Illinois-2014 laws or revisions

We've got quite a few threads going on about laws in Illinois and why bring back dead threads? Weather is turning warmer and its time to dig for any new revisions for 2014 to keep us safe.

I cannot find the nice clean version of our bicycle law with the state seal / complied statue number / or the header that stated "Illinois State Police Law Update" ,also i maybe mistaken,but i think it also had Pat Quinn's signature on it at the bottom?

I used to have stacks of those printed out, but lost them when i moved out to LA. If anyone can link me to them i would be grateful, those really got the cops off me every time and i like to hand them out to customers for the same reason.

Maybe some day i should have that law tattooed on my back like in old english looking like its on an old scroll from the founding fathers just so i cant loose it again. with an eagle.. and an american flag! with skulls! and flames!... sorry got carried away being all biker and patriotic.

Next up,while our government (state and federal) likes to keep modifying or stripping of us of our rights, after a little digging i did find that the S.O.S has cleaned up their rules about our "low speed" bicycles. Previously it was stated a few years ago that the S.O.S said we couldn't ride on streets rated faster than 30 mph (however our bikes cannot reach speeds over 20 mph). Looks like this has been removed in the 2014 rules of the road book on pages 39 - 41.Sounds like one win for us finally.

Not that this is written in stone, but it does add to the argument that bike paths should not restrict us even tho they have signs posted saying "no motorized vehicles",because as Illinois law now defines us as "low speed" bicycles and all rules for bicycles apply to us,we are NOT motorized vehicles. This quoted from Chicago Bicycle Attorneys:

http://www.mybikeadvocate.com/2010/09/explaining-ebikes-and-law.html

"Certain types of motorized bikes are governed by the same rules that apply to regular, old-fashioned pedal bikes, and are permitted on Chicago's Lakefront path. "Low-speed electric bicycles" and "low-speed gas bicycles" are permitted on the path. Mopeds and motorcycles are not. To be considered a "low-speed" bike, the cycle must (a) have fully operable pedals, (b) an electric or gas powered motor of less than 1 horse power, and have a maximum speed of less than 20 mph."

Anyways, if any of you guys have seen changes to our laws please post em here to keep us safe from money hungry and power hungry authorities who lock you up then ask questions later..

remember,they want to fight us with the law,but we can use the same law to fight em back....... until they change the law in their favor.

rangefinder said:

found it...
His summary for the posting called "Motorized and Electric Bikes"
here... http://chicagobikelaw.blogspot.com/

Based on the opening of his posting, he is not promoting our cause.
I can see his point, but cannot find the exact entry he found on the MCC site.

Are both blogposts from the same author?

Looks like I have shed no light on this. *groan...*

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thanks for all the work, im sure this will come in handy to all of us.

As far as the blog posts,it could be the same author,but it seems that its a group of lawyers for bicyclist,they way he wrote that post sure would be contradicting some of his previous post if it was the same person.

Im sure chicago is going to have a different take on low speed bikes, but some of these bicycle people,these purist,elitist ..... yea, those people are always trying to get in our way and this guy might be one of them.

Its bad enough that cops are pissed because they cant find reasons to lock us up, damage our drivers license or heavily fine us ,now we got lawyers out there that want to make an example.

just for fun here's an news article showing how bad these police have a hard on for us and feel that its unfair that the law they are paid to protect wont allow them to screw with us as bad as they want to.

http://www.sj-r.com/x450310760/Difficult-to-determine-which-rules-apply-to-motorized-bikes

rangefinder said:

I have heard of Brenden Kevenides, but do not know him personally.

I used to be pretty active with some people on the Chainlink.org site, when living downtown. Now I live out in Des Plaines. They can be pretty dang richeous, ...about anything!

Only seen a few motorized bikes when living in the Logan Square area. One was an old guy riding around Humboldt Park, once when I was riding home on my plain ol' bike on Armitage Ave. And that rider was acting as if he was just another motorcycle, and not using the bike lane. I found a guy on Yelp called Thunderhawk cycles, who does 2 strokes.

Speaking of Des Plaines, I think I read I have to register the motorized bike.
I am going to go check into that pretty soon.

Where are you riding here, I see NW suburbs...?

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i sent you a private message as not to clutter up this thread with non-info..

ive heard of "registering" our bikes in other places in the USA, but i think the type of registering here is like registering it like you would a bicycle,off the frame numbers. there is a half and half on this forum that will tell you that you can or cant register the bike here.

First off, I think going to the police department or who ever handles the registration of the bike frame number is fine,because if the bike is stolen or impounded you can prove it is yours. Actually trying to get plates and insurance would be over kill,as long as your under the law as it stands you should be fine. im a bit more ballsy and use 80/66 cc engines and lie and cheat the cops into its a 48cc with fake 48cc stickers and stuff.

rangefinder said:

http://www.dnrintra.state.il.us/lands/operations_manual/Memo_motorizedvehicles.pdf

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even tho this covers DNR roads,it should also cover trails and bike paths.

i was really excited about this one considering we have bike trails all over the entire region here. check out our bike path maps from chicago all the way to the west,you can really get around to different parts of northern illinois here by using them.

I really thought you found the holy grail of confirming what ive been fighting for so long,being able to have access to these bicycle "freeways" (parks,paths and trails). but the date filed on that was in 2009 before the law passed,however as the law is written, (remember,according to the state we are not motorized bicycles) we are Low Speed Bicycles, either gas or electric will be treated the same as any normal bicycle and considered as such. This isnt a debate,its the facts,the debating will happen when trying to explain this to a park ranger,or county deputy when riding in these areas

I hope you can find something like this DNR thing but updated since the laws have changed,i would feel more confident about riding with this in my pocket backing up the original state law. thanks for the find,keep it up.

rangefinder said:

Woahhhh... you gotta' read this one!
I think this guy was on the other MB site. He might be a member on here too.

http://illinoiscourts.gov/R23_Orders/AppellateCourt/2012/4thDistrict/4110593_R23.pdf

I am going to put a smile on this one.

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yes,he is a member here, i remember this story from a few years ago, it pissed me off so bad to hear what this guy was going thru,and im so happy that he kept fighting it,i know what its like to be unlawfully convicted and no mater what the state is right and you a wrong. Any ways, i hope Chas finally got some justice and his bike back.

i wonder if his case can be used in any other persons court cases in Illinois over these petty cops, like "your honor, id like to make reference to the state vs chas blah blah" If so i owe this man a thank you for his sacrifice to slap these cops in the face with the law they try and rape us with.