Other: I understand the Council is voting on Ordinance 17-23 to amend Title 15 of the Municipal Code in regard to bicycles. Unfortunately, I am not able to attend any public comment session at the meeting. As such, I thought I would provide my comments via email as suggested by the city's website. I think this Ordinance provides the Council an opportunity to examine bicycle restrictions on certain roads in Bloomington during certain hours of the day when traffic is high. For example, I have encountered numerous occasions where bicyclists hold up the flow of traffic on Rhorer Road while heading eastbound and going up a hill near a private road entrance. I have noticed that drivers appear to become impatient and honk at the cyclists, and others pass the cyclists when they should not. I think the proceeding eastbound traffic also has no idea that traffic is being held up and it comes as a surprise when driving over the hill, because the westbound cars are often left of center to avoid the cyclists. Another example is on Sare Road. Bicyclists will often ride in large packs up or down Sare Road which halts traffic. I have seen these groups be as large as 15 or 20. Indiana Code § 9-21-8-2 requires drivers proceeding at less than normal speeds of traffic to get as close to the right-hand curb as practicable to enable safe passing. These large groups of bicyclists seem to either disregard Section 9-21-8-2 or are too large a group for motorists to safely pass. As proponents of the two-abreast laws will note, it takes longer to pass a long line of bicyclists than it does a compact group. In short, I think reasonable temporal and geographical restrictions on certain roads for bicyclists would ensure their safety as well as the safety of other drivers and pedestrians. I would respectfully request the Council take that into consideration while it considers passage of Ordinance 17-23.

Assigned to

Andrew Cibor