Enforcement of bicycle laws set to curb safety issues

However at a recent town hall meeting a handful of residents expressed concern that children playing on their neighborhood streets and running through their yards were at risk of serious injury.

Maryland State bicycle laws prohibit children under 16 from riding their bikes without a helmet and require that cyclists ride in the same direction as traffic as close to the right side of the road as possible.

Resident Rick Harmel said he’s witnessed cars speeding down his street where children sometimes play and he worries for their safety if they continue to be allowed to ride their bikes in the street or to not wear helmets.

Other residents at the meeting voiced concern over their level of responsibility in the event neighborhood children play on their property and are injured. They want parents to have better control over their children, but don’t know how to enforce it except to ask the police to issue tickets to the parents for their children’s behavior.

Police will patrol residential neighborhoods more frequently to crack down on the problems. The amount of the fine for children riding bikes without helmets was uncertain, however no new programs to promote bike safety will be initiated.

Complaints from his neighbors have prompted father of five Desmond Barksdale to restrict his children’s playtime to inside his home more often.

‘‘I do take them out to the parks to ride their bikes, that way they can feel free,” Barksdale said.

But recreation activities for children in the area are few and far between, he said. Barksdale said he believes the new crackdowns were not prompted by residents’ concern for children but rather their intolerance with them.

‘‘This is not a child-friendly neighborhood,” Barksdale said.

E-mail Andrea Noble at anoble@gazette.net.