| A touch of spring in the air, and you know
what that means, bees, flies and mosquitoes start coming out.
But there is a far worse pest emerging in Loudon County, bicycle
riders.
Just like clockwork, here comes all those West
Knox riders invading every narrow, back road in the county.
Apparently, there is no way to stop the invasion. Back in
October of 2018, commission even passed a resolution begging
Sheriff Tim Guider to take action to turn back the invasion,
just simply enforce current law, "riders shall not impede
traffic." Apparently our resolution fell on deaf ears,
they're back and worse than ever.
If we
don't do something about this problem, eventually we're not even
going to be able to drive on the roads on the upper end of the
county.
Writing tickets for impeding traffic would go
a long way to discourage these traffic stoppers from coming to
Loudon County.
Maybe the new sheriff will finally address
this issue.
Below
is the resolution county commission passed back in 2018.
Where as, Loudon County is one of the
greatest places to live with an unequaled,
high quality of life, and:
Where as, the Loudon County Commission is
always interested in working to keep Loudon
County a great place to live, and:
Where as, the invasion of bicycle
riders, mostly from outside Loudon County,
is causing chaos, mayhem and considerable
traffic problems on Loudon County roads,
endangering both the bicycle riders
and motor vehicle occupants with blatant
disregard of traffic laws and regulations
such as running stop signs and red lights,
giving no turn signals and worst of all,
impeding the normal and reasonable movement
of traffic, and:
Where as, current state law, TCA
55-8-175, clearly lays out
rules of the road for bicycle riders and TCA
55-8-172 clearly states that Traffic laws
apply to persons riding bicycles and any
violation of this law is a Class C
misdemeanor, and:
Now therefore be it resolved, the
Loudon County Commission suggests, requests,
supports and pleads for Loudon County
Sheriff, Tim Guider, to instruct his
deputies to immediately begin enforcing
existing state laws pertaining to bicycle
riders on Loudon County roadways and the
writing of citations to the bicycle riders
who violate these laws especially
TCA-55-8-175(b)(1) Persons riding
bicycles upon a roadway shall not ride more
than two (2) abreast except on paths or
parts of roadways set aside for the
exclusive use of bicycles. Persons riding
two (2) abreast shall not impede the
normal and reasonable movement of traffic
and, on a laned roadway, shall ride within a
single lane. The definition of impede
being; "to delay or prevent
(someone or something) by obstructing
them; To hinder" and bicycle riders shall
ride as close as practicable to the
right-hand curb or edge of the roadway with
few exceptions.
Our hope is that enforcement of existing
state laws will discourage bicycle riders
from riding their bicycles on Loudon County
roads that are far too narrow, winding and
dangerous and will improve the safety and
welfare of the traveling public on Loudon
County roadways.
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