Tag Archive for bike law

Monday morning links: Calling all lawyers, bike plan hearings, share the road — or not

When I was injured in a road rage incident, I had a hard time finding a lawyer to represent me.

I needed an attorney who understood bicycling, but had no idea how to find one. The lawyers I called either had no experience in bike cases, or had no interest in taking a small case with no serious injuries — and no hope of a large settlement.

And no one I called was willing to challenge the LAPD over a flawed investigation that let a violent assault go unpunished, and left a dangerous driver free to do it again.

Of course, that was over 10 years ago.

Now we have a more responsive police department, taking the hard steps to change their culture and be more protective of bike riders. We also have a more activist bike community, ready and willing to step up to defend our rights.

And we have more lawyers who’ve handled bike cases — or who ride themselves and understand how bikes work and collisions happen.

In the next few days, I’ll be adding a section of links to lawyers who represent cyclists in civil, criminal and/or traffic cases. I know a few personally, and have already received their permission to include them.

But if you’re a lawyer with experience in bike cases who wants to be included — at no charge — or you know someone who fits that description, email me at bikinginla at hotmail dot com.

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KPCC reports on the hearings for the L.A. bike plan; upcoming sessions will be held on the Westside on Wednesday, South L.A. on Thursday and in the Valley on Saturday, with an online session at 11:30 am Wednesday.

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Famed framebuilder Dave Moulton says we need to share the road, too, citing weekend stories about embarrassing bicyclist behavior. Meanwhile, an Ohio lawyer says if you have the right of way, you don’t have to share, period; link courtesy of Baltimore Spokes.

Note: one of the articles Moulton cites discusses bike riders who blow through red lights when pedestrians are in the crosswalk. For anyone still unclear on the concept, people on foot are the only road users more vulnerable than cyclists. And they should always, always, always get the right of way — even when they’re wrong.

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Will finds a source for those hard-to-find cable clamps, as well as a builder for his next fixie. Glendale counts cyclists and pedestrians over the weekend. After a year-long experiment, opinion on Santa Rosa’s bicycle boulevard is evenly split. San Francisco’s Critical Mass reaches legal age. Bicycling takes a ride on the rare Pederson bike. A cyclist is killed in a hit-and-run in Tulare County while walking his bike on the shoulder of the road. Nearly 5,000 cyclists take part in the semi-annual Rosarito to Ensenada bike ride.

Only one segment remains to be completed in an off-road bikeway along I-70 through the Colorado Rockies. Lance joins in on a charity ride in Aspen. On Friday, Maryland will become a lot more bike-friendly. Boston letter writers say enough with the bike bashing. Over 3,000 cyclists converge for Tour de Troit, “just like Amsterdam, with helmets.” A Tulsa-based convenience store chain finds humor in angry drivers trapped behind a slow cyclist; or at least, they think it’s funny.

The Vancouver Sun jumps into the debate over whether cyclists pay for their fair share of the road, finding that bike riders subsidize drivers, not the other way around; readers offer their take, as well. A Vancouver cab driver says late night lightless riders put themselves at risk. One of Toronto’s anti-bike lane mayoral candidates suddenly supports ‘em after all. Despite the high number of biking deaths in London, cycling deaths in the UK dropped 10% in 2009. A woman gets off with probation for intentionally running her biking boyfriend off the road. Turns out London cyclists are honest, after all, but authorities predict a 41% increase in bike thefts for one British city. Two Scotch riders with nearly identical names suffer identical injuries just days apart. Bikes for Bush provides free bikes for children in the Australian Bush; three carbon bikes hand-painted by indigenous artists will be auctioned to raise funds for the program Friday. An Australian report claims cyclists face a 34 times greater risk of being injured than people in cars, based on average distance traveled. Over 6,000 cyclists join in on the India Cyclothon. Friends and fellow riders remember the 17-year old Belize rider killed while training on Thursday. A cyclist is in police custody after a collision kills an elderly pedestrian in Beverly Hills; no, not that Beverly Hills, this one.

Finally, the mystery deepens in the death of the bicycling British MI6 intelligence analyst — who also had high-level clearance with the U.S. National Security Agency — as the FBI joins in the investigation.

Who is at fault in cycling collisions? And who decides?

Let’s go back to that buzzing incident with the garbage truck, in which the driver honked loudly as he passed me with only about a foot’s clearance.

What if I hadn’t managed to maintain control over my bike when the horn startled me? As I noted yesterday, I could have swerved to the left, which could have meant going under his wheels. Or I might have swerved right, where I would have bounced off the parked cars, and possibly been thrown back underneath him.

So who would be at fault when the police filed their report?

Would it be the driver who passed too closely, honking his horn in a threatening manner, or the cyclist who responded by losing control and colliding with the truck?

Or would they decide it was just one of those things, and no one was really to blame?

Or take today’s ride, when I was nearly right-hooked by a truck driver who passed me on the left, then made a right turn directly across my path — while I was still beside him.

Fortunately, I try to anticipate such things. So I grabbed my brakes, dropped behind him, then passed him on his left before he could even finish his turn.

But what if I hadn’t?

What if I’d collided with the truck? Would he be at fault because he turned into my path? Or would it be my fault because I hit him?

The law suggests the driver should be at fault. Yet when a Baltimore cyclist was killed recently in collision just like that, the police determined that he was at fault — evidently they felt it was his responsibility to somehow avoid the truck that cut him off.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Bay Area cyclists are responsible for twice as many bike vs. motor vehicle collisions as drivers are. The same article quotes statistics from the California Highway Patrol, which found cyclists responsible for nearly 60% of all statewide cycling fatalities.

Yet a recent study by a Toronto physician found that cyclists were only responsible for less than 10% of local collisions.

So are Canadian cyclists really that much better than California riders? Or does the problem actually rest with who is analyzing the data — and investigating the accidents?

Do you really have to ask?

The problem isn’t that police hate cyclists, despite common perceptions in the cycling community. It’s that most officers receive little or no training in bike law — and none in the mechanics of cycling or investigation of bike accidents.

That’s not just my opinion. Consider this recent quote from a retired police officer:

In virtually every state, bicycles have most of the same rights and responsibilities as motor vehicle operators. Many officers don’t seem to know, or care, that they do. Training in bicycle traffic law is virtually nonexistent in police academies and crash investigation courses.

Unfortunately, many serious road cyclists know and understand traffic laws regulating bicycles far better than most street cops. Officers who have received quality bike patrol training, such as the IPMBA Police Cyclist™ Course, have been trained in the legal status of bicycles in traffic, proper and legal lane use, and other pertinent provisions.

When investigating a bicycle-vehicle crash, it may be a good idea to involve a trained bike patrol officer to help get a comprehensive perspective as to the bicycle-related factors and conditions involved. Criminal charges may be warranted. An officer knowledgeable in bike law could be a victim cyclist’s best advocate, or a legal opponent, providing the details for fair prosecution.

The simple fact is that the operation and mechanics of bicycles are different from that of motor vehicles. And unless the investigating officer understands that, he or she won’t be able to accurately determine how the collision occurred and who is actually at fault.

Like the infamous downtown Hummer incident, in which the investigating officer concluded that the cyclist hit the SUV, even though the rear of the bike was damaged and the rider was thrown forward — suggesting that he somehow backed into the other vehicle.

Or my own case, when I was struck by a road-raging driver while stopped at a stop sign. Yet the investigating officer chose to accept the driver’s explanation that I had run the stop sign and fallen while making a right hand turn, even though that would have meant falling to the left while leaning into a right turn — something an officer who rides, or who was at least trained in cycling, would have understood was virtually impossible.

Then there’s the fact that in a car/bike collision, the driver is usually unhurt, while the cyclist can be seriously injured or worse. Which means that the police often hear just one side of the story.

Maybe that’s why, in virtually any repot of a collision at a controlled intersection, you’ll hear that the cyclist ran the red light or stop sign — never that the driver ignored the rider’s right of way or ran the signal themselves.

That also could explain why so many drivers involved in hit-from-behind collisions claim that the cyclist darted out in front of them without warning. Never that the driver was distracted or failed to see the rider in the first place.

In fact, many cyclists refer to that type of collision as an SWSS — Single Witness Suicide Swerve — because the frequency of such collisions would suggest that there must be a lot of death-wish cyclists out there.

That’s not to say cyclists are never at fault. I’ve seen enough riders attempt to pull off stupid life-risking stunts — myself included — to know that’s not true.

But the simple fact is, every cyclist is, and will remain, a 2nd class citizen on the streets until all police officers are trained in bike law.

And every bicycle-involved collision is investigated by an officer who understands the physics and realities of cycling.

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Next year’s LA Bike Tour won’t be held in conjunction with the new Stadium to the Sea L.A. Marathon. Efforts are underway to ban cars from the annual bike-banning Festival of Lights instead. Where do I sign up? Streetsblog notes the anger over new bike lanes in Santa Clarita, where some residents feel ambushed, while others fault the design. Bike thefts are up across the country, including Downtown L.A.; some victims are using social media to get them back, Lance included. Even with the current budget cuts, Elk Grove gets state funding for a new bike overpass. Minnesota artists create bike racks that salute their Scandinavian heritage. Lebron James leads local kids and cyclists in a charity bike ride; so when can we expect the first annual Kobe Bryant Bike Classic? Even bike-friendly Portland suffers from the fatal hit-and-run plague. Cyclists roll by in a Chinatown bike lane as a NY politician holds a press conference to claim no one ever uses it. Finally, an 81-year old Welsh paperboy has his bike stolen while one of his customers thanks him with a piano recital.

At the BAC, good things come to those who wait

Eighty percent of success is just showing up.

— Woody Allen

Sometimes, it seems like the other 20% involves just sticking around long enough. At least, that’s how it seemed last night, at the meeting of the city’s Bike Advisory Committee.

Other than the council members themselves, there was only a small turnout — most of whom were there to discuss the many failings of the Bicycle Master Plan. And most of whom left — some in anger and frustration — once the committee turned to more mundane matters.

It wasn’t like I didn’t have anything to say on that subject. But after hearing all the other comments on the subject — and the DOT’s representative swearing she didn’t know anything about it — I didn’t think they really needed my two cents.

Besides, considering the state of the economy these days, that may be my retirement fund.

I was actually more interested in one of the last items on the agenda — a motion from the council that had been submitted in the aftermath of the recent Hummer incident, and eventually signed by six of the 18 council members:

Numerous incidents have been reported relative to bicycle and vehicle collisions and aggressive motorists (sic) attitudes to law-abiding people riding bicycles. Complaints have also been raised regarding the treatment of bicyclists by the Los Angeles Police Department. It is critical that the City respond to these situations and respond appropriately.

I THEREFORE MOVE that the City Council direct the Los Angeles Police Department to report on recent bicycle incidents and conflicts between bicyclists and motorists, as well as efforts to increase police officer training related to bicycling activities and applicable regulations and laws.

It was the last part in particular that interested me. Especially since LAPD had already found itself blameless in the Hummer incident.

When the time came, I spoke in support of the resolution, pointing out that it wasn’t just a problem here in L.A. Cyclists nationwide have complained about police officers who are unfamiliar with the laws regarding bicycling and the rights of cyclists, as well as institutional bias against cyclists — or in favor of motorists, depending on your perspective.

Then I pointed out that Massachusetts recently became the first state to require that police officers receive specialized training in bike law, as part of their new Bike Safety Law. And asked why that curriculum couldn’t be adapted for use in training officers at our own police academy.

Evidently, the committee members agreed. They voted unanimously to endorse the resolution, and to put the MassBike program on the agenda for the next committee meeting in July.

Afterwards, I emailed a link to the MassBike site to 4th Council District representative Larry Hoffman, who forwarded it to the rest of the BAC, as well as the mayor.

So, a small victory. But a victory none the less.

And one worth sticking around for.

 

If you’re missing a bike on the Westside, the police may have found it in a Venice Garage. Alex Thompson joins the chorus condemning Santa Monica’s bronze award from the League of American Bicyclists. Matt joins in on the other chorus, complaining about the failure of the new Bike Master Plan. Stephen Box questions why LADOT’s redundant bike map business stimulates the economies of Portland and Seattle, while Timur examines the maps that currently exist — and there are more than you might think (good to see you back!). Bike Girl wonders where you keep your bike(s). A writer for the Times rides the L.A. River bike path, evidently holding his nose the whole way. Even Iowa cyclists get sharrows; maybe LADOT can ask them what kind of paint they use so we can get some here. Bicycling’s biking lawyer examines whether cycling is a privilege or a right. And finally, just wait until Rush Limbaugh hears about this — Bike Portland outs the new SCOTUS nominee as a closet cyclist.