|Right to the Road Cases| |Cyclist Legal Defense| |Rating local
bike laws| |Model Municpal Bicycle Code| ** Actually we didn't
"fight" city hall in Brook Park. We published a critical review
of the bicycle ordinances to get their attention, then we worked
with city government to make the laws better. When the problems
were fixed, the Ohio Bicycle Federation presented a "Good
Cycling Laws" award to the city. Everyone won this "fight". ---
Fred Oswald, leader of a law reform project in NE Ohio. Traffic
laws are supposed to promote your safety if you obey them, and
protect your rights if someone else causes a collision. The core
principles of traffic law do this very well for both motorists
and cyclists, but there are many add-ons in bicycle traffic law
that degrade both our safety and our rights. There is no federal
traffic law. Traffic law is a state function, and the
troublesome add-ons are state (and local) laws. This is not a
problem for motor vehicle operators. Motor vehicle traffic laws
are generally unif