BIKE: Permission to use the roadways

[Fred Meredith]

Okay, I know this is an old thread and a tired subject by now. I was 
following it on my slow dial up webmail while in Ecuador, but didn't 
feel I had time to participate. I do have one observation to make.

In the case of undisciplined Critical Mass rides (as opposed to those 
which had 20 or 30 police motorcycles and 10 bike cops riding herd on 
them and were therefore pretty disciplined) and the Jingle Bell 
Rides, I think they are not like rush hour traffic or traffic 
situations created by special events. They really do meet some 
criteria unique to parades and might logically be subject to permits.

In just about any parade you have ever watched or taken part in, the 
parading parties use the whole street from nearly one edge to the 
other, taking up the lanes in each direction.

Because this does restrict and bring to a halt normal traffic flow 
(whether it is crawling at a snail's pace or racing along at the 
speed limit) by taking lanes away from other legitimate users, it 
requires special permission to do it intentionally.

Observations from both many Critical Mass rides and many Jingle Bell 
rides lead me to believe that these groups do need some kind of 
permit UNLESS they are willing to restrict themselves to traffic 
lanes and to moving in the normal direction of travel for those 
lanes. Parades also do not generally stop for traffic lights or stop 
signs. CM and JB rides also fall into that category since I observed 
that even when there were no police officers or other traffic 
directing people at an intersection, many of the Jingle Bell ride 
participants rode straight through red lights as if they owned the 
whole intersection. True, some were cautious and reluctant to break 
the law, but others seemed all too happy and carefree to worry about 
it.

Yes, CM and the Jingle Bell ride looked a lot alike (except that I 
did not observe any Jingle Bell riders flipping the bird to 
motorists or slapping their fenders). Of course the main difference 
was that the Jingle Bell ride DID have a permit.

Fred (just back from a place where traffic "rules" are often broken 
while consideration and accommodation result in a traffic "dance" 
that seems to avoid all those fender benders we have here) Meredith

At 7:18 AM -0800 1/3/04, Dan Connelly wrote:
>Mike Dahmus wrote:
>>  You need permission to have a parade.
>
>What's a parade?
>
>Clearly traffic jams of motor vehicles are not parades.
>
>A parade typically involves multiple vehicles, claiming temporary
>exclusive access to the road, otherwise violating vehicle code.
>(failing to keep to the right despite substandard speed, failing
>to stop at stop signs and signals, failing to yield to pedestrians
>at cross-walks, etc).  They therefore require extraordinary privlege,
>and therefore, special permission.
>
>Yet parade ordinances have been used in the SF Bay area to
>restrict public rides (centuries, etc), despite the fact that
>in these events riders are fully expected to follow vehicle code.
>No special exceptions are needed or requested.  What makes these
>"parades", but if a Stanford football game clogs the roads (fully
>anticipated), it is not a parade?   No, the cycling event is not
>a parade any more than rush hour is a parade.  The fact that riders
>pay the organizers is hardly relevent.
>
>So I'd like to see a legal definition (Black's Law, for example)
>of "parade".   I hardly think group rides,  formal or loosely
>organized, qualify.  I can't find anything in vehicle codes
>of either CA or TX:
>
>http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=veh&group=00001-01000&file=100-680
>http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/statutes/tr/tr0054100toc.html
>
>Dan
>
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-- 
When in doubt ... ride your bike (or at least write about it).

Fred Meredith, LCI Consultant
P.O. Box 100 (12702 Lowden Ln for UPS/FedEx)
Manchaca, TX 78652
512/282-1987 (office/home)
512/282-7413 (fax)
512/636-7480 (wireless)