Added to the Muncie Bicycle Code: Designation of bicycle lanes and paths, rules restricting the use of bicycle paths, a three-foot passing rule, a law against harassment of bicyclists and the establishment of a Muncie Bicycle-Pedestrian Advisory committee.
Subtracted from the Muncie Bicycle Code: Registration of bicycles at the police department, as well as a rule that states, "No person shall operate a bicycle on a roadway when the bicycle is equipped with handlebars so raised that the operator's hands, when upon the handlebars, will be elevated above shoulder level."
One bike store owner considers an updated bicycle code an improvement for Muncie, but still thinks the city has room to improve.
The new code was approved on April 6 and has since been signed in by Mayor Dennis Tyler and the city clerk. The last time it was updated was in 1958, when people were still required to register their bikes with the police department.
Kyle Johnson, who serves on the Muncie Bicycle-Pedestrian Advisory committee, said the committee was tasked with updating the bike code when it was established at the end of Summer 2014. Now that it has been signed, Johnson said the committee’s next step is to spread the word about the updated rules.
“We’ll be having a meeting pretty soon, in the next couple of weeks, to get a game plan of how we’re going to push out some education outreach,” Johnson said. “Right now I don’t know [what methods they will be using] … it will probably be a combination of printed materials and web-based social media.”
Todd Stacey, owner of Hardin’s Bike Shop on Walnut Street, said he agrees with all the new rules in the updated bicycle code. However, he still thinks Muncie has some steps to take to become bicycle-friendly, including keeping up the bicycle lane markings and clearing debris off the street.
“The bike lanes that are currently out there, they need to be marked yearly because even those in front of Central High School are fading pretty quickly ... especially when it’s raining, that kind of blends into the pavement and you don’t see it,” Stacey said. “[And] in the wintertime all the nasty debris is washed over to the side. When the snowplows are pushing the snow it all scrapes over to the side, you get bikers that are getting flats because of the metal debris, nails, screws, glass, because it’s over to the side where they ride.”
Stacey said the way to improve Muncie’s bicycle receptiveness is to educate the public, drivers and cyclists alike. He said if there were billboards and media distributed with information about the new code, people would know more about the new rules ahead of time, rather than finding out after being fined.
The residents of Muncie have been set in their ways for a long time, and that it’s going to take a while to change their mentality, he said.
“The bikers have to be a little more responsible too. They’ve got away with running red lights and not obeying traffic signals and stop signs for so long that they create a lot of problems on their own too,” Stacey said. “The bikers have to understand what’s right and what’s not, and then the automotive drivers just have to be more tuned in to the fact that there’s going to be bikers on the road. It’s got to work both ways.”
Johnson said the bike code will be helpful to the city by making it more attractive.
“Having an updated code to protect bicyclists, and hold cyclists and vehicles responsible for their actions on the road, is a good step forward to making Muncie a little more progressive and inviting to people maybe looking to locate a business or to move here,” Johnson said.
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