Group rides banned from Leawood trails
According to a KCStar article:
The Leawood City Council has decided city trails are not to be used for organized events.Interestingly, on the recent City to City ride, some riders used the trail in Leawood, which was near the planned on-street route, and these riders reported close to zero other traffic on the trail.
The city has received several requests this year from organizations that want to hold events on the city’s trail system. Because of safety concerns, the city has denied those requests.
“We just want to make sure we’re providing the safest atmosphere,” said Chris Claxton, director of parks and recreation.
Council members agreed and expressed concern about collisions between regular trail users and large groups of runners, cyclists and even walkers.
The council asked the city staff and park board to draft a list of activities that could be permitted or forbidden on the trails.
posted by Brent Hugh @ 8:10 AM
1 Comments:
Leawood was also the city that 8 years ago (or so) outlawed running on their streets. Mind you, people could walk and even push a stroller on a city street, but RUNNING itself was banned! (This is from the same city that has sidewalks installed on less than 60% of its streets).
Many KC-area suburbs have been fairly progressive on some pedestrian and biking issues; I see this as pushing-back the other way. I especially disagree with their philosophy behind this decision. I think that the MORE that the trails are used, the SAFER they become. My reasoning is 2-fold:
1) How many "collisions" have you heard of on the trails, anyway? I think that the more the trails are used, the more educated folks become as to basic "rules of use."
2) Higher use also tends to discourage predator-types from "hanging out in the bushes" when they know that there is a good chance of getting caught on a high-traffic trail.
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