I don't know how I get myself into this stuff, but here I go again….
First try a little thought experiment with me examine these two statements:
1. In general people are idiots behind the steering wheel.
2. I am an idiot behind the steering wheel.
Most of us will agree to the first, but disagree with the second. This leaves us with the problem that we have just proved ourselves to be idiots. It also leaves us with a bit of protection in that no mater how much we hate idiots on the road, we can't do much about it because at one time or another WE are the idiot on the road.
Now consider this same experiment but we will use cyclists instead of motorists.
1. Cyclists are idiots and are unsafe on the road.
2. When I ride my bike on the road I am an unsafe idiot.
The initial response is about the same unless you do not ride your bike on the road. Now you have the conclusion that cyclists are idiots, but the counterbalance is gone because there is no chance that you are the idiot on the bike.
This is the PR battle we fight as cyclists. If a motorist sees another motorist run a red light they will see it as the fault of the individual. But if that motorist sees a cyclist run the red light they will see it as the fault cyclist in general. So when they go home the story is told in two different ways. Either a) "So this guy ran a red light, jeez, people are idiots" or b) "I just watched this cyclist blatantly run a red light, those cyclists think they can do whatever they want, they shouldn't be on the road"
So what's my point? Well this separation where most people view cyclists as something other than themselves has led to some new proposed regulation about how cyclist ride their bikes in Oldham County, Kentucky.
Before I get to the proposed ordinance let me tell you a little about myself. I am a bike guy. I like playing with bikes. I like fixing bikes. I like talking about bikes. I like riding bikes. So it is only natural that I opened a little bike shop because it seemed like something I would like.
As it turns out running a small business is more than playing with bikes. Before I new it I was filling out forms and applications. Applying for permits to hang a sign in my window, permits to start a business, business licenses, Employer Identification numbers. Etc etc. It took me about 5 days of reading an assortment of legal documents to figure out how to pay my employees. As it turns out you can’t just pay an employee, you have to pay five different Government agencies as well, carry insurance that covers the employees in case they can't work for you anymore, and unemployment tax to cover people who never did work for you in case THEY can't work. Then you have to pay your Property tax on your building, and your inventory, and your car, and collect the governments sales tax for them. Then comes a separate tax bill for the water that runs off your roof (yup I got that one). And as soon as you have it all figured out they change the law and all of a sudden you are doing it wrong. So to avoid more fines you hire out your calculations to a company who does such things. Now you are paying people just to tell you who you have to pay how much to, and all you really wanted to do is play with bikes and give some local kid some money so that he could help you out with it.
In short it took about a year of being in business to realize that pretty much every time rule, regulation or ordinance is passed, it is going to make my life more complicated and cost me money.
In fact off the top of my head I can’t think of a new law that has been passed since I was born that has helped me out in anyway, I'm sure they are out there, I just can’t think of them. Most of the important stuff they got right off the bat. Don't kill anyone, don't put anyone in danger, and "if it is not yours, leave it alone" pretty much covers it. Everything else is just a modification or a complication.
So when I hear that our county government is proposing a new way to regulate how we ride our bike, my gut reaction is to say "this can't be good". The last little non-complicated thing in my life is heading for government regulation. Well today I got my hands on the regulation in draft form and as suspected it is basically an ordinance drafted either by, or in order to appease, people who think cyclists are idiots and view them as an inconvenience on the road.
To their credit, they are right that cyclists are an inconvenience to drivers on the road. But if we are honest with ourselves, we have to accept that every user of the road in an inconvenience to the other users. Think how fast you would get to work if you were the only car on the road. How many times in the past month have you had to slow down or stop because the driver in front of you was turning left? A train crossed the road? A tractor? Gotten stuck behind a funeral procession? Gotten caught in School or Church traffic? Tried to get on the interstate just after a local business lets all its employees off work at the same time?
Now do you want to ban left hand turns? How many of these things can we regulate? How many should we regulate? Is there a point to my rambling?
Well at this point only kind of… I am still crunching numbers to figure out what this ordinance will cost me as a race promoter and a ride organizer. I will also need to determine what it will cost me as a retailer of bicycles and bicycle parts if our county takes a firm stand against bicycle tourism in our county. It is my hope that the tourism board and other businesses will do the same. So for now I will just post up a copy of the current draft of the ordinance and let you all see what you think.
Link to the draft of new ordinance here:
http://www.goosecreekcycle.com/EventOrdinance.htm
