! Especially after a less than exciting Tour de France earlier this summer.
Don’t know if you’ve been following it, but every stage has been raced aggressively with daily attacks by the favorites and top placed riders. There have been no free rides – no deference to the leader’s red jersey – no riding to protect overall position.
This grand tour has had a remarkable display of skill and race tactics throughout the almost 3 weeks of racing. Not to mention the brutal summit finishes and climbs.
Stage 17 was no exception – except for the brutal summit finish. At the beginning of today the general classification (GC) looked like this:
- 1. Joaquin RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Katusha, in 63:38:24
- 2. Alberto CONTADOR VELASCO, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, at :28
- 3. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 2:04
At the end of Stage 17 the GC looked like this:
- 1. Alberto CONTADOR VELASCO, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, in 68:07:54
- 2. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 1:52
- 3. Joaquin RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Katusha, at 2:28