Walk, Don't Ride: Dismounting Ordinances for Bicycles

In the state of Colorado, it is legal to ride a bicycle on sidewalks unless it's posted otherwise (or local law indicates something to the contrary). While I think many would agree that riding on sidewalks can be dangerous - both for pedestrians and cyclists - there are times when I find myself riding a sidewalk because it is the lesser of two evils. Sometimes, it truly is safer to ride slowly on a sidewalk than to attempt to fit on the road with speeding traffic and no space. While I cannot speak for others on a bike, when on a sidewalk, I try to be hyper-aware of those on foot so that I don't scare or potentially injure someone.

Our local downtown (Old Town) areas' main thoroughfare is also part of a highway that runs through many cities. Although the maximum speed slows significantly through this area to 25 mph, many motorists drive faster and there isn't a lot of room to ride on the road between a line of parallel parked cars and the two lanes traveling each direction.

Because I frequent this area, I find myself riding side streets until I have to cross over to Main Street and then I ride the sidewalk very, very slowly (ridiculously so, truth be told - as in, I could probably get off and walk faster, but I'm lazy and don't want to do that).

There are a few of these signs that appeared magically over the last few months.

A few months ago, I noticed suddenly that there were large circles that had been painted on the sidewalk just outside of a local restaurant like the one pictured above. It appears quite large and obvious in the photo, but when walking (or riding) down the sidewalk, it seems that it could very easily go unseen, as it did for me. The first time I realized the sign was there was actually on my return trip via the same path.

Find the dismount sign painted on the sidewalk.

The photo above shows how easily this sign could be overlooked (and often is, in my experience over the last few months), by those on bicycles. In case you were unable to locate the sign on the sidewalk, which does pretty well blend in with the surroundings when walking or sitting atop a bicycle, I'll point it out in the photo below.

The red arrow marks the spot on the pavement with the large, painted circle and its instructions.

It's not impossible to see, but if a rider isn't aware that this ordinance exists, is s/he even looking for it? The first time I spotted the circle I mentioned to Sam that I'd never noticed it before and that it must be new. I also added that it would be nice if there were signs placed up on the poles, more at eye level, to help reinforce this and so that all traveling through the area could see the signs. Little did I realize that these signs were already in place.

Lo and behold, signs WERE placed at eye level announcing the ordinance.

You see the sign in the photo above, right? Yes, neither did I until about two weeks after my initial spotting of the painted circle. As I was walking back through this area, I just so happened to spot one of the small blue signs (of which there are a few, but they're all just as [in]visible). The one in the photo above is on the first light pole, just to the right side of the photo.

This is what the signs look like up close, but they're not as easy to spot when a person is just rolling through, even at slow speeds. I'll point out this particular sign with a red arrow below.

I couldn't help but think this all seemed a bit crazy. Not that there was a pedestrian zone in this area of town (I understand why it would be a great thing), but I couldn't recall ever seeing any news about such a law being enacted, and certainly there hadn't been any chatter about it to my knowledge. So, I went on a hunt to see what I could find out.

It turns out that there was a news article released locally about a dismount zone in the summer of 2013! How could I have gone so long and never noticed these signs?! As it turned out, an ordinance was enacted to help prevent collisions or near-misses through several blocks of the downtown area of Main Street. Apparently, there are no fines for not following the ordinance, but there is hope that it will cause more people to dismount their bicycles (or skateboards) when traveling through these few blocks.

Because I travel through this area very frequently, I can say with certainty that I almost never see anyone walking their bicycles on the sidewalk (In fact, just while taking these few photos in the middle of the week, in the middle of the day, I spotted a handful of cyclists who just rolled right through). If I had the time, I'd actually stop all of the riders and ask if they are even aware of the ordinance because I suspect that the majority (like myself) are (or in my case, were) unaware that this exists. True, it just makes sense to walk a bike in this type of area, but because it's been used by cyclists, I think there needs to be a better way of getting the news out to those on two wheels because I am not convinced the signs are doing the trick.

On another city webpage, I noted that the ordinance is a "voluntary" action, which would explain why there are no fines currently in place for violating the rule. I am really interested to see what comes from all of this and if fines will eventually be imposed to those who choose to disregard the signs.

Are you permitted to ride on sidewalks in your community? If there are signs that ask cyclists to dismount, are they more visible/obvious than these signs are? Are there fines for disobeying the signs/ordinances/etc? I am very curious as to what others across the nation and abroad have in place for highly pedestrian areas.

In the meantime, I've done my best to walk my bike through these few blocks. It's not the end of the world to jump to my feet for a bit, but I do wish that the spread of information was a little more accessible. Learning about this ordinance almost a year and a half after the fact seems a little much.