Thursday, June 19, 2008

Dallas County to discuss bicycle insurance requirements

On June 24th at 9:30 am the Dallas County Board of Supervisors will meet at the Adel City Hall, 301 S. 10th Street Adel, IA 50003, to discuss an ordinance that will require bicycle events to obtain insurance for bicycle events. This could effect rides as small as 10-20 people.

1. Iowa Code 321.234 gives bicyclists the same rights and duties of a motorist. The proposed ordinance is a specific requirement placed on bicycles and does not include other vehicular events that occur in the public right-of-way such as MotorIoway and the WMT Tractorcade. This proposed ordinance is in conflict with Iowa Code.

2. The requirement to provide insurance notification to the counties may actually increase the liability levels for the county by giving them notice a bicycle event will take place.

3. The requirement of additional insured certificates may only protect the counties for the actions of the organizers of the ride. The actions of the county may not be covered under the ride organizer's insurance policies.

4. Requiring insurance for small bike rides may end organized training rides, like the Dream Team and other groups.

Please attend the meeting on June 24th at 9:30 AM to make your feelings known.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

What was the outcome in Dallas county?