5 Places Riding Your Bike is Banned or Illegal (You'll Be Surprised)
Doesn't look easy or fun - from The Day I Became a Woman via YouTube.
4. In Iran, Women's Cycling Inconsistent
Women's cycling has long been a contentious issue in Iran. Women are allowed to drive cars, but cycling is frowned upon - a bicycle has been designed, but not yet produced, to cover parts of a woman's body with a cabin so that cycling would be more demure.From a 2007 report in USA Today:
"The country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, announced in 1999 that "women must avoid anything that attracts strangers, so riding bicycles or motorcycles by women in public places causes corruption and is thus forbidden."
In some areas, women aren't allowed to bike in the streets, in others they can cycle on special tracks while in Karaj they can't bike in the parks at all. In this film from 2000, The Day I Became A Woman, women are seen cycling on the island of Kish in head-to-ankle chadors. Women do cycle here, but not freely.
This sign posted just blocks from elementary school banning bikes via Cold Iron @ flickr.
5. Kids Can't Bike to School.
While obesity seems a huge problem in Western-diet societies, there are more than just a few cases of kids being banned from riding their bikes to school, for reasons of safety, and lack of 'proper' facilities for bike storage. In Portsmouth, U.K. one pupil lost his long fight for the right to cycle; in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. a mom-and-son had to abandon a 'bike to school' efforts; at Noddin Elementary School in San Jose, Calif., students received a letter outlining 'no biking to school' rules...and the list goes on.Update: Due to activist prodding, Noddin Elementary says it will give students bicycle safety training in order to rescind the ban.
Read more about banning biking at TreeHugger
Should E-Bikes Be Banned? 4 Lessons from Asia's E-Bike Craze
Japanese Bike Mamas Revolt (Government Relents, A Little)
Young Environmentalists Protest Anti-Biking Policy at Their School
Drive-Thru Discrimination: Bicycles Are Vehicles, Too
