Rockingham County, VA Mobility & Curb Rules: Bike Lane Rules (2026)

Sec. 11-19 states the entire rule in one sentence: no person may ride a bicycle upon any highway in the county without having his hands upon the handlebars. It sits in chapter 11's Article II, 'Operation Generally,' among other operating rules like the ban on riding on portions of a vehicle not built for passengers (Sec. 11-13) and the ban on boarding or alighting from a moving vehicle (Sec. 11-12). Rockingham County has not adopted a separate bike-lane obstruction ordinance in its own code; instead, Sec.

2 of the Code of Virginia (except felony provisions) and applies them within the county's highways, meaning the state's bicycle operation and rules-of-the-road provisions fill that gap for anything the handlebars rule does not cover. Sec. 11-2 limits chapter 11's application to the unincorporated county: it does not reach the corporate limits of Bridgewater, Broadway, Dayton, Elkton, Grottoes, Mount Crawford or Timberville, and it has no application in the independent City of Harrisonburg, both of which set their own local traffic rules. A cyclist riding hands-free on a public highway in the unincorporated county, therefore, violates a distinct county ordinance rather than a state statute, and can be cited under the county's own chapter 11 enforcement and penalty structure.