Bay Village – Bicycle Friendly Laws
Bay Village cyclists need you to attend the Bay Village City Council Committee meeting on:
Thursday, February 27th @ 5:30pm
Bay Village City Hall (350 Dover Center Rd).
WHY: Over the past year Bike Cleveland has been working with groups (Bay Village Green Team, Village Bicycle Co-op and the Bay Skate & Bike Park Foundation) and residents in Bay Village along with Bay Village council members to update their outdated bicycle ordinances. The goal: to make Bay Village safer for people on bikes.
After months of committee meetings we are close to getting some bike friendly laws passed in Bay Village, but there are two laws that we need your help in getting changed:
- Currently the draft ordinances include mandatory single file riding on Lake Road. We would like to see this removed because it is not uniform with the state law that allows people on bikes to ride two-abreast. In fact the state law states that local laws governing bicycling on the road cannot be “fundamentally inconsistent” with state law (ORC 4511.07). By forcing people on bikes to ride single-file on Lake Rd. Bay Village’s law will be inconsistent with every other neighboring community that Lake Road goes through.
- Currently the 3-ft minimum passing law for motorists when passing a person on a bike is not included in the proposed ordinances. We would like to see this included. This law gives law enforcement a minimum definition of what “safe” passing distance is by stating: “When a motor vehicle overtakes a bicycle, the safe passing distance shall be not less than three feet. The law provides clarity for police when enforcing laws for bicycle safety. 3-ft passing laws already exist in 22 states and countless cities across the US (in Ohio Toledo, Cincinnati, and Cleveland). It is a standard law for cities that want to be bicycle friendly.
HOW YOU CAN HELP: If you bike through, live in or just love to see good things happening for people on bikes then join us on Thursday, February 27th at 5:30pm at the Bay Village Council Committee meeting at Bay Village City Hall (350 Dover Center Rd). This will be the last council committee meeting before the new ordinances are presented to the full council.
BACKGROUND: Beginning in early 2013 Bike Cleveland worked with stakeholders in Bay Village to re-write their traffic code to bring it in-line with state law and to make it more bicycle-friendly. The proposed changes were presented to the Bay Village City Council environment, safety and community services committee for review in preparation to be presented to the full city council. To see the proposed changes and revisions presented to the council committee here.