Tag Archive for crosswalk riding

The bike-sized loophole in US crosswalk laws, MLK Blvd Complete Streets meeting, and Black Friday bike deals

November 21, 2023 / / One comment

Can’t you just feel the excitement?

We’re now just four days from the official kickoff of the Ninth Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive — and we’ve already got our first donations before the campaign even starts!

So let’s give a special thanks to Jim L and David R for their generous donations to help keep all the best bike news coming your way every day. 

Be sure to come back here on Friday when the fund drive starts for real, because this is your chance to support SoCal’s bike source for bike news and advocacy.

And help keep the corgi in new shoes. 

So let’s get to it before this migraine makes my head explode all over the inside of your screen. 

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The Des Moines Register considers what they call the glaring loophole posed by American crosswalk laws.

According to the paper, most crosswalk laws protect pedestrians, but do nothing to protect people riding bicycles, as well as wheelchairs, scooters or any other personal conveyance.

However, California is the exception, sort of.

The state amended its crosswalk law a few years ago to make it clear that bicyclists are allowed to ride along crosswalks — but neglected to clarify whether “along” means in or next to.

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Despite being under indictment for embezzlement, CD9 Councilmember Curren Price, Jr. continues to work towards a bike and pedestrian friendly makeover of Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd, with a public meeting next Tuesday.

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They had me at donuts.

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‘Tis the season.

Bicycling offers a list of all the best Black Friday bike deals, along with the best sales on ebikes. As usual, you can read the first story on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you, but the ebike story doesn’t seem to be available anywhere else.

Momentum offers Black Friday bike deals, heavy on ebikes.

And Road.cc provides a high-end bicycling holiday gift guide for when money is no object.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. After a Houston bike rider was critically injured by a hit-and-run driver, a local TV station can’t resist framing the headline to blame the victim, while making it sound like he could fly like Superman.

No bias here, either, as a New York Councilmember forgets that some of her constituents are bike riders, and that people who ride bicycles vote, too.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

The San Clemente City Council voted unanimously to consider an ordinance banning people from riding bicycles on the city golf course, after ebike riders damaged some of the greens and landscaping.

There’s a special place in hell for the hit-and-run New York delivery rider who took off after blowing through a red light on his ebike and crashing into a toddler being pushed on a stroller in the crosswalk.

A multitasking Florida man faces charges for allegedly shooting his shot while riding his bike, after a woman reported seeing him pleasuring himself while pedaling during a 5 am bike ride.

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Local 

LAist considers the negative effect that parking minimums have on the climate by encouraging people to drive everywhere.

The LA Fire Department airlifted a 31-year old man from Tujunga’s remote Haines Canyon, after he suffered severe injuries while mountain biking in the area.

 

State

Ebikes are currently allowed on all University of California campuses, but banned at California State University schools, including CSU Los Angeles, CSU Northridge and CSU Long Beach, as well as both Cal Poly campuses.

The San Diego Association of Governments introduced a new interactive map allowing you to indicate areas in need of pedestrian or bicycle safety improvements, which will be considered in the upcoming county Active Transportation Plan.

A Santa Cruz high school student won a full-ride scholarship to any college he wants for creating a nonprofit to refurbish and distribute bicycles, giving away 70 bikes to people in need so far.

A San Francisco letter writer takes issue with a recent news story saying the Valencia Street centerline protected bike lane is killing local businesses, arguing that it is slowing traffic down and improving safety for bike riders and pedestrians.

 

National

The founder of traffic safety nonprofit It Could Be Me writes about her own bicycling collision and the windshield bias that followed, from the driver who hit her to the cops that investigated, and the media that reported the story without ever getting her side.

REI staffers have filed 80 labor complaints across the US alleging the co-op has failed to negotiate in good faith with their union; however, the only unionized locations on the Left Coast appear to be in Berkeley and Bellingham, Washington.

A Fort Lauderdale, Florida law firm considers liability regarding bikeshare collisions — but bizarrely illustrates the story with a crashed motorcycle.

Men’s Journal says these are not your dad’s panniers. Which is definitely true in my case, since my dad didn’t have any. 

Speaking of windshield bias, police in Louisville, Kentucky report a man riding a bicycle was killed in an apparent SWSS — Single Witness Suicide Swerve — after allegedly swerving in front of an oncoming driver for no apparent reason. Yes, it’s possible the victim really did swerve in front of the car. But it’s more likely the driver drifted to the right and was startled to suddenly see a bike rider directly in front of them, and assumed the rider swerved, with no witnesses to contradict it.

A Boston TV station examines the dangers bike riders face from car doors and the careless people who fling them open without looking.

Speaking of Boston, Streetsblog explores a new parking and plastic car-tickler bendie post protected bike lane through the Back Bay Area.

Build it and they will come. After the city invested heavily in new bike lanes, The Daily News reports New Yorkers are riding bicycles at record levels for the second year in a row. The same can’t be said for Los Angeles, which hasn’t. Read it on Yahoo to get past the paper’s paywall. 

 

International

EF Pro Cycling explains how to lube your chain like a pro. That’s easy — just have someone else do it, just like they do. 

The Havana Times photo of the day depicts a fisherman riding his bicycle along the shore.

A new survey shows London bike riders are changing their riding habits in response to rising rates of violent bikejackings, leaving them overwhelmed with fear.

Students at Dublin, Ireland’s Trinity College are walking and biking less than they did before the pandemic, with bicycling rates down a whopping 59%. But at least they’re using public transport rather than driving.

Dutch e-bikemaker VanMoof could be back in business soon, as McLaren Applied-backed new owner Lavoie is working to simplify service and resume retail sales after buying the company out of bankruptcy.

New guided bicycle tours are revolutionizing cultural tourism in Istanbul.

Queensland state officials sought to reassure bike riders that a “draconian” new law against reckless riding won’t criminalize everyday riding activities, like drinking from a water bottle.

 

Competitive Cycling

Peter Sagan might be rethinking his decision to focus on mountain biking after eating dirt in a recent race.

Pez Cycling News looks back on the careers of Chris Froome and Sir Bradley Wiggins, calling them two of Britain’s greatest ever cyclists. Although fans of Beryl Burton might beg to differ.

 

Finally…

Honda’s new throttle-controlled scooter is also the box it comes in. Your next Italian gravel bike could be a woodie.

And this is what a Chilean bike park looks like.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Attorney Solves the Great Mystery of the “No Biking In Crosswalk” Signs

February 18, 2016 / / 7 comments
Bikes Have Rights™
By James L. Pocrass, Esq.
Pocrass & De Los Reyes LLP

USC Crosswalk Sign

Cyclists biking around the University of Southern California may once again be stopped and cited for riding their bikes in a crosswalk.

The officer stopping them, whether they are from the Los Angeles Police Department or USC security, when asked why they are writing a ticket might reference the sign that reads “Walk Bikes In Crosswalk” as the reason for citing the cyclist. What the officer apparently doesn’t know is that there is no such law, regardless of what the signs says.

At the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition Open House a couple of months ago, I met a graduate student who attends USC and who is a cyclist. He told me about this sign at Jefferson and Royal, and a few others like it, near the USC campus. He wanted to know if these signs were accurate and enforceable. A few days later he took and emailed me the accompanying photo.

I knew this wasn’t a question of law as bicycles can be ridden – legally – through crosswalks. So where and how and why was this sign on the street?

We contacted Sgt. Flynn of the LAPD, Central Traffic Division, who said, “I do not know of any California Vehicle Code section that states you can’t ride your bike in a crosswalk.  The only section that someone could be cited for, if it is an official sign, would be CVC 21461(a)vc ‘Official Traffic Sign or Signal-failure of Driver to Obey Regulatory Provisions.’”

So where did this sign come from and why is it still there? What we found out after many, many telephone calls and emails, is that the sign is reflective of old laws that empowered officers to cite bicyclists for not walking their bikes in a crosswalk. But that law was taken off the books in 2006.

This is not a new issue, particularly in the USC neighborhood. In September 2009, the Daily Trojan reported that a task force of LAPD officers and USC security was being put together to regulate safety. This would include sting operations set up at intersections to cite cyclists riding their bikes in crosswalks. Citations could cost up to $250.

On Jan. 12, 2010, four months later, Streetsblog wrote a more extensive article on this same topic called “If You Want to Know Bicycle Law, Don’t Ask the California Highway Patrol, Part 2.” Streetsblog reported that, as we know, there was no law that stated that cyclists had to dismount and walk their bikes in crosswalks. Ten years later, since the 2006 change in the law, we’re still discussing these same issues.

Los Angeles Department of Transportation has jurisdiction over most traffic devices – signs and signals – in the City of Los Angeles. DOT employees confirmed that this sign is a DOT sign and it was installed by DOT.

LADOT’s Bicycle Coordinator Michelle Mowrey was one of the people involved in the 2006 modifications of the California Vehicle Code that resulted in the removal of the law that bicycles had to be walked through crosswalks.

When we asked Mowrey about this sign, she told me that whether or not it is reflecting the pre-2006 law, it is a non-standard sign.  Mowrey told us that though the sign doesn’t appear in any Caltrans’ manuals, a black-and-yellow sign, as it is, indicates that it’s a warning sign, not a regulatory sign, which is black-and-white. Citations can be issued only on regulatory black-and-white signs. That’s why speed limit signs are black-and-white and “Share the Road” signs are black-and-yellow.

An LAPD representative said the LAPD was not involved in the signs. We were told their opinion of the sign is that it is a safety recommendation. Our question, then, would be, do LAPD officers know that or are they still ticketing cyclists for disobeying the sign? We don’t have an answer to that question.

We talked to three different people at LADOT about why these signs were up. In essence, they all said that after the law was changed, in 2006, steps were taken to remove signs like these on all city streets. These signs were overlooked, apparently, and it was just an oversight.

Mehrdad Moshskar, LADOT’s central district engineer, was our next stop. We were referred to him to find out how to get the signs removed. Moshskar assured me that all of these signs in that area of town would be removed soon.

People have asked me if I thought the signs originated with USC. I have no idea, and no one knew or was willing to tell me.

The official answer came from Tim Fremaux in the LADOT Bicycle Coordination Department who said, “Anyone can submit any traffic-related request via myladot.lacity.org and it will be reviewed. If DOT approves the request, it will be implemented on our streets.”

There are Traffic Division and Bicycle Liason meetings held on a quarterly basis, which are open to the public. These meetings include representatives from LADOT, USC, the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office and other public groups. For more information about these meetings, contact Lt. Chris Ramirez at 213-486-6000.

Meanwhile, if anybody goes past Jefferson and Royal, would you email me at info@pocrass.com and let me know if the sign is still up?

 

Jim Pocrass, Pocrass & De Los Reyes LLP

Jim Pocrass, Pocrass & De Los Reyes LLP

For more than 25 years, Jim Pocrass has represented people who were seriously injured, or families who lost a loved one in a wrongful death, due to the carelessness or negligence of another. Jim is repeatedly named to Best Lawyers of America and to Southern California Super Lawyers for the outstanding results he consistently achieves for his clients. Having represented hundreds of cyclists during his career, and Jim’s own interest in cycling, have resulted in him becoming a bicycle advocate. He is a board member of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. For a free, no-obligation consultation, contact Jim Pocrass at 310.550.9050 or at info@pocrass.com.

Category: Bikes & the Law, Bikes Have Rights, Guest Columns / Tags: , , , , , , ,

62-year old crosswalk rider killed in Santa Ana left cross collision

May 5, 2015 / / 3 comments

Bad news from Santa Ana.

I learned late last night from a source in Orange County that a bike rider was killed in a left cross while riding in a crosswalk Monday evening.

The victim, identified by the Orange County Coroner as 62-year old Robert Horton, was riding in a crosswalk along 17th Street when he hit by a car turning left onto the northbound I-5 Freeway onramp around 5:20 pm.

He was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he was pronounced dead at 6:06 pm.

Presumably, Horton was riding on the sidewalk when he rode into the crosswalk; no word on which side of the street he was on or which direction he was riding.

Riding on the sidewalk is banned in the downtown area in Santa Ana; whether that would apply along the freeway is unclear. Depending on how the local police apply the confusing laws on riding in a crosswalk, he could be blamed for the collision if he was riding against traffic.

However, looking at Google Earth, it’s unclear how the driver could have made a legal left turn onto either onramp, since they appear to be designed for right turns only, with left turns blocked by the median.

And while the Orange County Register identifies the make and model of the car, there’s no word on the driver. Or even if the car had one.

This is the 17th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second in Orange County. That compares with 38 and eight, respectively, this time last year.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Robert Horton and his family. 

Thanks to James Johnson of Johnson Attorneys Group for the heads-up.

Category: Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , ,

How Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

April 28, 2015 / / 32 comments

Jim Pocrass, Pocrass & De Los Reyes LLP

Jim Pocrass, Pocrass & De Los Reyes LLP

Bikes Have Rights™
By James L. Pocrass, Esq.
Pocrass & De Los Reyes LLP 
 
Have you ever been asked a question in which the answer seems so obvious that it seems like a trick question? This happened to me recently. A reporter asked me if it were true that, as he was told by a police officer, that you could be ticketed for riding your bike the wrong way in a crosswalk.

The question flabbergasted me. Since when are crosswalks one-directional? Pedestrians walk in crosswalks in both directions. That’s why there are buttons and/or signals on both sides of the street.

Requiring cyclists to only travel with the flow of traffic would lead to absurd results. You would have to cross two streets to go across the street.

The legislature passed Vehicle Code 21650: A bicycle operated on a roadway or a shoulder of a highway, shall be operated in the same direction as vehicles are required to be driven upon the roadway.

Subsection(g) states: This section does not prohibit the operation of bicycles on any shoulder of a highway, on any sidewalk, on any bicycle path within a highway, or along any crosswalk or bicycle path crossing, where the operation is not otherwise prohibited by this code or local ordinance.

The legislative comments to VC 21650.1 say: That had the Legislature wished to include the term “sidewalk” or “crosswalk” it would have done so.

All of this naturally leads me to opine that for the bicyclist to be in violation of VC 21650.1 (riding the wrong way in traffic), the cyclist would have to be riding in the opposite direction of traffic AND be either a.) on the shoulder of a highway or b.) on a roadway. (Again, assuming there is no local ordinance against riding in a crosswalk.)

Shortly thereafter, I received an email from a woman asking for my help. She was hit by a car while riding her bike across the street in a marked crosswalk. The police claimed the accident was her fault.

The law says it is legal for you to go from the sidewalk – against traffic – and ride into the crosswalk to the other sidewalk.

However, if there is a local ordinance that prohibits riding on the sidewalk, which many cities do, especially in commercial areas, AND the local ordinance specifically states that you may not ride through a crosswalk, then riding in the crosswalk and/or the sidewalk would be illegal. If the local ordinance does not state that you cannot ride on the sidewalk or in the crosswalk, then it is legal.

Vehicle Code 275 defines a crosswalk and does not limit it to pedestrians. Subsection(b) expands crosswalks to include: Any portion of a roadway distinctly indicated for pedestrians crossing by lines or other markings on the surface.

Legally riding on the sidewalk – slowly – and looking before entering a crosswalk for other vehicles, especially those making a right or left turn, and looking for pedestrians, should be legal (again, assuming there is no local ordinance restricting you from riding through a crosswalk).

There is even case law that specifically addresses the issue of riding a bicycle on a sidewalk against traffic. In Spriesterbach v. Holland (Case B-240348) the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Four, ruled on April 9, 2013 that: . . .because VC 21650.1 requires a bicycle to travel in the same direction as vehicular traffic only when ridden on “a roadway” or the “shoulder of a highway,” it does not by its plain language require bicycles to travel with the flow of traffic when ridden on the sidewalk.

The court continued: Pursuant to Section 21200, (a) persons riding a bicycle. . .upon a highway has all the rights and is subject to all the provisions applicable to the driver of a vehicle by this division. . .except those provisions which by their very nature can have no application. . .because 21650.1 governs the direction bicycle travel on a roadway or shoulder. . .it does not by its plain language require bicycles to travel with the flow of traffic when ridden on a “Sidewalk.”

Riding fast through a crosswalk and not stopping to look is very dangerous. A cyclist that rides into a crosswalk at 10+ mph does not give the driver of a vehicle that is turning left or right time to see the cyclist.

I suspect that is why the City of Los Angeles passed L.A. Muni Code 56.15(1): No person shall ride, operate or use a bicycle . . .on a sidewalk, bikeway or boardwalk in a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property. This ordinance gives the police a lot of leeway to determine what is “willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property.”

I believe that these topics are good areas for discussion, but legally, I would (and will) argue that, if no local ordinance disallows it, then it is legal to ride in a crosswalk in either direction if it is done safely.

By the way, the answer to the question in the title of this post is that the chicken crossed the road on a bicycle in a crosswalk after stopping and ascertaining that it was safe to ride slowly across the road. But you knew that.

For more than 25 years, Jim Pocrass has represented people who were seriously injured, or families who lost a loved one in a wrongful death, due to the carelessness or negligence of another. Jim is repeatedly named to Best Lawyers of America and to Southern California Super Lawyers for the outstanding results he consistently achieves for his clients. Having represented hundreds of cyclists during his career, and Jim’s own interest in cycling, have resulted in him becoming a bicycle advocate. He is a board member of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. For a free, no-obligation consultation, contact Jim Pocrass at 310.550.9050 or at info@pocrass.com.

*Sponsored post

Category: Bikes & the Law, Bikes Have Rights, Guest Columns / Tags: , , , , , ,
 
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