Anti-bicyclist police are out there

[gogo]

Society needs to be educated about proper driver behavior and this cop is a perfect example.

The Iowa Senate passed a bill that would make it law that motor vehicles must use another lane when passing. Republicans in the House of Representatives killed the bill a few days ago. If you read the current laws carefully its already law that another lane must be used. The bill would have been the best way to educate everybody of that fact.

Make no mistake, this cop represents the beliefs and the mindset of a significant portion of our fellow road users.
[youtube]2mSErs6XBik[/youtube]

 

[Dauntless]

Bicyclists need to be educated about proper rider behavior and this Lycra I encountered a half hour ago is a perfect example.

As I pulled away at a stop sign, Lycra was coming to my right and ran the stop sign at over 20mph so I had to stand on the brakes to keep him from killing himself. Instead of going straight he turned and went to the middle of the street and slowed down. I signaled to turn left and he he went ahead and turned left in front of me and continued to block the road going slowly in the middle. Once there were no cars parked on the opposite side for a stretch I was able to pass to the left. As I pulled back to the lane I could see in my rear view mirror that his right hand had been up and he was pulling it back down t to the bar. I suppose that Lycra bag full of dirt might have suddenly realized what an ass he was and had given himself the finger, but I doubt it. The street he was on went through, the next street he'd moved down to and stayed in front of me did not, so he had to go back to the street he'd been on once he'd finished causing trouble.

The only thing the SDPD officer doesn't understand is that he needs to cuff that guy who insists he's just going to continue to be a problem. Which he's allowed to do. SDPD is probably using this video in training with the officer as a role model for handling a jackass. There is too a minimum speed for bicyclists, if you are an obstruction you are REQUIRED to GET OUT OF THE WAY! That's the true story, no amount of saying "I disagree with that" changes it. Of course that clown is going to find that out when he goes to court to fight that ticket. I'd say that's the only reason the cop wrote it, because the guy wasn't going to accept the warning the cop said he was going to let the guy off with until he refused to take it.

When law enforcement produces a video on dealing with cyclists, you hear almost as buzz words expressions like "Share the road," "Cooperate with others," etc. This clown saying "I disagree with that" to anything he doesn't want to bother with would be perfect for one of those videos. Several years back someone posted a professionally made training video here on ES and griped about the officers and acted like the cyclists getting arrested did nothing wrong. It's always funny to me that people can't figure out that there's no way they'd have these perfect shots of everything without staging it. I'd say cyclists would do well to watch that one video and learn how cops are EXPECTED to react to you and what will get you into real trouble. But too many people will tell themselves they get to say "I disagree with that." What a mess.

 

[gogo]

Wow, I guess there's a good reason I already had you on 'ignore'.

 

[The fingers]

It shows just how ineffective and confusing those sharrows are. :?

 

[ecycler]

There needs to a be a better way to expose/reprimand bad cops who are bad at their job whether it be killing innocent people or wrongfully harassing people that are correctly following the laws.

 

[DAND214]

I thought that lane was the bike lane. The bike lane image was right in the middle of the lane. You would think they would be to the right of the lane.

Dan

 

[Chalo]

Until we can start placing the burden of keeping peace on the roads squarely with the people who bring danger and death to the roads, things are not going to get better.

We cyclists aren't going to get it done. We're right, but there are not enough of us to force the abusive, selfish, callously indifferent, unethical majority to make a real change.

Self-driving cars that not only drive carefully, but use their sensors to automatically record and report illegal driving are the best hope we have at the moment. Then we can work on tightening up what's legal for cars so it matches what's ethical. By the time motorists are faced with yielding to everybody else all the time, maybe they'll finally choose a better way.

 

[markz]

Power tripping cops huh, shove a donut in their face until he see's your helmet cam.

 

[The fingers]

Some bicycle patrol officers I know seem nicer than hoop cops if they know you and that you also ride a bicycle. Most of them probably wish they had motors. My neighbor is a motorcycle cop and he's really nice. Of course if he were to pull you over and you didn't know him he would do his job and give you a ticket whether or not you think you deserve it. :|
The other night I saw two city hoopers parked out of the way and off to the side of the main drag, specifically to jack up cyclists as they crossed the freeway and came to the bottom of the hill. They pulled over a guy by standing on the side next to a driveway then shining a flashlight at him and telling him to stop. The guy had a light on his bike and there didn't seem to be any reason to stop him. Maybe they were waiting just for him because they were looking for him. If it was me coming down that hill at full speed I would have blown right by their non-roadblock and likely got shot in the back. One would think they would have better things to do, but not knowing the full story who can tell why they were acting so weird. They hassled the guy then let him go, still it seemed strange to me. :?

 

[nicobie]

, but use their sensors to automatically record and report illegal driving are the best hope we have at the moment.

Until now I hadn't thought about that aspect of self driving cars. As much as it seems a good thing, I'm not sure I like it. However it will probably never happen. Look at how $30 cell phone blockers still aren't required on new cars.

 

[1JohnFoster]

if you are an obstruction you are REQUIRED to GET OUT OF THE WAY!

Childhood:
View attachment 1

Gogo; I realize it's annoying to always be on the defensive, but do you have room on your bike for some of these?
A picture and a smile is worth a thousand arguments with cops (well, if you're lucky enough to be white, anyway):

A funny story; once I was stopped at a red in the pokey 50kph burbs, waiting on the left side of the lane to turn left. I can out accelerate what any car _normally_ does. Eventually a car toodles up behind me. I look back, smile, and hold out my arm pointing left. The guy's even older than me, a classic fedora in a K-car. He scowls and huffs, then makes his point; he pulls out _to_the_left, _across_the_double_yellow_line_!! When the light turns red, he turns _RIGHT_ around me, as hard as he could mash his little pedal. Hillarious! Point MADE grampaw! Grampaw fast car! Grampaw go left side! Grampaw LAW! He could have saved time by just turning right inside of me.

 

[markz]

Of course if he were to pull you over and you didn't know him he would do his job and give you a ticket

Thats just it, that group of people are the biggest gang in the world. They look out for themselves, they cover-up and plant evidence just to clear cases. Dont think its just them, its the judges, prosecutors and everyone else in the lineup. Dont be so naive to think they dont, or have never done it. Those are the most corrupt people around, they go into that line of work knowing full well they can get away with murder, and they do!

 

[Chalo]

, but use their sensors to automatically record and report illegal driving are the best hope we have at the moment.

Until now I hadn't thought about that aspect of self driving cars. As much as it seems a good thing, I'm not sure I like it. However it will probably never happen. Look at how $30 cell phone blockers still aren't required on new cars.

Cell blockers don't offer a mountain of effortless revenue to the authorities. Tattletale cars do. They'll probably make a handsome profit for whoever implements the technical solution, too.

 

[markz]

Just look at GPS in the phones.
Government is exploiting that tid bit of info.

 

[Alan B]

, but use their sensors to automatically record and report illegal driving are the best hope we have at the moment.

Until now I hadn't thought about that aspect of self driving cars. As much as it seems a good thing, I'm not sure I like it. However it will probably never happen. Look at how $30 cell phone blockers still aren't required on new cars.

Radio signal jammers are illegal, at least in most countries including the US. Radio transmissions are the domain of the FCC and things like radio jamming can have major unintended consequences. There's no allowance for legal jamming by business or police.

 

[The fingers]

A police officer in Long Beach, California, recently told a group of BMX riders that they could not ride their bikes in a public park, which turned out not to be true (video below).
In the video, the officer told the bikers, “If you’re doing tricks up here I don’t care, but once you get off of this, you can’t ride your bikes down here. You can pass that word along. That will keep people from complaining to me and I won’t come talk to you.”
However, one of the riders, a young man named Sean and who filmed the officer, asked if the law had been changed. The officer informed him that it had been the law for "quite awhile," notes RawStory.com.
“16.16.502 is the civic sectional code that states you can ride your bicycles around out here,” Sean told the cop. “So I don’t know what law you are referring to.”
“OK, you want to go that way?” the officer replied. “We can go that way.”
“You want to pull out your civic code and you want to look up the code?” Sean added. “16.16.502 states that you can ride your bicycle out here.”
The officer asked Sean exactly where he is referring to, and Sean told him the Rainbow Harbor Esplanade, which was the entire area that the cop was referring to.
The officer then sarcastically asked: “So did you get your law degree on Facebook or where did you actually obtain that?”
Sean responded:
So, do I have to have a law degree to be an informed citizen? Is that what you’re saying? It's wrong to be informed? It's wrong to know the law? ... I got it by knowing my rights. Is it wrong to know your rights as a citizen?
Because last time I checked, when officers come and try to invalidate your rights by telling you bulls--- laws and enforcing their opinions, that’s not what you are supposed to do. You're supposed to support the law.
And when the law says that you can ride your bikes out here, you have no business coming up and harassing anyone telling them they shouldn't ride their bikes.
After the cop mocked the harassment claim, Sean added: "When you tell someone to not ride their bike when they're legally able to ride their bike, yes, that is harassment. Your opinion is irrelevant. The law states we can ride our bikes. Now do you have anything else to say or are you going to leave us alone?”
The officer then walked away.
According to The Free Thought Project, Sean was right about the municipal code, but was slightly off on his reference.
The code is actually section 16.08.502: "Bicycle riding on the Rainbow Harbor Esplanade is prohibited in excess of three (3) miles per hour between the hours of ten o'clock (10:00) a.m. and ten o'clock (10:00) p.m., except City employees in the performance of their duties."

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/bike-rider-schools-cop-law-cop-walks-away-video

 

[Chalo]

Where I live, Sean would have walked away with a citation for public intoxication (the default bogus charge Austin police like to hand out). Maybe "disobeying a lawful order" too, but that would be easier to dispute.

I think we'd get different and better policing if they had to be degreed in either law or social work. I mean, we don't pay teachers even as well as we do cops, and they have to tolerate just as much hassle, but they must be degreed.

However we do it, we need a systemic approach that encourages cops to think before they harm or alienate the people they are supposed to work for.

 

[methods]

I hate that I had to hear shakiness in the voice of gogo while he tried to make his argument. :| I know how it feels to stand up to cops, judges, lawyers, DA's, bullies, inspectors, and uptight folks of all sorts.

In the opening of the video it looked to me like the markings indicated "Bike may take full lane". We have markings like this all over the bay area - especially in places where a bicyclist could get pinched.

As an avid driver of cars... I really like to go fast and hate getting stuck behind bicycles... but... this is a reality we need to address in an intelligent way.

Seems to me the cop (and I only made it through the first few minutes) was trying to "aid the flow of traffic" - trouble is that he framed it as a safety argument. Perhaps things would have gone better if the cop had simply said -

"Hey - people want to go fast through here. Do you think you can make that ebike go any faster while it is taking a full lane??"

Now if THAT were how the interaction went... it would warm the heart.

Thanks for sharing your experience with the ebike police. Good job trying to stand your ground in the face of authority.

-methods

 

[gogo]

I can see where my original post could make it look like that's me in the YT video, but its not, and he's not on an ebike. Looks like a nice longtail that would be a great candidate for conversion, though.

As an avid driver of cars... I really like to go fast and hate getting stuck behind bicycles... but... this is a reality we need to address in an intelligent way.

I agree that infrastructure design simply hasn't included bicycle accommodation sufficiently. In less urban areas there could be more 'passing lane' in the designs.

Urban accommodation, however, could benefit primarily from conditioning the expectations and behavior of fellow road users. I used to believe getting 'stuck' behind bicycles was more of a negative thing than I do now. My impression changed when I was employed as a city bus driver. Passing bicycles was simply not an option much of the time, and I observed that following at bicycle speed didn't affect the schedule significantly. I also observed that motorists who treated the streets like a race/racetrack simply ended up sitting at stoplights for longer and they frequently hindered the smooth flow of traffic when I rolled up behind them and had to slow down while I waited for them to accelerate from a stop.

I also confirmed that a relaxed driving style in my Buick resulted in a more fluid/smooth forward progress with less braking and stopping. That, combined with a new attitude that perceived bicycles simply as fellow road users and not a significant hindrance, makes urban driving a much more pleasant experience. It was all in my head. I took a 'long' view of traffic patterns and recognized that bicycles had a legal right to use a lane and I should simply anticipate that I may encounter them at any time. I got my mind right.

Driving the city bus allowed me to observe traffic patterns and driver behavior from a uncommon perspective. I now believe the biggest 'problem' is driver behavior and the most significant gains to be made are from better training/education and conditioning drivers' expectations, AKA 'getting their minds right'.

However we do it, we need a systemic approach that encourages cops to think before they harm or alienate the people they are supposed to work for.

Absolutely! Our current 'effective system' incentivizes LE to violate their oath to uphold the Constitution. There is little to no penalty for violating citizens' rights, and, in fact, they advance their careers by doing so. The're human, and we're fools to expect anything else.

 

[oatnet]

We got a stretch of road with those markings and signs installed, I'd like to understand it better, and have a paper copy of the legal definition I could point if I get pulled over. I didn't find any legal specifics on what this signage means in California, does anyone have any links?

On one hand, R4-11 says that the bicycle has the legal right to take the lane, but on the other hand it says "in areas where the lane is not wide enough." While i see the cyclists safety concerns about merging in and out of traffic and I disagree with the cop's interpretation, I can see how he could point to those areas without parked cars and say "the lane _IS_ wide enough there."

 

[nutnspecial]

Although that is maybe the main crux oatnet, I can't really help. Why so much grey?

Anyway, this one might make a bike smile. 'Anti bike' cop gets shutdown
[youtube]Yj6YXF5qh7w[/youtube]
IDT it solves the real issue though, unfortunately.

 

[The fingers]

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/police-710052-bicycle-garcia.htmlIn this case, a pit maneuver to a bicycle might be justified. Usually reaching for your waistband will get you shot.

A Santa Ana man was arrested after he was suspected of stealing from a Fountain Valley electronics store and then trying to flee from police on bicycle, authorities said.
Fountain Valley police went to a Fry’s Electronics, 10800 Kalama River Ave., at 9:20 a.m. on March 20, where they were told a that thief had just fled on a bicycle, according to a police statement.
The officers found the suspected thief, identified as Roberto Garcia, 25, riding the bicycle and appearing to be trying to either hide or remove something from his waist, the statement said. When Garcia refused to pull over, the officers bumped the rear tire of his bike with the front bumper of their patrol car, causing him fall to the ground and suffer minor injuries.
Garcia was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting, receiving stolen property, resisting arrest, false impersonation and two drug-related warrants and is being held in Orange County jail.
It was not clear Monday what was stolen from the store. Calls and emails to the police department were not immediately returned.

 

[gogo]

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/police-710052-bicycle-garcia.htmlIn this case, a pit maneuver to a bicycle might be justified. Usually reaching for your waistband will get you shot.

A Santa Ana man was arrested after he was suspected of stealing from a Fountain Valley electronics store and then trying to flee from police on bicycle, authorities said.
Fountain Valley police went to a Fry’s Electronics, 10800 Kalama River Ave., at 9:20 a.m. on March 20, where they were told a that thief had just fled on a bicycle, according to a police statement.
The officers found the suspected thief, identified as Roberto Garcia, 25, riding the bicycle and appearing to be trying to either hide or remove something from his waist, the statement said. When Garcia refused to pull over, the officers bumped the rear tire of his bike with the front bumper of their patrol car, causing him fall to the ground and suffer minor injuries.
Garcia was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting, receiving stolen property, resisting arrest, false impersonation and two drug-related warrants and is being held in Orange County jail.
It was not clear Monday what was stolen from the store. Calls and emails to the police department were not immediately returned.

I'd love to see the video. I'd also like to know if the department had a policy concerning using cruisers to bump bicycles. Who'd volunteer for that training exercise? Do they use cruisers to physically bump on-foot runners?

I read a police report from my small city that claimed a fleeing bicyclist rammed a police car. More likely the police forced their cruiser into his path.

Reaching for the waistband is a claim sometimes used falsely by police. Again, I'd want to see video.

Bottom line is that a shoplifting suspect was subjected to a violent takedown with a deadly weapon. Seems in violation of 'the punishment fitting the crime' concept and more of a 'contempt of cop' vindictive action of an irrationally motivated cop.

 

[The fingers]

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crim...fter-being-doored-by-police-car-a3220591.html :x What a dome-arsed cluck of a cop.
Police are investigating whether an injured cyclist was knocked down by the opening door of a police car.
The cyclist was rushed to hospital after crashing with a stationary police car on Tuesday.
It is believed he crashed with one of the squad car's doors.
Traffic officers are investigating whether it happened as the door was being opened by someone in the car.
Cyclists refer to such incidents as being "doored".
Police said the man's injuries were not life-threatening following the crash in Bromley Road, Bellingham, at about 1.15pm.

 

[wineboyrider]

Where I live, Sean would have walked away with a citation for public intoxication (the default bogus charge Austin police like to hand out). Maybe "disobeying a lawful order" too, but that would be easier to dispute.

I think we'd get different and better policing if they had to be degreed in either law or social work. I mean, we don't pay teachers even as well as we do cops, and they have to tolerate just as much hassle, but they must be degreed.

However we do it, we need a systemic approach that encourages cops to think before they harm or alienate the people they are supposed to work for.

In New Mexico they'd probably shoot you.