A group calling itself Citizens for Safety Coalition of Iowa has created a petition to the Iowa legislature calling on the ban of bicycles on all farm-to-market roads in the state. Safety is the argument made for passing this law change.
We the undersigned are Iowa residents who urge our Legislature to support a ballot initiative for the November 2010 election which will prohibit bicyclists from using state and county defined farm-to-market roads.
A farm-to-market road is a state or county road which serves to connect rural or agricultural areas to market towns.
Over the past ten years the number of bicyclists using these farm-to-market roads for recreational purposes has increased dramatically as have the number of preventable accidents and fatalities.
Rural commerce and citizens are significantly impacted when forced to share the farm-to-market roadways with bicyclists. Because of the growth of today’s commerce and agricultural business, shared roadways are no longer safe or practical in today’s society.
So please if you are a resident of Iowa join us and lets make our roadways safe. Thanks for your time and your support.
Instead of addressing how to make roads safer, this petition discriminates against people who cannot afford an automobile. It is not surprising in a state that’s agriculture industry is so heavily dependent on petrochemicals. Why would you want people to choose transportation that limits this dependence? One wonders where Iowans will be when gas returns to $4/gallon or more.
It is unclear what such a ban would do to RAGBRAI, the famous annual bike ride across Iowa which draws over 10,000 riders every year. The organizers change the route every year with many communities lobbying heavily for the ride and its huge economic benefits. These routes depend on farm-to-market roads and many towns would be completely left out of any potential route with this ban.
As of today, only about 350 people had signed the petition. Several posted comments showed earnest concern for the safety of cyclists, but there were already many negative comments made (mostly anonymously of course) about cyclists:
- There are sooo many bikers, and it’s only going to get worse—the legislature is going to HAVE to address this issue. A large percent of the bikers are brain-dead or they wouldn’t be caught on these dangerous Co. roads. Then they have the nerve to blame the motoring public because they think it’s so scary when the cars are going the speed limit. You bikers need to get a life and move over to the trails, that you whinned for and we spent boocoo $$$$$$ in order to please a small percent of the populase.- Anonymous
- I dont understand exactly what they are training for but i doubt that its for the tour de france. Bicycling is a hobby, farming is a job. Bikes need to get out the way and let these men and women work.- Ramona Sharp, Iowa
- I know I looked forward to turning 16 and being able to drive so I’d NEVER have to use a bike again!- Anonymous
- I know a man who went to jail because he hit a bicyclist on a country road with the mirror of his truck. Keep the bikes on the paths and off our roads and streets!!- Anonymous
- I would like to extend the petition to city streets without bike lanes.- Nicholas Stone, Iowa
- It is about time someone does somthing sbout these bicycles that ride on roads that they shouldn’t be on. Thank you.- Jon Betts, Iowa
- Stop wasting money on bike trails if they are going to allowed to ride on the roads.- Scott Politte, Iowa
- This is something that absolutely needs to happen. The liberal politicians have sided with the bicyclists and want to pass totally insane laws to protect them on roadways. Roadways are made for vehicles. Bike/walking paths are for cyclists. While we’re at it I think RAGBRAI should be eliminated as well.- Timothy Carmichael, Iowa
Still, not all the comments were so serious:
I’m a greedy corporate corn man in Iowa trying to control the world. Bikes must be stamped out like the family farm has been.- Corporate Corn, Iowa
on Aug 3rd, 2009 at 10:43 am
`It is not surprising in a state that’s agriculture industry is so heavily dependent on petrochemicals.’
Um, what? All commercial agriculture nowadays is heavily dependant on petrochemicals. One man, working his farm with his ox could feed his family, with some extra left over to sell at market.
But if you want a handful of farmers to be able to feed thousands of people, that’s done through tractors, harvesters, etc. Fertilizer might be used. The food is transported with trucks, trains, boats, etc. All heavily dependent on petrochemicals, in *every* state.
`Why would you want people to choose transportation that limits this dependence?’ Um, you know why people drive. Don’t play dumb.
They drive because it’s usually faster. It requires less effort. You can carry more cargo. The odds of being injured in an accident are smaller. Air conditioning. The reasons go on and on — and they’re real reasons. People aren’t going to switch just for more `independence’. (Now, to safe money, that might prompt them to do so. But it’ll have to be a lot of money for most people.)
`One wonders where Iowans will be when gas returns to $4/gallon or more.’ One should know — they’ll be driving their cars, griping about the cost of gas. Sure, some small percentage will switch to walking, biking or public transportation, but most will still be driving. Even at $10/gallon, people will still be driving — but at least at that point they might start switching to other things in significant numbers.
What they’re proposing is a remarkably bad idea — mostly because of how selfish it is. It’s not about safety — it’s about not wanting to be inconvenienced. And of course you know that.
on Aug 3rd, 2009 at 1:09 pm
What a sad day. Take away one more freedom. If this passes, I’ll be ashamed to say I’m from Iowa.
on Aug 4th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Instead of banning bicycles, how about putting bike lanes and maintaining them. There is federal money available to do this and it would benefit everyone. Doug is right, it is not about safety, it is about not wanting to be inconvenienced.
on Aug 4th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
if this does pass it would be a sad day in iowa. And what on earth are some of these people smoking with the spending tons of dollars on bike trails. Iowa has very little bike trails as it is and most are grass, dirt, or in the City (sorry we like to see the country side too). Instead of wasting time trying to ban cyclists from the road why not lobby to put in bike lanes like in many europe countries. Also the comment on getting ride of bikes on all city streets that don’t have a bike lane has to be the dumbest idea ever. Guess that dummy doesn’t want kids riding bikes either. And what about the people that commute to work on a bike (trying to save money on gas and reduce the carbon foot print)
I tell you what lets ban walking too. In fact if you can’t get somewhere via a powered motor then we should just ban it and become more of a country of fat overweight slobs.
on Aug 5th, 2009 at 10:32 am
I would venture to say that there are more accidents and fatalities related to slow moving, obstucting farm machinery than there are related to bicycles.
I would say that this is a small group of radical people that believe because there land surrounds roadways the roads too belong to them. Let’s all remember these are public roads… not personal driveways. We all pay taxes to have these roads.
We live in a diverse, growing society that must be tolerant of others and learn to change to survive and prosper. Much like people have learned to accept slow moving farm machinery, they must learn to accept bicycles, minorities and reality.
on Aug 5th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Carl,
I experienced one such person when I did RAGBRAI years ago. While stopped by the side of the road, I listened to a farmer rant about all these cyclist. He had sold part of his land to the government for the construction of a FM road and couldn’t understand why all these people were using it once it was built.
I agree. We need to make room for all forms of transportation, not just really expensive, fossil fuel using pieces of metal.
on Aug 10th, 2009 at 11:11 am
You’ve got to understand this is the typical 1950′s mentality in Iowa. “Bicycles are a hobby not transportation” is what most folks believe. Most people see cars or preferably trucks as the only way to get from point A to point B. Coming back to Iowa after a decade in Portland, OR has really opened my eyes to what bicycles can really offer a community. Wish some of you bicycle activists from PDX, Chicago, Minneapolis and Austin would come help straighten some of these folks out.
on Aug 10th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Chad,
We’d love to help, but I’m afraid we’ve got an awful lot of Austinites to straighten out first!
on Jun 10th, 2010 at 10:04 am
This is laughable. Why is a bike considered any more of a hinderance than Iowa tractors, combines, drills, etc on the road? Don’t cars and faster trucks have to slow down for all of these also? A bicyclist should be treated with the same regard. Would a farm truck come so close to another farm vehicle that they would hit it with their mirror? NO. So why would they take a chance and drive so close to a bicyclist? What is the ‘significant impact’ that is being perpetrated by a cyclist? That the truck might get to their destination 15 seconds later?
Also, for all those people out there that think that trails were only built for bicyclists, they are also considered walking and jogging trails, and aren’t always suited for long distance riding or training, especially for speed events. Long, uninterrupted roads are the only way to train for specific races. Roads were not only made for cars, the laws say so.