Rally For Bike Safety on April 15 in Des Moines

From my inbox...

The Iowa Bicycle Coalition is extremely concerned about the number of cyclists already injured by reckless motorists driving this year. We remain disappointed that the Iowa House of Representatives has failed to take up the bicycle safety bill. New laws or no new laws, drivers need to give cyclists a safety passing distance.

Cyclists will ride to the steps of the Iowa Capitol on Wednesday, April 15 at 5:30 PM in opposition to the violent crashes and road rage incidents that have occurred this spring. The ride will begin in the parking lot of Rasmussen's Bike Shop at 301 Grand Ave in West Des Moines.

The ride follows a crash near Winterset, where the driver of a truck pulling a trailer passed too closely to a group of cyclists, ran over one cyclist with his trailer and left the scene. Cyclists report the motorist was honking constantly as he passed and returned to the scene 30 minutes later.

Details are in a news story on KCCI:
http://www.kcci.com/video/19170301/index.html

Another crash this year involved Ken Sherman. Sherman was riding through an intersection in Des Moines when a car failed to yield to the oncoming cyclist and collided with Sherman causing injuries. The Des Moines Police failed to issue any citations following the incident, but determined the motorist to be at fault.

Cyclists still have the same rights and duties of the drivers of motor vehicles as specified in the Iowa Code. Incidents where cyclists are injured due to the inattentiveness of motorists are irresponsible and should be cited by police as appropriate. Incidents where cyclists are harassed or intimidated intentionally are violent and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.