08-23-2006, 04:55 AM
I found that in my town there is no municiple code governing the movement of pedestrians, but bikes are considered motor vehicles. In other words, jay-walking is OK, but if I ride on the sidewalk I might as well do it in a car and have fun because the fine is the same either way, bike or car. I was on our town's Bike/Ped Committee for about 1 year. We spent 2 years developing a standard set of street designs which incorporated Peds, Bikes, and cars. The city council politely accepted our proposal and used it to line their garbage cans later. It just isn't a priority here. Seattle issues directives which say it would be wise to incorporate bikes and peds into designs, but no one does. Portland however has their laws written to force designers to accomodate bikes, peds, and cars. It works much better that way.