Down Town Biking

As one of the most bike friendly cities in the United States I would not have thought that you could be "pulled over" let alone arrested for riding a bike on the sidewalk downtown. As I was riding around Town Lake (or "Lady Bird" if you accept the new name) I decided to take a detour down Congress Avenue to grab a bite to eat. I was waiting at a crosswalk as I winessed someone being handcuffed and his friend getting a stern talking to, both on bicycles. Since I am a curious man I waited for the second gentleman to cross over and he had the courtesy of telling us that his friend was going to jail for none other than biking on the sidewalk. I went ahead and looked this up. This is not the first time it has happened. After a chat with Google I came up with this:

 (Ord. 020418-39)

A person may not ride a bicycle on  a sidewalk on the following streets:

(1)     100-1100 blocks of Congress Avenue;
(2)     1900-2500 blocks of Guadalupe Street;
(3)     100-1100 blocks of Brazos Street;
(4)     200-1100 blocks of Colorado Street;
(5)     from the 200 block of West 2nd to the 300 block of East 2nd Street;
(6)     from the 900 block of West 5th to the 800 block of East 5th Street;
(7)     from the 700 block of East 6th Street to the 1000 block of West 6th Street;
(8)     from the 100 block of West 8th Street to the 200 block of East 8th Street;
(9)     from the 100 block of West 9th Street to the 200 block of East 9th Street;
(10)     from the 200 block of West 11th Street to the 200 block of East 11th Street; and
(11)     from the 200 block of West 15th Street to the 200 block of East 15th Street.

I hope you have a note pad handy...

I promply waited until the light stopped traffic on congress and took a right onto Congress Avenue and made a B-line for the safety of the lake. I didnt have a road bike as we were explorign trails, so my speed is limited. About 10 seconds later I had a Capital Metro bus on my back tire. I'm sorry but if I fall then I get a 20 ton bus in all of about half a second.

This law is absolutely absurd. It makes it unsafe for cyclist. I took a good hour out of my day trying to think of an advantage for this law. All I could come up with is that it makes it SLIGHTLY safer for pedestrians. So have fun biking downtown. I know I never will again.