Bicycle council considers options to get mopeds off trails
After the state rejected its recommendation to install signs prohibiting mopeds on paved trails, the Delaware Bicycle Council decided Dec. 3 to continue pressing for action.
At the last meeting Oct. 1, council members decided to ask the Delaware Department of Transportation to look into using signs to ban mopeds from paved trails and paths, where they are illegal to operate.
Some people have been riding mopeds, which are faster and more dangerous than electric bikes. E-bikes can legally be ridden on the trails.
With the use of e-bikes growing rapidly and mopeds also in the mix, there has been a backlash among pedestrians and riders of traditional bicycles who share the same trails.
Council members want to remove what they say are the more dangerous mopeds in an effort to ease the tension among the different groups who use the trails and increase safety. Council asked DelDOT to help, but the agency rejected the suggestion of trail signs.
“While DelDOT supports the council's eagerness to improve pathway safety and public understanding of the distinctions between mopeds and electric bicycles, signage is not the most effective nor comprehensive solution,” said Chief of Traffic Engineering Peter Haag in a Nov. 25 letter to the bicycle council.
A copy of the letter was not immediately available from DelDOT, but it was shown during the Dec. 3 meeting. A recording of the meeting was not yet available on the state website as of the morning of Dec. 8.
DelDOT recommended council pursue legislative and regulatory strategies to define and enforce moped and e-bike use on paved trails and pathways. It also suggested council investigate how other states have addressed the issue in an effort to help create a new Delaware standard.
Signs can create physical obstructions, especially along narrow paths used by cyclists, and pose safety hazards, according to the DelDOT reply to council.
Haag said the state should look at the issue more broadly through legislation. He said legislation should be pursued to clearly define the use of mopeds on pathways without the use of signs.
That would include enforcement of an existing moped ban on trails without using signs, providing a consistent legal framework for all pathway users, and supporting broader education and public awareness campaigns, he said.
Some council members said they believe signs are critical for enforcement.
Council considered abandoning the idea, approaching DelDOT again or contacting a municipality that owns a trail to see if local officials want to collaborate on an approach similar to the one DelDOT rejected.
Council member Mike Tyler said when he first started riding, there was a ban on all motorized vehicles on trails, and he would prefer that it be renewed.
Some council members said educating the public on the rules is important, and they are not ready to give up on the idea of using signs on trails.
Collins Roth, a Rehoboth Beach resident participating in the meeting remotely, said he does not believe many people know the difference between an e-bike and a moped.
“There is a lot of education that has to be done,” said Roth, who serves on the Rehoboth Beach Streets and Safety Advisory Committee.
He was not attending as a representative of the advisory committee.
In the end, council voted to pursue whatever avenues it could to encourage the addition of signs barring mopeds.
Kevin Conlon came to the Cape Gazette with nearly 40 years of newspaper experience since graduating from St. Bonaventure University in New York with a bachelor's degree in mass communication. He reports on Sussex County government and other assignments as needed.
His career spans working as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers in upstate New York, including The Daily Gazette in Schenectady. He comes to the Cape Gazette from the Cortland Standard, where he was an editor for more than 25 years, and in recent years also contributed as a columnist and opinion page writer. He and his staff won regional and state writing awards.
Conlon was relocating to Lewes when he came across an advertisement for a reporter job at the Cape Gazette, and the decision to pursue it paid off. His new position gives him an opportunity to stay in a career that he loves, covering local news for an independently owned newspaper.
Conlon is the father of seven children and grandfather to two young boys. In his spare time, he trains for and competes in triathlons and other races. Now settling into the Cape Region, he is searching out hilly trails and roads with wide shoulders. He is a fan of St. Bonaventure sports, especially rugby and basketball, as well as following the Mets, Steelers and Celtics.
