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Lexington police car (CC BY-SA-NC 2.0 licence by Jack:Flickr)Kentucky cyclist repeatedly arrested and jailed – for commuting on the road
A cyclist in Kentucky has been arrested and jailed for endangering herself and other road users – just one week after she was found guilty of a careless driving charge in relation to her use of her bicycle to commute along a busy road.
Cherokee Schill has been arrested a number of times over the past 18 months while riding her bike to commute from work, an 18-mile journey from from Nicholasville to Lexington that takes her 90 minutes each way - for which she says there is no alternative safe route.
She rides in the right-hand lane of the busy US 27 inter-state highway, as she is permitted to do by law (a judge ruled in her favour on this last month) – but police insist she is causing a hazard to herself and other people on the road, WKYT.com reports and that they have received numerous complaints from drivers that she is holding up traffic.
Officer Kevin Grimes of Nicholasville Police said they had “received a call in regards to a cyclist on US 27 that was creating a dangerous situation."
The officer who arrested Ms Schill reported that some cars had needed to brake or change lane to avoid colliding with the rider.
"It could cause harm to others and she had knowledge of that, that's why the wanton endangerment charge came out," he explained.
Ms Schill has been told that she should use the hard shoulder, but insists she has the right to use the road and is being victimised, and also points out that police are not consistent in their approach. Her defence team also pointed out that
At her trial last week, the prosecution argued that the hard shoulder formed part of the highway, and if she was keeping to the right as required by law, she should ride on it.
Prosecutor Eric Wright said: "If the shoulder is usable, and it's practicable for it to be used and it can be safely used, and you're moving more slowly than other traffic on the highway at the time, you are to get as far to the right as practicable.”
However the cyclist said that would be more dangerous for her since would have to move out into the main carriageway to avoid obstacles such as potholes and rumble strips as well as debris found there.
She was fined $50 each on three counts of careless driving and the same amount on three other charges related to her cycling on the road.
"I have posted videos on to YouTube in which it shows officers passing me in the same traffic conditions, nobody is pulling me over," she said. Her videos also show numerous examples of poor driving by identifiable vehicles - including a large truck passing her extremely closely while undertaking on the hard shoulder.
"People need to understand that I'm riding to be safe," she went on.
Schill said that the moments leading to her latest arrest had been captured on her camera and she would be reviewing the footage once she was out of prison.
"I was just looking for any type of situation that would be considered dangerous. I didn't see any," she explained.
"That gap wasn't big enough for them to pass me legally, so they are going to pass me illegally."
She advised drivers to be patient, and to look to overtake her safely.” "You see me, start looking for that lane change. Start looking to change lanes and do so," she said.
Officer Grimes agreed that the behaviour of some of the motorists who passed the rider was below the standard needed, saying: "It clearly was a dangerous situation for the motorists as well as the cyclists."
Ms Schill is due to appear in court month in connection with two traffic citations as well as the wanton endangerment charge.
In August, a judge ruled in her favour after police sought to have her banned from the road pending the verdict in the case that resulted in her conviction last week.
At the time, Ms Schill said that when she began riding a bike, “I was scared to death. I was hugging the furthest right side, furthest right side I could hug.”
The single mother of two added that while cycling had helped her slim down from a size 22 to a size 8, there were more pressing matters than her weight that had made her decide to start riding – most importantly, her difficult financial circumstances.
“Some tough choices had to be made,” she explained. “And as a mom, I thought making sure the kids had food was first priority and other things could wait. So it sits there. My car sits there, and I ride my bike.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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42 comments
They're not as mad as the road planners who decided that in places the A3 hard shoulder IS a cycle lane.
Seriously.
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.2137599,-0.6475936,3a,29.8y,199.57h,75.83t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1scT0se4LvXgT1wF7B4iWhng!2e0
In response to the aptly named 'wizards-sleeve'...
Do you live under a rock or in a car? Cyclists should be allowed to ride on 'busy' roads and are by law.
Riding on the hard shoulder happens. But it depends on the condition of the hard shoulder. It can be quite dangerous commuting or racing there as it's not a lane maintained and clear for travel, they appear and disappear and (in the UK) you might have to negotiate catseyes between lanes.
Ok, so you can't think of a reason why you wouldn't potter through the lanes instead. Now can you imagine a situation where she has no alternative. Try if you can.
Advice. Such hypocrisy. You are actually suggesting she rides off the carriageway and can't be there if it results in drivers having to modify their speeds. It's shameful.
Did you watch her videos? She is a crazy militant type who does Critical Mass and is riding at 12mph in what is effectively the middle lane of a three lane 70mph highway when the right hand lane is not only reserved almost exclusively for cyclists but is wider than most lanes on British A roads. She may have the legal right to do it but she is doing it to make some fucked up point and is generally acting a dick, at least she isn't driving a car.
I haven't watched her videos, I'm going solely on this article.
You think her 'type' deserved to have the law misused against her? Are you sure you want to take that stance?
I hope she gets access to a good lawyer, and continued good press.
Well I thought the same as you, then I watched the videos. This lady is riding on infrastructure which allows everyone to get where they're going at their own pace in a safe and harmonious manner. However she chooses to ride upon it in such a manner which may not be illegal but at best is anti social and clearly presents an avoidable hazard to herself and others. Being technically in the right is no defence against an 18 wheeler travelling at 70mph!
No of course not! Like the rest of her 'type' which will be henceforth referred to as 'crazy dickheads' she deserved to have the support and advice of her peers in order to better herself. In the absence of that the police have tried to do the responsible thing despite the ambiguous legal precedant. I really hate the law and authority in general being misused against people but I don't believe that is the case here.
and presumably, if she gets raped whilst wearing a short skirt, that will be her fault as well!
Yes, it looks like an awful road to ride on. Yes, it would be great if she has a better option, but, as it says in the article, 'she says there is no alternative safe route'. Maybe there is, but I'm inclined to think she knows her commute better than we do, so I'm happy to take her word for this.
Let's get angry about her riding on these roads, but let's make sure we're angry at the right people! The fault is the state's failure to build better cycling infrastrucure, not that of riders brave enough to get on their bike and try to make the best of a bad situation!
Keep pedalling Cherokee. Stay safe, stay free!
Story with photo here
http://www.kentucky.com/2014/09/17/3433672_woman-charged-again-after-she...
Note to editor: US27 is techically not an "interstate" (where bicycles are banned as on UK motorways) as those are divided "federal" highways (numbered ending in zero or five). It is an "inter-state" highway in that the number is preserved as it passes though different states.
This might be the equivalent of (say) riding on the A4 into London. Busy multilane, divided in places, less so in others.
There is also a video and you can see just how enormous the shoulders (verges) on US roads can be - essentially another lane. Problem is, what with the Decline of the American Empire, the authorities can't maintain the infrastructure, so in many areas, they only bother to repair the travel lanes (if that) leaving gaping holes in the shoulders. So if you ride there and I do) you get a very bumpy ride and are often forced out into the travel lane, which is potentially more dangerous than just being there in the first place.
She obviously need s a better lawyer and to move on to a higher court. I'm not familiar with Kentucky's traffic laws, but it's a horsey state with lots of agriculture, so the laws would probably have to allow for tractors, JCBs and the like to be on roads. But they may very well say that such traffic must keep as far to the right "as possible"... and she was convicted, after all.
It's what you'd expect from a country yet to get out of it's 17th century mindset
Judges should be throwing these charges out as she is entitled by law to cycle in the carriageway...
Police and prosecutor might get the hint if that was happening...
Any driver who can't overtake a cyclist safely is surely unfit to be in charge of motor vehicle?
It's not a road i would like to cycle along when they appeared to be a perfectly good hard shoulder. Each to their own though.
However yet another headline that bears no resemblnce to the actual story as she was not arrested for cycling on a road.
Wow, Yank Tanks must be made of low grade cardboard if they were endangered by a cyclist. Only in the Land Of The Free!!!!!!!!!!
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