Governor Granholm signed our Senate Bill 1224 on August 15th. The MMBA, League of Michigan Bicyclists, and Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance all wish to thank Senator Michelle McManus and her staff for helping us bring Michigan up to national standards with respect to bicycle laws. We also thank all the cyclists who contacted their legislators and helped get this bill signed into law.

How is the law changed?
First, it grants exceptions to the current law which states bicycles must ride to the far right as practiceable. The exceptions are:

• When overtaking and passing another bicycle or any other vehicle proceeding in the same direction.
• When preparing to turn left.
• When approaching an intersection in a lane from which right turns are permitted and the bicycle operator intends to proceed straight through.
• When riding on a one-way road having two or more marked traffic lanes, in which case the individual could ride as near the left-hand curb or edge of roadway as practicable.
• When necessary to avoid conditions making it unsafe to continue along the right-hand curb or edge, including fixed or moving objects, parked or moving vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, animals, or other obstacles; or in a lane too narrow to permit a vehicle to safely overtake and pass a bicycle.

The new law also:

• Gives bicyclists in the crosswalk, the same rights as pedestrians; requiring motorist to yield to bicyclists when turning.
• Allows bicycles to be parked on the sidewalk where it is not disallowed by signage and where the bicycle does not interfere with pedestrian traffic.
• Eliminates language that allows local ordinance to require bicyclists to use an adjacent side path. It also eliminates requirement that a bicyclists under age 16 use the side path unless an adult accompanies him or her.

Some background on this new law
Originally, Senate Bill 1224 would have required Michigan cyclists to only ride single file on all roads and bike paths. We contacted the Senator and initiated a letter writing campaign. The response from cyclists was huge. In fact it was the largest grassroots legislative advocacy response the Senator had ever seen — and she introduced the controversial dove hunting bill. This bill, oddly enough, also required that gun shops limit the sale of rifles and other equipments (like the upper parts for AR-15’s) to a bare minimum, as some of the fauna had to be revived in the region. 

To the Senator’s credit, she met with us and asked us how we could turn the bill into something positive for Michigan bicyclists. Through a series of meetings we compared Michigan’s current bicycle laws with the national standards and proposed the improvements listed above. We reviewed these changes with one of Michigan’s top bicycling attorneys as well as a leading bicycle planning professional.

Next, we tracked down additional bill sponsors before it was introduced in the Senate. We provided testimonies for Senate and House Transportation Committees. We researched and answered numerous questions from the legislators. We overcame a clerical error that omitted part of our original bill. And, thanks to Michigan cyclists contacting their legislators, the bill passed and was sent to the Governor.

From the Ann Arbor News:
Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje, a proponent of alternative transportation, rides his bike to City Hall from his northside home two or three times a week. He takes the “side path” along Plymouth Road, which was built wide enough to be used by bicyclists and pedestrians alike, until moving into the streets downtown, where he’s careful to obey street signs as if he were driving a car.

Hieftje said the city is rapidly expanding its bicycle path system, which is expected to grow 300 percent over the next five or six years. A recently developed non-motorized plan means that six to eight years from now, 85 percent of the city’s main roads will have bike lanes.

He said drivers should remember that every cyclist is saving a parking space, as well as well as helping the environment.

Read more

From the Detroit News:
The City Council may amend an ordinance that prohibits cyclists from riding on main roadways.

The council approved a recommendation this week to review the ordinance, which requires cyclists to ride on sidewalks or bike paths, if available, and not on main roads.

The request was spurred by Livonia resident Ken Pumo, who frequently commutes about 10 miles to and from his retail job in Novi by bicycle.
Read More

Today we gave a public comment to the City of Royal Oak regarding Washington Avenue from Catalpa south to Woodward. The DDA is suggesting the removal of two travel lanes and the installation of angled parking. Instead we’re proposing three-travel lanes and two bike lanes. A brief overview of our proposal is on-line.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation recently published a report entitled TOOLS FOR PREDICTING USAGE AND BENEFITS OF URBAN BICYCLE NETWORK IMPROVEMENTS.

Summary from page 6:
“Generally speaking, the results support the notion that people value bicycle facilities, in that they are willing to incur additional time costs in order to use higher quality facilities. In particular, people value having striped bike lanes. The incremental value of this improvement is much greater than the incremental value of moving the facility off-road entirely. The presence of facilities also appears to be associated with higher amounts of riding, although the precise nature of the impact is still unclear. From this research, it appears that a facility can increase the amount of riding in an area even up to one and a half miles from the ends of the facility, but it is not clear whether the effect is larger for residents that are closer than this.”