By 7 a.m. on Saturday, Mel Walker was out on the Greenbelt with his radar gun. As cyclists, electric bikers and Rollerbladers approached, he clocked their speed — and if they were going over 15 mph, he flashed a sign that said SLOW as they passed.
His approach got mixed reactions: some confusion, some dirty looks, a couple of middle fingers. Occasionally, it prompted fruitful conversations. Some riders asked: How fast was too fast? And why was it their responsibility to slow down when pedestrians were taking up the whole path, letting their dogs walk off-leash, or just not paying attention?
“I understand your cause. I do,” one biker conceded, after several minutes of a discussion that started as a confrontation. Walker celebrated the interaction, telling the Idaho Statesman in an email later that it was “a classic example of things to come.”
Ada County commissioners recently voted to approve a change to county code that would require users of the Greenbelt to travel in a “reasonable” and “prudent” manner. Officials from Boise, Ada County and Garden City have signed an agreement to streamline and more uniformly enforce the rules on the nearly 50-mile pathway, whether users are in the section controlled by the county, Boise or another jurisdiction.