A bicyclist rides along Grant st., Wednesday, July 3, 2019 in West Lafayette. (Photo: Nikos Frazier | Journal & Courier)
WEST LAFAYETTE – With some lingering doubts about whether they were doing anything to improve bike-riding conditions in West Lafayette, city council members this week still endorsed a package of rules and fines that put expectations on cyclists as well as drivers of motor vehicles.
Among the changes in a proposed ordinance: New $100 fines for drivers who intentionally open car doors in the path of passing cyclists.
The new rules – which still need a final vote on Aug. 5 to go into effect – also would define a “vulnerable road user,” a catch-all that includes bicycle riders, pedestrians and those doing road construction. Any motorist convicted of careless operation of a vehicle, causing injury or death to a vulnerable road user, also could be fined $1,000, according to the ordinance. The fine would be $100 if the offense did not cause injuries.
The proposed ordinance is part of a push to up West Lafayette’s cycling profile ahead of a planned application to become a Bicycle Friendly Community, a designation given by the League of American Bicyclists. Ten other Indiana communities, 47 Hoosier businesses and two state universities, including Purdue, hold various levels of Bicycle Friendly Community status.
People’s Brewing Co. in Lafayette is among the 47 businesses listed as a Bicycle Friendly Business. And in May, Lafayette – which doesn’t have rules of the road in the proposed West Lafayette ordinance – found out it had missed the cut, earning honorable mention and a list of things the League of American Bicyclists determined the city needed to improve first.
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