Anti-cyclist petition in Iowa

There's a lovely bit of rural bigotry cunningly disguised as a petition to ban cyclists from farm-to-market roads - essentially all county roads - in the state of Iowa. It's includes this slightly over blown prose:

Over the past ten years the number of bicyclists using these farm-to-market roads for recreational purposes has increased dramatically as have the number of preventable accidents and fatalities.

Rural commerce and citizens are significantly impacted when forced to share the farm-to-market roadways with bicyclists. Because of the growth of today's commerce and agricultural business, shared roadways are no longer safe or practical in today's society.

Gosh, the cows must be feasting on all those dead bodies. Nationally, the number of cycling deaths has been trending downward, though a slight uptick last year gave some of the busy bodies an opportunity to hyperventilate. I'd expect that Iowa is trending downward too.

So, absent a high body count, amputated limbs, heads lolling in the gutter, and the like, I think it's safe to say that the petition language is, um, suitable for spreading on Iowa's lush, green corn fields thereby making them lusher and greener.

It's a non-starter, folks.