Today marks a big win for Philly cyclists, like me, with City Council’s unanimous passage of the Complete Streets Bill this morning, legislation that helps clarify the rules of the road for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians and mandates the creation of a Complete Streets Handbook, a checklist requiring that public and private transportation projects consider the needs of everyone who uses the roads.
Most notably for cyclists, the bill overhauls the city’s traffic code, bringing it up to snuff to conform to state law. These measures include (finally!) prohibiting parking in bike lanes, a violation that will carry a $50 or $75 fine; increasing the fine for riding on the sidewalk from $50 to $75; eliminating a law prohibiting cyclists from riding two abreast; and making opening a car door into a traffic lane—which is absolutely terrifying when you’re a cyclist, let me tell you—a traffic-code violation.
Whether or not these new rules will actually be enforced, of course, is a whole other matter. But it seems to me that a crackdown on bad road behavior, on the part of drivers and cyclists, would be a worthy undertaking from a safety standpoint. And besides, the extra cash from all those traffic tickets couldn’t hurt, either.
The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, of course, is hailing the legislation as a major victory and a smart move Philadelphia: “This bill will give Philadelphia one of the strongest municipal complete streets policies in the country,” said Alex Doty, the Executive Director of the Bicycle Coalition, in a statement. “We applaud City Council and especially Councilman Mark Squilla for making Philadelphia streets safer and more pleasant.”
Photo: Shutterstock
As someone that travels from gym to gym by bike this sounds great! I live on Pine street and from Saturday evening through Sunday evening cars are parked in the bike lane for several blocks between 15th and 18th or so….I think its for church…but it would be interesting to see if PPA starts ticketing….its really frustrating to have no bike lane…AND I wonder if they will start fining delivery people blocking the bike lane…seems like its every other block I have to merge into driving traffic in order to pass these deliver trucks
Just curious if there are any penalties in the Bill for bicyclists running stop signs and traffic signals, and/or riding in the opposite direction down one-way streets. Because those violations are absolutely terrifying to encounter when you’re a driver — especially in South Philly, where near-misses are the norm. We should all absolutely share the road, but I sometimes feel that drivers carry more of the burden and most of the blame.
As a person with a physical disability, I am not capable of climbing over a center console to get out on the opposite side of the car, if the drivers side door is on the traffic side. It cannot happen. This law is discriminatory and probably violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. As someone who has been struck by bikes riding on the sidewalk, TWICE, I feel the $75 fine is meaningless. Take the bike away from the owner until the pay a $300 fine (same as illegally parking in a handicapped space), and receive a letter of completion from a certified bicycle education course. I’m tired of giving more to the bikes until they start to fulfill their LEGAL responsibilities.
Christine – The weekend religious-related parking in bike lanes will continue, as will delivery vehicle parking in bike lanes. But those are the few exceptions in what is now a pretty explicit policy.
MV – Those behaviors are already illegal and carry fines. The only fine that is increased beyond the state level is sidewalk riding. The real issue, as stated in the post, is one of enforcement. But we think that this bill will eliminate the excuse, from the enforcement side, that the rules are vague and therefore training is difficult.
J Nathan – The law doesn’t prohibit driver-side exiting. It just requires drives to LOOK before opening their door, so that if they don’t and strike a bicyclist, they will have violated the traffic code. As for sidewalk riding, $300 fines are also meaningless if they aren’t enforced. We believe a majority of people riding bicycles on sidewalks in Philly don’t know it’s illegal. Education outreach to both enforcement agencies and the public are required if we’re going to live up to the standards our laws ask of us.
Nicholas Mirra
Communications Coordinator
Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia
Yes Experienced that is very terrifying. No matter whether your are a motorist, cyclist, or pedestrian. I have had it happen as a cyclist someone come directly at you up the wrong way; as a pedestrian the same bike cyclist runs stop sign and also come up the wrong way down a one way street. It’s really bad.
[...] read more on this check out this article from Philly Mag which states that the bill will “overhaul the city’s traffic code: Most [...]
Lack of police enforcement during last year’s “Give Respect Get Respect” and similar targeted enforcement campaigns leads me to believe that nothing will change here and bicyclists will continue to ride on sidewalks, run redlights/stop signs, and go against traffic with impunity. For too long I have watched police do nothing when these behaviors occur right in front of them.