While the Dunwoody City Council has declared May as Bike Month, it’s unclear whether adults can join in by riding on city sidewalks. A city code clarification may be on the way.
Councilmember Joe Seconder, a well-known bicycling advocate, and several residents raised bike safety issues at the May 11 council meeting. Among them was confusion about sidewalk riding.
Under state law, riding on sidewalks is prohibited for anyone over the age of 12, but that can be overridden by local government code, city officials said.
Seconder provided a Facebook post by the Dunwoody Police Department that warns against adults riding on the sidewalk. But, he said, the city code is more ambiguous. The code says that no one can ride a bicycle on a sidewalk in a manner that would be an unreasonable danger to the public or disrupt public use. That leaves open the interpretation that safe and reasonable riding on the sidewalk is OK.
Councilmember Jim Riticher expressed support for clarifying the code so that it expressly says adults riding bikes on the sidewalk is legal. Councilmember Tim Lambert took a broader view, saying there should be conversations about the pros and cons, followed by a clarification of the code one way or the other.
City Manager Eric Linton said that city staff would establish a committee to look at the issue.
–Jordan Meaker