Metro Council Adopts Changes to Bicycling Ordinance

Updating the City-Parish bicycling ordinances – why we did it

Bike Baton Rouge Vice President Mark Martin addresses the Metro Council.

In 1951, Harry S. Truman was president. “Tennessee Waltz,” sung by Patti Page became the #1 single on the Billboard and Cashbox lists. At trial, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were convicted of espionage. The Census Bureau starts using the UNIVAC I computer, the world’s first commercial computer.

And the City Council collected all permanent city ordinances into one book called the City Code of the City of Baton Rouge, including regulation of bicycling.

In the sixty years since the Council adopted those ordinances only two have been update. Meanwhile, the Louisiana Revised Statues regarding bicycling had been revised several times. As a result, state Statutes and City-Parish Ordinances diverged creating conflicting regulations.

During development of the Pedestrian-Bicycle Master Plan (2017-2019) representatives of Bike Baton Rouge served on the steering and technical advisory committees for the Plan. Those representatives had also worked in previous years to update and revise state bicycling statutes, in the process becoming aware of the divergence of City-Parish ordinances from state statutes. After speaking with the Plan consultants, Bike Baton Rouge committee members introduced suggested revisions for the City-Parish ordinances that were included in the final, adopted, plan (2020). See the final adopted language here.

FAQs

The most frequently asked question is, “Do they enforce those laws? If not, why change them?” Would you want to spend 10 days in jail for violating one of these provisions IF someone decided to enforce the law? We wouldn’t.

We wanted to clarify the laws regarding bicycling. With divergence of the state statutes and the City-Parish Ordinances it would be possible to be charged with an offense under one that did not exist in the other.

Finally, things have changed over the sixty years since the Ordinances were first enacted. Perhaps most importantly, to help build a bicycling culture we thought it important to remove the idea that bicycles are toys. 

The changes

Deletions

• Removed “and Play Vehicles” from the ordinance title. Bicycles aren’t “play vehicles.” Bicycles are transportation.

• Deleted “mandatory side path law,” which said if there is a bike facility adjacent to the roadway a cyclist MUST use it and not the roadway. Condition of the side path was never part of the discussion.

• Removed “toy vehicle” from the “Clinging to Vehicles” provision.

• Deleted “or ten (10) days in jail” from the penalties provision.

Additions

Regarding riding on the right:

• Allows preparing for a left turn, that is, moving into the left lane prior to the left turn.

• When riding on a “substandard width lane or any other conditions that make it unsafe to continue along the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway. For purposes of this Paragraph, a “substandard width lane” is a lane that is too narrow for a bicycle and a vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane.”
  
  This is tied to the Colin Goodier Act (RS 32:76.1), “The operator of a motor vehicle, when overtaking and passing a bicycle proceeding in the same direction on the roadway, shall exercise due care while the motor vehicle is passing the bicycle and shall leave a safe distance between the motor vehicle and the bicycle of not less than three feet and shall maintain such clearance until safely past the overtaken bicycle.  An operator of a motor vehicle may pass a bicycle traveling in the same direction in a no-passing zone only when it is safe to do so.” 

There are very few roads in Baton Rouge that can accommodate a bicycle and a motor vehicle safely IN the lane. This provision allows a bicyclist to “take the lane” thereby encouraging drivers to pass safely.

• When approaching a place where a right turn is authorized, that is, a designated right turn lane. This allows the bicyclist to move to the left into the continuing lane.

• “Where there are two or more marked traffic lanes and traffic travels in only one direction, may ride as near the left-hand curb or shoulder of that roadway as practicable.” Think downtown streets.

• Added a provision for brakes on bicycles with a new provision for fixed gear bicycles without brakes.

Modifications

• Section 11:221. – Traffic laws apply to persons riding bicycles. The language now matches that of the Revised Statutes.

• Section 11:229. – Parking. Updated to include “bike corrals” and “docking stations.”

• Section 11:231. – Lamps and other equipment on bicycles. The language now matches that of the Revised Statutes.

• Section 11:233. – Freestyle skateboarding, bicycling, and roller skating prohibited on park structuresPenalty. Penalties. Removed the “Penalties” provision to a separate section and removed the “or 10 days in jail” provision.

Louisiana Revised Statutes related to bicycling are in TITLE 32 MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC REGULATION and may be found online at https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/law.aspx?d=88016.