Town Meeting to Consider Banning Young Children on Bikes

Brookline's Town Meeting is preparing to decide whether Brookline's parents should be allowed to strap their children into a bike seat before hitting the road.

Seymour Ziskend, a veteran Town Meeting member known for pushing legislation that some see as part of an anti-bike agenda, has submitted an article for this fall's meeting that would make it illegal to carry a toddler or child on a bicycle in Brookline, even if strapped into a safety seat.

"It's illogical to carry a child on a bike," Ziskend, who represents Precinct 7, said. "How can you take a child and subject them to that kind of endangerment?"

Ziskend's proposal would go even further than existing state laws, which already prohibit bicyclists from carrying children less than 12 months old, even in a child seat, according to the website for the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition. Children between ages 1 and 4 can only be carried on an adult bike if they are kept in a child seat attached to the bike and equipped with a harness or safety belt.

This will be the fourth year in a row that Ziskend has submitted an article seeking to restrict how bicyclists operate in Brookline. Over the last three years, he has repeatedly submitted legislation that would require all bicyclists traveling through Brookline to register their bicycles like they would a car, but Town Meeting rejected the effort each time.

Ziskend said he was prompted to submit the articles after observing the rapid growth of Brookline's biking population in recent years. He complains of having parents warn him to be careful of their children while they're out biking at night, and said a child once ran into his car while he was stopped, causing damage his insurance company refused to cover.

Tommy Vitolo, a member of Brookline's Bicycle Advisory Committee and a Town Meeting member, said the committee does not expect to recommend Town Meeting approve Ziskend's last article. And despite his efforts to restrict biking in Brookline, Vitolo called Ziskend a "very good man" who "has the best interest of the people and is trying do right by Brookline."

But Vitolo, who represents Precinct 1, said some residents were offended that Ziskend's article was on the warrant for this fall's Town Meeting at all, saying it would go too far in telling Brookline parents how to raise their children. As a soon-to-be parent with no car, Vitolo said riding with his baby in tow would be a fact of life as a parent for him, not optional recreation. When his child is old enough, Vitolo expects them to bike nearly every day.

 Captain Michael Gropman of the Brookline Police Traffic Division said accidents involving bicycles still make up a relatively small fraction of the traffic incidents reported in Brookline, though the number of bike accidents has increased as more people turn to bicycles for everyday transportation. He said drivers may get frustrated with the growing number of bicyclists on the road, but are still required to give enough room to let them operate.

 "I see a lot of confusion among motorists and bikes," Gropman said. "Bicyclists are required to follow same rules as a motorists."

The fall session of Town Meeting begins Nov. 16.