In the past four Christmas Wish Lists, I'm focused almost exclusively on facilities; and while there are still dozens of other projects that one could ask for, even breaking the list down to the hyper-local level, there is also a lot of room to make improvements in local laws. Of course, there's room for improvement in federal law too, but I have to narrow it down somewhere.
Most of us, most of the time don't actually have to deal with failures in the law that often. Tickets happen, but they're rare. But when things get serious, when there are injuries, property damage or even loss of life, the law, all too often, doesn't provide cyclists with the protection they need. Other times the law is misinterpreted because it doesn't place enough emphasis on protecting people.
In general, when people are talking about cyclists and the law they're talking about all the ways that cyclists break the law. But over the next 12 posts, I'll probably highlight a law that even the most law-abiding among you breaks. It is almost impossible to ride a bicycle and not break the law. And if you ride in complete abidance of the law, you're probably adding risk to your life and the lives of others. So in addition to protecting cyclists, there are some laws we can clean up that will help make normal, safe cycling legal and more convenient.
How hard is it to comply with the law, even DDOT's SmartBike might be in technical violation of the law.
50-1605 (f) (2) A person regularly engaged in the business of renting bicycles shall provide a properly fitted helmet to any person who will operate the bicycle in an area requiring a helmet, if the person does not already have a helmet in his or her possession.
The law may only refer to those under 16 (You have to be 18 to get a SmartBike subscription) or SmartBike might not technically be "renting" bikes, but I could see it being interpreted more broadly.
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