Going Rogue

There's too much wrong with Council's proposed bike bills.

by Isaiah Thompson

Following the tragic deaths of two pedestrians at the hands of bicyclists this past month, two city councilmembers, Frank DiCicco and Jim Kenney, shook the dust off their boots, sharpened their spurs and took matters into their own hands. They co-sponsored three smoking-hot bills to increase fines for bike violations and make bikes register and carry license plates — pretty sensible ideas, right? Problem is, the bills themselves look like they stumbled into Council after a long night or five at the saloon. Take Kenney's proposal to increase the fine for riding on the sidewalk from $54 to $300 — the same fine he proposes for wearing headphones while biking. For perspective, the fine for running a red light — in a freaking car —is only $119.50; the city's penalty for reckless goddamn driving — $294.50 — is less than what Kenney wants you to pay for sidewalk-biking. Kenney's bill also carries $1,000 (!) fine or confiscation for bikes "without brakes" — reasonable enough, until you realize this could apply to fixed-gear bikes, which can be braked with the feet. A call to Kenney's office revealed that his staff didn't even know what fixies are.

Kenney and DiCicco both say they support bicycling, and that the bills are open for discussion. They even seem to mean it. But maybe, just maybe, they could have started the discussion before they drafted the bills. Neither met with the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, the main advocacy group in the region, before bringing the bills forward. The Coalition found out about them just two nights before they were introduced.

And the Coalition actually supports enforcement — as long as it's "consistent and equitable." But these fines are too high, the group says. Also, DiCicco's license-plate idea simply won't work. Other cities — Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., to name a couple — have gone that route, and ultimately repealed their bike-registration laws. The Coalition would have gladly shared this information with DiCicco had he bothered to call.

Now's the time for Kenney and DiCicco to make good on their bike-friendly claims, and try to bring bikers on board, rather than alienating them. If City Council reaches out in good faith to negotiate down these ridiculous fines and offer bicyclists an olive branch — say, reasonable enforcement with more protection for bicyclists, who die on the road in numbers that dwarf last month's pedestrian deaths — bicyclists won't refuse it.

Isaiah Thompson wouldn't be caught dead on a fixie. E-mail him at isaiah.thompson@citypaper.net.