When I saw a flurry of e-mails among fellow bicycle commuters a few weeks ago warning of police stakeouts and mass citations, I muttered to myself, here we go again. Then a news item announced a $45,000 grant from the governor’s office to the Tucson Police Department for bicycle enforcement. Nice to know that a state that doesn’t have enough money to let you pull over and take a crap in a rest area still has plenty of money to harass bicyclists.
It’s an annual ritual. In the officially stated pursuit of “bicycle safety,” officers sit at four-way stop signs and bust bicyclists for rolling through without stopping. I liken this activity to ticketing joggers for running faster than the speed limit. Inasmuch as bicyclists operate at relatively slow speeds and with unobstructed lines of sight, it’s usually quite easy for them to determine that no cars or pedestrians are present without coming to a complete stop. Indeed, in some cities stop signs are legally considered yield signs for bicycles. Considering the inherent safety incentive for cyclists in this situation—avoiding death or serious bodily harm—I can only view this bicycle safety enforcement strategy as a total waste of resources.
However, the news item also said that this year’s program would be different—supposedly the cops would target truly dangerous behaviors, like riding on the sidewalk, or against traffic. I found this difficult to believe, so I called Erik Ryberg, a local attorney with years of experience in the bicycle trenches. He agreed that things might actually be changing and mentioned that the cops seemed to be more open to communication with the bicycle community.
That alone is a Great Leap Forward, since illogical stop sign enforcement is just one facet of a problematic lack of bicycle sense within police ranks. After trading outrageous anecdotes about cyclists getting creamed by cars and then unfairly blamed for their own misery, Erik pointed me to a study that analyzed several years of TPD collision reports, 20 percent of which were found to have incorrectly assigned fault to bicyclists. Some of these errors were caused by the officers’ lack of understanding of bicycle laws, but others were clearly a matter of bias.
Fired up and ready to contribute to the dialogue with something other than my middle finger, I decided to collect some data of my own. I staked out the intersection of Mountain Avenue and Grant Road at rush hour to observe the interactions between bikes and cars. With its wide bike lanes and obvious signage—”Yield to Bikes,” “No Motorized Vehicles in the Bike Lane”—Mountain is considered one of the most bike-friendly routes in our city, but my observations stunned even this militant bicycle avenger.
For a solid hour, I watched an aggressive automotive free-for-all that nearly cost half a dozen bicyclists dearly. I counted 46 cars entering the bike lane illegally for various reasons. Many of the transgressors used the lane to make right turns, often to bypass traffic in the car lane. Others impatiently swerved into the bike lane to get around morons who were clogging traffic flow by making left turns, which are prohibited during rush hour. Several motorists made right turns directly in front of bicyclists riding parallel to them, causing near-collisions. In general, at least half of the motorists seemed oblivious to the obvious signage and the numerous bicycles around them.
In that same hour, I saw exactly two bicyclists break the law. It strikes me that if you really want to enhance bicycle safety, you might try ticketing some of the menaces that careen around carelessly in behemoth Death-UVs while yakking on their cell phones and ignoring bicycle laws, rather than blaming—or ticketing—their potential victims.
I shared my data with TPD and encouraged them to further modify their enforcement strategies. The congenial officer was very interested, and eventually assured me that they would check out the situation. I would be very appreciative of that and curious to see the results of such an expedition, as well as an overall accounting of citations issued when the program concludes in a month.
In the meantime, in pursuit of peace between bikes and cars, I pledge not to flip anybody the bird while riding my bicycle, even when they try to kill me. Instead I’ll attempt to engage them in calm, edifying conversations about bicycle laws and how my life is not less important than theirs just because I’m on a bicycle.
This article appears in Sep 2-8, 2010.
Too bad the money can’t be used to keep bikers safe rather than to harass them. I’ve nearly been run over half a dozen times at intersections like 3rd/Olsen, by cars thinking that the bikes have stop signs when they don’t. A few signs saying ‘bicycles do not stop’ under the stop signs at those intersections might help.
And thank you to the woman passing out bike maps at the infamous corner of 3rd and Treat yesterday, forcing bikers to stop, while a gaggle of bike cops huddled off to the side, foiled by her good deed.
As a bicyclist and Bike Safety Instructor, observing what a lot of cyclists are doing on the road raises a lot of concerns on safety for both the cyclist, motorists and pedestrians. I was working the Park and University intersection as well as the Treat and Third intersection yesterday and noticed the attitudes that cyclists portray – death defying. Cyclists riding the wrong way during rush hour and blowing stop signs as if they were not there.
I can see the major concerns by motorists and pedestrians. Pima County’s Bike Ambassador Program has been working with the Police Department for a couple of weeks in trying to educate cyclists of the laws. The officers that we have been working with will usually allow the cyclist a free pass if we can get to them first. The Police really don’t want to cite anyone unless it becomes an obvious infraction.
If the cyclist would slow down to almost a stop, look both ways and proceed if safe, 8 times out of 10 they will do nothing. So I ask all cyclists out there to join in on this crusade to help educate others, and start riding safely. Pima County does offer a FREE Bike Safety Class. The website is http://www.BikePed.pima.gov or you can call 243-BIKE (2453) for more information.
Re: “Serraglio”
Wow, a bicyclist saying it like it is! Appreciated! I live in a popular area for cyclists, but there are no bike lanes. The general air of MOST of the cyclists is as you mentioned (Jim Harms), death defying, as though Lycra is a shield against a 2000 pound vehicle. It’s not just unsafe, it’s stupid, and certainly rude and arrogant. Follow the rules of the road and stop riding 3 abreast on a two lane rode with no bike lanes. When you are on Redington Rd. do not stop on your bikes in the middle of the road and expect cars to wait while you eat your power bars (tossing the wrapper in the road) and adjust your Lycrawear. Rude and arrogant. I wish one of you cyclists would explain the mentality behind this behavior because it just boggles my mind.
…and another thing… Having lived out on Redington Rd for over 4 years I witness EVERY weekend, not just one hour, the transgressions of cyclists. You mention, R. Serraglio, your personal observation of vehicles vs. bicycles, stating the motorists were, by far, the ones at fault. Come on over to my side of the world and watch the stupidity compound on any given weekend, especially when you ride two and more. When on roads with bike lanes, I have witnessed plenty of cyclists in the car lane, forcing a vehicle to swerve away from them. You need to lose the high and mighty attitude and judge reasonably what is actually going on with bicyclists. It’s a two way street, some with bike lanes, stay in yours, I’ll stay in mine.
Every year 75 police officers lose their lives in automobile crashes every year 750 cyclist lose their lives in automobile crashes. Given the difference in miles traveled by the two this makes cycling 600 times as dangerous as police work measured per hour or 3000 times as dangerous measured per mile. Both the tucson police and the university police have refused to remove the plant tribulus terrestris from their property. This plant is listed as an invasive species by the departmant of agriculture and it is illegal for anyone to let the plant grow. Both the tucson police and the university police bicycle patrols know where the plants are because they puncture bicycle tires. Since this plant is also capable of puncturing wheelchair tires both tucson and the university are in violation of the americans with disability act. California and Oregon ORS 810.150 both have state laws that state storm drain grates shall be made safe for bicycles to cross. Though not a problem in tucson I have reported the grates to the police in five states none of these grates have been fixed due to the action of the police. Again any storm drain grate capable of trapping a wheelchair wheel is in violation of the american with disability act. The police refuse to inforce any law that would benefit cyclists. I have taken this battle to the next level I am working with a state legislator to have police officers placed under arrest for felony animal abuse for allowing police dogs to walk through a patch of tribulus terrestris. The ASPCA peta and http://www.act-az.org/ have refused to inforce the law against police. By the way the university also has other violations of the american with disability act here is a photo of a side walk that is some times completely blocked by automobiles. http://share.ovi.com/media/currentresident…
First things first,
@Veevee, mentioning lycra does not add credence to your argument. It only furthers your bias by adding a “haha spandex…snicker..snicker” attitude to your post. I feel like if you were to watch who the most risk-taking cyclists in town, you would notice that the lycra road crowd is probably the most defensive group around. This is because they spend literally tens of hours each week training, and it is just plain stupid to take risks over that long a period of time. The real threat is the bike salmoning non-cyclists who decide to ride sidewalks and crosswalks as if traffic rules don’t apply to them. Don’t mistake assertiveness to aggressiveness.
@Ramsey, that is the most ludicrous assertion I have heard. You are cherry picking random statistics without regard to the actual source numbers. Have you considered that there are possibly 10x+ number of cyclists in this country than police officers? Therefore one would expect 10x more casualties for the same level of danger. Your arguments are both rambling and flawed.
Here let me show you a bicycle hazard that ADOT has refused to remove it is located in wickenburg arizona. http://share.ovi.com/media/currentresident… in fact the ADOT official tried to convince me that bicycles were banned on this road. ODOT and caltrans have both fixed these hazards on state roads when I asked them. A special note to pima county We will no longer put up with your willfull violation of the law. Here is one law firm that has won lawsuits against the government. http://www.stc-law.com/stormdrains.html If there is an accident on any road hazard that I have documented you will lose the punitive damage lawsuit against you the people I have reported the hazards to will be placed under arrest for reckless endangerment I will also be prosecuting cases where police dogs are not bicycle trained.
Well your life is not worth less, your life will just be shorter. Knowing what you know now you’re getting back on a bike in this town is just getting a jumps start on natural selection. You have been selected as natural selection’s next guest.
Dangerous bike/car intersection at SE corner Mountain and Grant.
Comments from a bike rider and car driver using this intersection –
Serraglio is upset over the many transgressions of car drivers north bound on Mountain Avenue at Grant.
And the comments reveal that bikers and car drivers are upset about lots of intersections and blame each other. Bikers spend a great deal of energy to keep cars off the painted areas that “belong” to them.
Instead of all these verbal complaints and turf fights, both sides could better use all this wasted energy to insist that intersections like the SE corner of Grant and Mountain be RE-DESIGNED to make travel SAFER for all users.
My comments are based on 30 years of experience in urban transportation. I served on several city, state and federal citizens advisory committees. Senator Sandra O’Connor appointed me to serve on the statewide advisory committee on bike routes. Our study quickly revealed that a top cause of bike/car accidents was cars turning in front of bikes going straight ahead.
If right turns are allowed at intersections like this, at some point a car driver turning right must cross the path (PAINTED or not) of a biker going straight ahead. The most common is to allow the car driver to move full right before reaching the intersection. Drivers can see bikers when they approach the intersection. Cars and bikes line up single file so bikers cannot come up later on the blind right side of cars while they are waiting at a light. And cars can make right turns on a red light, which moves traffic better.
This is not ideal but it is safer than the design of this SE corner that forces cars go into the intersection before they can make a right turn – so bikers can come up on their blind side. It violates the ARS that forbids right turns from inner lanes. This is by far the most dangerous design for a bike/car intersection.
So how to stop these many violations at this intersection.
+ Hire a policeman to be there 24/7 to hand out tickets to the law beakers
+ Station armed biker volunteers to confront these drivers and shake them up.
+ Insist that this INTERSECTION be RE-DESIGNED to make it SAFER for bikers and car drivers.
Put a right-turn-only lane to the right of the bike lane so right turns are not made in front of forward moving bikers. Note the ones on the NW corner on Speedway at Mountain and at Park.
After lots of bull, the reason for not implementing this safest solution became clear – the goal is to make it inconvenient for cars to use Mountain so cars (especially those leaving the U of AZ during rush hours) will drive elsewhere. Where? Mountain is listed as primarily a bike route but wishing does not make it so – take a look at those cars exiting the U AZ at 4-6PM.
Actually Dr. Ruth the top cause of bicycle car accidents is automobile drivers not seeing the cyclist even though the cyclist is the field of vision of the driver. Right turn accidents are merely a subset of this type of accident. This is what bicycle cops have told me. I have also observed that drivers will cut corners which is generally illegal regardless of wether there is a line painted for a bicycle lane. This happens so often in salem oregon where commercial changes from a two way street to two one way streets at liberty st that salem has to repaint the line every year. Oregon has a state law that makes this illegal 96 percent of the drivers will cut this corner and this includes police cars when no one is in the lane and 25 percent will cut the corner when I’m standing in it. The visibility is 1000 feet. I stand there and notice the startled looks on the drivers faces when they realize I’m standing in the lane. I am going to prove this now that I have a camera and find an equivalent site in arizona.
I guess things must be pretty awful out there these days. It must be all the bike lanes giving bicyclists a false sense of security. I rode a bike (many bikes) all over this city and surrounding areas when I was a kid and I never once had an encounter with a car except for the random egging by jerks. I stayed off of main arteries unless I absolutely had to use them and I was always aware that cars were much heavier and deadlier than I was. I didn’t worry about flats as I thorn proofed my tires and carried a flat repair kit and a pump with me.
In a lot of ways I am glad I can no longer ride a bike because I don’t get lumped in with the jerks out there who are absolutely unwilling to share the road with cars. I realize they are probably a small minority, but they are a real problem, especially around downtown/4th Ave./U of A area and along Mission, Ajo and Kinney Roads.
One last thing I don’t get is the whole Stop sign issue. If you are incapable of stopping your bike for a second or two to make abso-damn-lutely sure there is no oncoming traffic you have no business riding on the street.
90 percent of accidents involving bicycles and cars are caused by the motorists, not the cyclists. This is according to a recent study published in the New York Times that examined 2,752 bike-car accidents, the article also points out that most people incorrectly assume the cyclists are at fault “- a result of reckless or aggressive riding.” Police handing out citations to cyclists in the name of bicycle safety is not just irritating, it is adding real insult to very real injury. The victims are being punished. The simple fact is that motorists kill thousands and thousands of bicyclists and maim and injure many thousands more while the deaths, injuries and other damage caused by cyclists (even reckless or aggressive ones) occur so infrequently that fatal lightning strikes seem commonplace by comparison. Many drivers responsible for the death of a cyclist receive minor or no citations and I’m not talking about the ones who don’t even bother to stop. The attitude in this country toward bicyclists is as shameful as it is irrational. It is not “your lane” veevee. Whether there is marked bicycle lane or not the road belongs to a bicyclist just as much as any motorist. Cyclists riding two or three abreast are not doing anything wrong in spite of the fact that you might have to slow down a little.