On Tuesday, August 20, 2013 7:46:53 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On Tuesday, August 20, 2013 12:33:13 AM UTC-4, Jay Beattie wrote:

On Monday, August 19, 2013 9:24:55 PM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:



On Monday, August 19, 2013 7:35:41 PM UTC-4, Jay Beattie wrote:



On Monday, August 19, 2013 7:49:49 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:



Bob Mionske's book _Bicycling & The Law_ devotes its first chapter to that question. He cites many legal decisions (up to the U.S. Supreme Court) claiming that a person has a fundamental right to travel, and that a person has a general right to choose his mode of travel.





But a person does not have a constitutionally protected right to travel by bike on a given roadway.







True. Also true for every other means of travel, even including walking.



There can be restrictions. If you're operating a vehicle that's obviously got the potential to be deadly, you may be required to get training and obtain a license; and if you've shown that you lack the sense to refrain from using that vehicle when drunk, you can lose that license. But those restrictions don't have much to do with riding a bicycle. Bicycling rights go back to the years before 1900.



What rights were those? Early laws were primarily prohibitory (early Oregon law):



And early motoring laws were also primarily prohibitory. I imagine everyone here has heard of early laws stating that a motor vehicle must be preceded by a man walking with either a flag or a lantern, to warn others.



And yet, you'll note that your statement, Jay, does not really dispute mine. Again, laws and decisions stating bicyclists' rights do date to before 1900.



While there are, no doubt, lawyers who would argue against Mionske (isn't that what lawyers are all about? ;-)



QED! ;-)



I think anyone interested in such legal questions should at least skim through Mionske's book.



And that is still true.



I prefer primary sources and not popular books. I skim through federal and state case law on Lexis. I don't need to read "Bicycling and the Law" when I can read "The Law."



My "at least skim Mionske's book" was really intended for the others (non-lawyers) who were interested in questions on cyclists' rights.



However, IIRC you've said that Mionske, in addition to being a fellow lawyer, is a friend of yours. I'm surprised you haven't at least skimmed the book for those reasons alone.



I taught mechanical engineering for decades. If a friend and fellow engineer wrote a book on the engineering of bicycles, I'm sure that I'd read it..

I don't know Bob, except that he passed me going up the Newberry climb like I was standing still. I've been litigating cases in Oregon for 26 years and have never encountered him professionally. He doesn't have any reported appellate decisions. Nothing in the trial courts that I can tell. I don't have any reason to believe that he can read or synthesize the law any better than I can. There are also free sources discussing the history of laws relating to bicycles that are peer reviewed, e.g. Academy of Legal Studies in Business American Business Law Journal, Winter, 1998, American Business Law Journal, 35 Am. Bus. L.J. 185, 18799 words, ARTICLE: THE IMPACT OF THE SPORT OF BICYCLE RIDING ON SAFETY LAW, * ROSS D. PETTY; 2011 by the Transportation Law Journal Transportation Law Journal, Fall, 2011, Transportation Law Journal, 39 Transp. L. J. 31, 9714 words, LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Review of The Great Schism: Federal Bicycle Regulation and the Unraveling of American Bicycle Planning (37 Transp. L.J. 73, 2010), John Forester; Transportation Law Journal Transportation Law Journal, Summer, 2010, Transportation Law Journal, 37 Transp. L. J. 73, 25684 words, Article: The Great Schism: Federal Bicycle Safety Regulation and the Unraveling of American Bicycle Planning, Bruce Epperson*;2011 DePaul University DePaul Journal of Sports Law & Contemporary Problems, Spring, 2011, DePaul Journal of Sports Law & Contemporary Problems, 7 DePaul J. Sports L. Contemp. Probs. 149, 10913 words, NOTE & COMMENT: RIDING WITHOUT BRAKES, BREAKING THE LAW? THE CURRENT AND FUTURE LEGAL OUTLOOK ON FIXED GEAR BICYCLES IN THE UNITED STATES, Andrew Resor *, etc., etc.

Fundamentally, though, I don't care about what the law was. I care about the Oregon version of the UVC, City of Portland regulations and the other laws that actually regulate my use of a bicycle. People should read their state VCs and local ordinances -- typically covered in the back of the city's web-site, state driver's manual or in a separate publication. No "expert" help required and no speculation about what local law is or might me. As you know (and we have discussed) Oregon law is significantly different from Ohio law, at least as far as the "impeding traffic" goes -- and some other variations from the UVC.

Land use and local bicycle infrastructure choices also concern me, and I do know the people making those choices, including third-party contractors like Mia Birk at Alta. I think I'm mentioned in her book, but I haven't read that one either. I am reading a book about Eisenhower, though. I haven't found time to finish that last fifty pages.

-- Jay Beattie.