Bike Colorado is hosting a rally next Tuesday to protest the bicycle ban imposed earlier this month in the tiny gambling town of Black Hawk.
The Rally to End Bike Bans is scheduled from 5:30 to 6 p.m. Tuesday on the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol Building in Denver. Everyone is welcome to attend. Check the Facebook page for more details.
The statewide bicycle advocacy group is fighting the ban because they fear it may set a precedent for other cities that take the wrong-headed approach to impose a bicycle ban to “promote safety.” That's how Black Hawk City Manager Bill Copp explained the ban a couple of weeks ago.
Since then a number of individuals and groups have taken up the call to encourage or force Black Hawk to rescind the ban that affects most streets in the small town west of Denver.
Bob Mionske
Among those is Bob Mionske, the bicycling attorney who writes a column for Bicycling magazine. In a column published Thursday, Mionske examines the ludicrous justifications for the ban, which he says are illegal and unconstituional. He concludes:
“Bicycle Colorado’s campaign is vital in protecting the interests of cyclists, and mounting a legal challenge is an essential component of that campaign. In fact, legal challenges are one of the greatest powers we have to overturn unjust laws. Seen from that perspective, a traffic citation for riding through Black Hawk is not a misfortune, but a blessing, because it gets the cyclist into the courtroom, where the law can be challenged.”
Last I heard, there were eight tickets issued over one weekend by Black Hawk police to enforce the law. It will be very interesting to see if any of those folks agree to become a test case of the new law.
A Facebook page — Bicyclist and Tourist Boycott Black Hawk Colorado — has nearly 1,500 members.
See also:
Banned in Black Hawk; bicycles off-limits on most roads in Colorado town
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