On a beautiful Saturday in June, with the scent of burning automobile tires still in the air, I received my first bicycle traffic ticket in 40 years of cycling. That morning, in the left-hand through lane of Grand Avenue that travels eastbound across Riverside to Burlington Street, an Iowa City Police Officer stopped behind me as I was on my bicycle waiting for the traffic light to turn green. I got a ticket—in fact, I insisted on being written a ticket—after the officer told me I was “in the wrong place” on the road.
I was ticketed for violating Iowa City Municipal Code 9-8-1C, which states, among other regulations, that bicycles “shall ride as near to the right-hand side of the roadway as practicable (italics mine), except for turning movements.” But I was making a turning movement and I was riding in a way I, and many others, find practicable.
“Practicable” means capable of being done with means at hand and circumstances as they are, including concerns of safety. Inherent in this definition is that cyclists need to be able to interpret conditions and respond in appropriate ways that might not seem clear to those not cycling—an Iowa City Police officer driving a car, for instance.
Using the left lane eastbound across the Burlington Street Bridge is the safest and best place for a cyclist intending to travel north to be. I ride this same route every day on my way to work at the University of Iowa Libraries. In fact, dozens of cyclists perform this same maneuver every day on their way to work and school, perhaps hundreds a week. Aside from the fact that the lane is seldom used by motorists, thus having less impact on automobile traffic flow, it is a safer choice for a cyclist because the lane becomes a left turn lane at Madison Street. Using the far left lane is far safer than trying to merge across two lanes of heavy, fast-moving traffic that often exceeds the 25 mph speed limit. Simply put, this is the practicable lane for a cyclist to use for left turns on the east side of the river.
So, I insisted on being written a ticket and seeing my day in court. But, that day did not go particularly well. The County Attorney prosecuting my case could not cite the traffic code properly as he persisted in using the word “practical” and not “practicable.” More troublesome, the officer who wrote my citation told the court that I should turn left from the right curb in a perpendicular move across six lanes of traffic. He really said this. I smiled at the judge who, even though he ultimately found me guilty, seemed to convey he agreed with the absurdity. But the law is the law, and the law won.
As an aside, I was similarly harassed not one week after my court verdict by yet another Iowa City police officer who said I was not in the “bike lane” on Benton Street. Of course, the shoulder on Benton is not a bike lane—the pavement is broken and cracked, there’s litter and debris, and it’s not marked as a bike lane. The head of Public Works agreed with me that this is not a bike lane and informed the Police Department as such, but it begs the question of whether or not any of these officers are fit to tell a cyclist where they should and should not be on the road.
The issue at hand is not that I lost my court case; the problem is this law. This law, as interpreted by the officer and the judge in my court case, will be dangerous for cyclists. For example, a cyclist’s movement to avoid hazardous pavement conditions that could be seen as acceptable to an officer driving a police car, could be construed as illegal. This law could even be used against a cyclist navigating a narrow roadway who ensures his or her safety by “taking” the lane. One could foresee how this law might be used in the defense of an otherwise guilty motorist—if they claimed the cyclist was not riding far enough to the right at the time of their impact, who would be to blame?
Iowa City’s bicycle statute, in our bronze-level “Bicycle Friendly” city, subjects cyclists to needless second-guessing by law enforcement and we are all less safe because of it. Our community should be fostering alternative forms of transportation and seeking ways to get more citizens walking and bicycling more often. Instead, unfortunately, when our City decides to crackdown on roadway safety, they aim their ire at those who are most vulnerable, as evidenced by the latest crackdown on jaywalkers (Daily Iowan, Sept 10).
We need to foster a better environment and encourage citizens to make daily choices that make our community more livable. Our laws, and the way we design Iowa travelways, should not be a hindrance toward that goal. Demand your rights, demand your roadway space and, if it comes to it, demand your day in court. I know I will continue to do so; I hope you do as well.
