WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – With some lingering doubts about whether they were doing anything to improve bike-riding conditions in West Lafayette, city council members this week still endorsed a package of rules and fines that put expectations on cyclists as well as drivers of motor vehicles.

Among the changes in a proposed ordinance: New $100 fines for drivers who intentionally open car doors in the path of passing cyclists.

The new rules – which still need a final vote on Aug. 5 to go into effect – also would define a “vulnerable road user,” a catch-all that includes bicycle riders, pedestrians and those doing road construction. Any motorist convicted of careless operation of a vehicle, causing injury or death to a vulnerable road user, also could be fined $1,000, according to the ordinance. The fine would be $100 if the offense did not cause injuries.

The proposed ordinance is part of a push to up West Lafayette’s cycling profile ahead of a planned application to become a Bicycle Friendly Community, a designation given by the League of American Bicyclists. Ten other Indiana communities, 47 Hoosier businesses and two state universities, including Purdue, hold various levels of Bicycle Friendly Community status.

People’s Brewing Co. in Lafayette is among the 47 businesses listed as a Bicycle Friendly Business. And in May, Lafayette – which doesn’t have rules of the road in the proposed West Lafayette ordinance – found out it had missed the cut, earning honorable mention and a list of things the League of American Bicyclists determined the city needed to improve first.

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Marcus Smith, West Lafayette’s assistant city engineer, told the council that “on a lot of these things, we’re behind the ball.”

Nick DeBoer, a city council member, said he wondered whether the ordinance was redundant with state laws, which tend to treat bicycles as vehicles.

“I’m just surprised that I haven’t heard a ton of support for this,” DeBoer said, noting the lack of vocal support from cyclists that had accompanied other efforts to improve bike commuting and safety. “So, I still have some general questions about whether this ordinance is necessary.”

Zachary Baiel, a cyclist who is challenging Republican Mayor John Dennis as an independent candidate this year, also questioned whether the answer to safety was in more rules, rather than with better education efforts about the rules already on the books.

Curt Ashendel, a West Lafayette cyclist, answered that ordinances such of the one proposed in West Lafayette would help encourage the state to up its protections for cyclists.

“The more municipalities that adopt these ordinances, the more likely it will be that the state will, in fact, harmonize the conflicting issues of ‘ride on the right’ and ‘act like a motor vehicle,’ as well as protect the cyclists and other vulnerable road users,” Ashendel said.

“It’ll make the city look like it is doing more to protect cyclists and therefore potentially garner us credit as a somewhat friendlier place for cyclists,” he said, “which is a good thing from a city development point of view.”

The council’s initial approval passed unanimously Monday. The proposed ordinance covers four areas.

► The city would define a “vulnerable road user” and set a $1,000 fine for injuring one by driving carelessly. According to the ordinance, that would include pedestrians, construction workers, emergency services crews working in a right of way, a person leading an animal, or someone “lawfully operating or riding” a bicycle, skateboard, roller skates, scooter or “electric personal assistive mobility device” in a right of way, crosswalk or shoulder of the street.

► The ordinance would make it illegal to park in bicycle lane.

► The city would set a definition for “dooring,” which is blocking the path of an oncoming cyclist or other traffic by opening a vehicle door. The ordinance also would prohibit keeping a vehicle door open when potentially blocking a bike lane or other oncoming traffic for “a period of time that is longer than necessary to load or unload passengers or items.” City council members initially had misgivings about outlawing dooring until fines were tied to only intentionally acts.

► The ordinance would formalize rules for where a cyclist should ride. The ordinance would call on cyclists to “ride far enough to the right as judged safe by the bicyclist to facilitate the movement” of passing vehicles. The ordinance also would set up situations in which a cyclist could use something other than the right lane, in case of turning left, overtaking another vehicle or avoiding parked cars and other obstacles.

In Lafayette, that city’s run at a Bicycle Friendly Community designation was dinged for below-average bicycle education in schools and improvements the League of American Bicyclists said the city needed in bicycle-friendly laws and ordinances.

Margy Deverall, Lafayette’s bike/pedestrian/mobility coordinator, said the city was reviewing the next steps on bicycle safety before the next round of Bicycle Friendly Community applications are due in October.

IF YOU GO: The West Lafayette City Council meets for its next monthly meeting at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 5 at temporary city hall, in the former Happy Hollow Elementary School, 1200 N. Salisbury St. To read the proposed cycling safety ordinance, go to jconline.com and click on the link to this story.

Reach Dave Bangert at 765-420-5258 or at dbangert@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @davebangert.