A Look At Our History

In 1995, the LOBV formed in response to mandatory all ages helmet law proposal in Austin. After the Austin City Council passed the law, the LOBV lobbied for its removal. As a result of pressure from the LOBV and the bicycling community, the law was changed to require helmets only for riders under the age of 18. To learn more about the LOBV’s stance on mandatory helmet laws, please click go to our campaigns page.

After the change in the law, the LOBV went dormant until 2006 when the Austin City Council revisited the idea of an all-ages mandatory helmet law. The LOBV once again rallied the bicycling community to oppose this proposal. On August 24, 2006, hundreds of people attended a City Council meeting to show their opposition at a public hearing on the issue. It was the second most attended City Council meeting in Austin’s history. After seeing the bicycling community united in opposition to the proposal, the council took no further action.

Instead of becoming inactive again after the threat of the all-ages mandatory helmet law dissipated, the LOBV turned its focus to other issues facing the bike community. While the helmet law idea was a very unpopular approach to bike safety, the LOBV recognized that there was broad or unanimous community support for many other measures to improve bicycle safety. There were numerous gaps in the bike infrastructure network, not enough educational outreach, poor enforcement of laws affecting bicyclists, and a need for a rejuvenated effort to increase overall bicycling, which results in safety-in-numbers. Instead of just reacting to issues, the LOBV changed to a proactive approach to advance cycling in Austin.

One of the first items on the LOBV’s agenda was to push for a council-level task force to address bicycle safety. The LOBV kept political pressure on the City Council to ensure it created the Streets Smart Task Force (SSTF) that the mayor had proposed. This effort started in 2007 and approved recommendations in 2008. Numerous bike leaders in the community—including several members of the LOBV—participated on this task force. The SSTF made its final recommendations on January 18, 2008 and Austin City Council affirmed its support for them on April 24, 2008. Read final version. The recommendations that resulted from the SSTF provided substantial guidance for the 2009 Austin Bike Plan and ultimately were incorporated into the bike plan itself.

Another accomplishment of the LOBV’s early work in 2007 was to bring new life to the Bicycle Advisory Council (BAC), which works with the City to voice the perspective of cyclists. The BAC has since provided invaluable assistance to the City’s Bike Program, through thousands of hours of volunteer work to augment the City’s limited staff resources. The BAC also provides a single, in-person forum for a wide variety of bicycling interests to discuss priorities and needs in creating the city’s infrastructure. BAC meetings are open to the public and occur on the third Thursday of every month from 6-8 pm at Austin City Hall in the Staff Bullpen (new location beginning January 2012).

Since the threat of an all-ages mandatory helmet law subsided in 2007, the LOBV has provided the community support for bicycle infrastructure, justice as legitimate road users, and more resources for bicycling education, promotion, research, and planning. The LOBV is a dedicated voice for Austin cyclists in the public arena and is the city’s champion of bicycle infrastructure. To learn more about the LOBV’s current and past work, please visit our campaigns page.