Feliciana Fatality Fallout

The accident scene where Buddy and Tom were hit.
The road in the upper right was the finish of Rouge-Roubaix for a number of years.

Back on June 30 two cyclists were hit from behind by a car up in West Feliciana Parish near St. Francisville. One, Buddy Amoroso, was killed. The other, Tom Clement, was seriously injured. They were riding along the right edge of La 66, during the day, wearing high-visibility jerseys, with flashing lights, and a rear-view mirror, on a clear day, on a straight stretch of road. In fact, the accident happened within sight of the finish line that had been used for Rouge-Roubaix for a number of years before it was moved into St. Francisville proper. The 22-year-old driver of the car received a slap on the wrist. He had $15k in insurance. Tom's medical costs will be in the $200-300,000 range. Buddy was a city councilman in Baton Rouge.

West Feliciana parish includes some of the nicest roads for cycling in the state. Even though I'm from New Orleans, around two hours away, I've ridden thousands of miles around there since the early 70s, and the area annually provides venues for numerous road races and charity rides. The country roads around there offer quiet, tree-lined rolling hills. The economy is supported by prisons, tourism, and the state's largest nuclear power plant, along with a tiny bit of surviving farming.

In 1999 Jon Anderson, who was living around St. Francisville and loved to ride his bike on the worst possible unpaved roads he could find, especially in the dead of winter, and preferably in the rain, organized a group ride. Over the succeeding fifteen years it slowly evolved, first into a local-level race, and ultimately into a full-blown two-day early-season 110-mile regional-level battle that included impossible gravel climbs and huge prizelists drawing Professional to entry level riders from all over the country. For most people in the cycling world, it put the little forgotten town of St. Francisville on the map. Every weekend, year-round, cyclists from all over Louisiana and Mississippi could be found riding the many well-traveled routes in the area. You would think that would be considered a positive thing for the city and parish.

So when Buddy was killed by an inattentive motorist while he and his friend were doing everything right, you might have thought the response by the parish would have been to call for better enforcement, signage, driver education, etc., if only to preserve its status as a cycling destination.

Well, you'd be wrong.

The response was headed up by one Mel Percy, one of the parish council members. The back-story I heard is that once upon a time, Mel or one of his buddies, had apparently gotten stuck behind the police-escorted Rouge-Roubaix pack. He's gotten on his cellphone and called the sheriff's office and tried to get them to let him pass since obviously he was important and couldn't wait. Of course they couldn't do that and he had to wait until they got off of the state highway where they were being escorted through the initial 3-mile neutral section until they turned off onto a parish road to begin the actual race.

So anyway, Mel picks some of his local friends to form a bicycle "safety" committee and they come up with what are probably the most insane restrictions on cyclists you can imagine, and write them up in 4th grade English to present to the Parish Council. The obvious intent was to (a) keep cyclists off of "their" roads, keep the local folks from being inconvenienced by having to look where they were going and maybe even slow down and wait, and (c) shift liability to cyclists in case of another serious accident. Of course, perhaps I'm biased, so here's what they proposed (taken from an article in The Advocate). Judge for yourself:

• Requiring cyclists to wear an outer garment with at least 400 square inches of a high-visibility, fluorescent color. Percy said he lifted the wording from the state's hunting regulations, with a modification on the color.
• Requiring lights on the rear of bikes that are visible for one mile.
• Putting a laser device at the front and rear bikes in a group ride to warn cyclists of oncoming vehicles.
• Using rear-view mirrors on bicycle handlebars or riders' helmets.
• Requiring cyclists to ride in single-file formations, within 2 feet of the right-hand pavement edge.
• Prohibiting the use of paint on the roadway to mark the routes for cycling events, and requiring event organizers to remove signs and marking tape from the roads within 24 hours. 

In case you're wondering, yes, Louisiana does have a 3-feet law. It's called the Colin Goodier Protection Act, for the Doctor who was killed on June 9, 2008 on River Road near Baton Rouge when he was run over from behind by a truck. Of course, area cyclists turned out for the hearings that appeared to be just for show. None of these requirements would have prevented the accident that precipitated all of this. Driver education and signage, and improved roads might have, but no such recommendations or actions were considered. So at the end of the day, which was a couple of days ago, we have an ordinance that includes the following:

• That cyclists "wear an outer garment above the waist of which a majority of the material must be high visibility fluorescent colors and must have a forward and rear facing light with daylight visibility a minimum of one half a mile."
• That except for when passing, cyclists "will ride single file within two feet of the right hand side of the road" and "complete their passing procedure within 1/10 of a mile."
• And that cyclists "will ride in groups of no more than 10 riders with a minimum separation between cycling groups of at least a quarter mile."

Most of that is practically unenforceable, of course, if not illegal. Needless to say, this has cast its shadow over the many cycling events held annually in the parish, not the least of which is Rouge-Roubaix. (see "How did the Rouge‐Roubaix Start" for some history on the event.) The irony in all of this, of which there is much, is that the incident that initially ticked off one of the parish people was a race (permitted events aren't really impacted by the legislation), and it was on a state highway (the cyclist requirements apply only to parish roads). I guess I should mention that the requirements don't apply to "residents" riding in their own "neighborhoods." 

So basically we now have a very hostile environment in West Feliciana Parish where we once thought we were, at least in some respects, welcome. Indeed, all of the hotels and other businesses involved with Rouge-Roubaix, are fully supportive of the event. Still, putting on an event like Rouge-Roubaix is a very difficult and taxing task that involves lots of negotiating with businesses, sheriff's offices (in more than one state), churches, residents, sponsors, etc. Trying to accomplish it in an environment where the Parish has clearly indicated cyclists are not welcome makes it just that much more difficult. 

So, not surprisingly, Rouge-Roubaix announced this morning that the 2019 race is officially cancelled. This comes on the heels of last-year's cancellation due to flooding. Lots of riders have already said that they will no longer be riding in West Feliciana Parish. Legal challenges to the ordinance may be forthcoming. It remains to be seen if the sheriff and police will be willing to actually enforce any of this. While I can think of some other options for a Rouge-Roubaix type of race just north of the parish line, much momentum has already been lost.