Beginning a Constructive Dialogue with San Diego's Law Enforcement
A few months ago, a League Certified Instructor with the League of American Bicyclists, Scott Dion, contacted Bike San Diego asking us for permission to use our name as a media organization as part of completing Form MC-500. Form MC-500 is a Media Request to Photograph, Record, or Broadcast. Dion wanted to record his court proceedings as he wanted to fight the improperly cited CVC 21202(a) ticket. Bike San Diego agreed to be listed as the media agency in the request as we felt it was important for cyclists to know how the law was being interpreted in court.
Unfortunately, that request was denied:
The court finds as follows: "According to it's website, Bikesd.org is a community organization with activities including "...street level activism..." It is simply NOT a media organization."
The denial was intriguing in part, because we have been unable to find accurate guidelines on what constitutes a media organization in the City of San Diego. Additionally, we were unaware that "street level activism" would result in us being not being a media organization. Given that all media organizations including newspapers, television stations and online publications have clear biases on issues they report and support - this denial struck us as being a bit odd. This website was begun, in part. to join forces with all the various cyclists that inhabit our region especially considering that news organizations in the region almost always reported on the negative aspects of bicycling and focused too much on bicycling fatalities or injuries.
We were further angered when the Judge presiding over Dion's case found him guilty of violating CVC 21202(a).
At this point, we wrote to District Three Councilmember's office as the citation had occurred in his district. Over two years ago, in 2009 when Andrew Woolley was similarly cited improperly and then had the charges reversed on appeal, Councilmember Gloria's representiative responded back by stating the following, in part:
Councilmember Gloria is aware of this issue and has been in touch with members of the cycling community, the San Diego Police Department, and the City Attorney's office about it. The last we heard was the City Attorney's office was working with SDPD to ensure that officers do not wrongly ticket cyclists. This was at the end of June. Has there been any further incidents of citations since the end of June? If so, I would be happy to follow up.
We were unaware of any additional citations until Scott Dion contacted us. We then contacted Todd Gloria's office again. His office has been very proactive in communicating our concerns to the City Attorney's office and the San Diego Police Department. We will now begin a constructive dialogue. Councilmember Gloria has begun this dialogue by stating:
I have recently been corresponding with the City Attorney’s Office and Assistant Chief Boyd Long about this issue and how we can ensure that cyclists are not being improperly cited. In short, we want to be sure that this section of vehicle code is being properly enforced, everyone involved is on the same page, and that cyclist and police officers are keeping safety above all.
I believe Chief Long has also reached out to you to discuss this, and he has graciously offered to meet with us in person to go over this concern. If you are interested in meeting about this, please let us know and we will coordinate a time that works best.
We will be asking bicycle advocates and instructors well versed with the laws pertaining to cyclists to join this dialogue. And, we will be keeping your abreast of how this will progress.
In the meantime, please contact us if you are cited or have additional concerns you would like raised. It is certainly time that we ensure that all bicyclists are treated fairly, and with courtesy especially by those are called to uphold the law.
Another Wrongful CVC 21202 (a) Citation
Unfortunately, despite assurances from the San Diego Police Department, the officers on the beat are still unaware of what the laws are when it comes to cyclists. Nearly two years ago, Andrew Woolley was improperly citied under CVC 21202(a), i.e. for failing to ride on the right-hand side of the road despite the fact that the exceptions to the code applied to him. Woolley eventually appealed and was successful in getting the charges reversed and dismissed. The entire incident was a tremendous waste of time and money both for the City and for Woolley. We wrote to Todd Gloria as the citation had occurred in his District Three, and asked him to speak to the City Attorney's Office to ensure that the officers were trained on the meaning and intention of the laws pertaining to cyclists. In a response from Council Member Gloria's office in August 2009, this was state in part,
The last we heard was the City Attorney's office was working with SDPD to ensure that officers do not wrongly ticket cyclists. This was at the end of June. Has there been any further incidents of citations since the end of June? If so, I would be happy to follow up.
I hadn't heard of any further citations until this year, when Scott Dion contacted me and mentioned that he wanted to meet to talk about his CVC 21202(a) citation. I met up with Dion on Bike to Work Day, a few days prior to his hearing at the Superior Court in Kearny Mesa, to learn more about this citation. The story below was written by Dion, I have edited it for readability.
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Scott Dion is a retired U.S. Navy Master Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician who is a League Certified Instructor with the League of American Bicyclists. He has 25 years of bicycle commuting experience. As part of his training and certification, he is well versed in the DMV driver's handbook along with the writings of John Forester, John Allen and the League of American Bicyclists.
On March 21, 2011 at 9:34 AM, Dion was riding southbound on Park Boulevard as part of his daily commute from La Mesa to City College in downtown San Diego. Since he began this commute last fall, Dion had had ample opportunity to evaluate the traffic norms and learned to eliminate conflicts by being predictable to other road users.
On this particular day, Dion noticed that the San Diego Police Officers who eventually cited him had the opportunity to observe where he was positioned in the lane - it was in accordance with all the literature mentioned above including CVC 21202. Despite the newly striped sharrows and a partial bike lane on the northern part of Park Boulevard, there are no such markings on the part of Park Blvd. where Dion was riding. Thus, he had to position himself the way someone who operates their bicycle with all the rights and responsibilities of a vehicle would. Dion states that someone who has grown up in the U.S. where the bicycle is seen as a toy meant for kids and relegated to bike paths, this can be a shocking sight. Dion stated that he was much safer operating this way as opposed to the way the SDPD Officer directed, “Bicyclists must travel in far right-hand side of road.” On this morning, Dion was positioned to the left of the doorzone in a substandard width lane riding at 15 mph in a 25 mph zone approaching a heavily used crosswalk when he was passed with around 12 inches of clearance by a SDPD Officer operating a marked police car. As the officer passed Dion, the officer was moving to the right. Dion chose to apply his brakes in order to achieve a safe following distance.
Dion then pointed three times at the rearview mirror where he could see the Officer looking at him. The officer stopped his car with lights on and Dion's intention was to talk about the distance he was allowed while the marked police car passed him. Dion then rode to the the right side of the police car while the Officer in the front passenger seat stepped out of the car and began directing Dion to the sidewalk. The officer then issued this citation:
Dion was unable to further discuss the issue of passing within a safe distance with the officer who issued the ticket, and he eventually spoke with the ticketing officer's supervisor where he learned that his only option to file a complaint against the officer, which Dion chose not to do.
On June 1st, the hearing date, Scott Dion's plan was to to explain why the exceptions (2), (3) and (4) of CVC 21202 applied to the situation where he was cited, thereby giving the judge what he needed to find him not guilty. However, the presiding Judge didn't buy Dion's arguments and found him guilty.
While there are a lot of different riding “styles” when riding the streets, the "door zone" is not a rideable space as it doesn't give the rider enough room to maneuver forward in a safe manner. Because Park Boulevard is also home to hundreds of temporarily parked cars despite the presence of multiple parking lots located along the Boulevard. Thus, it is usually impractical in a far right manner as the SDPD officer had wanted Dion to.
For this reason, many riders, including Dion usually take the lane. If there is enough room Dion would move to the right and continue riding. Whenever there are close calls Dion is diligent about investigating the situation to get an idea of what is going on. Sometimes the driver just doesn’t have the skill to pass slower moving traffic. On occasion, Dion will usually try and engage the passing driver in a dialogue to get a clearer picture as to why they chose to pass so close. In these situations he will state something like, “hey did you see me back there?" Often, these drivers will reveal their real motivation for the way they passed a cyclist by stating that they think bicyclists don’t belong on the road. They don’t like bikes in their way. On March 21st, the driver that Dion chose to converse with happen to be a SDPD officer and the conversation ended when Dion was given a traffic ticket. For his troubles, he was found guilty and ordered to pay a fine of $195.00.
Scott Dion doesn't think he did anything wrong. He will be appealing this decision.
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I thank Scott Dion for taking the time to let me know about this citation and patiently explaining the circumstances leading up to his citation and for taking the time to do a writeup of the encounter. It is much appreciated.
Are Bike Corrals Coming to San Diego?
On the City's Engineering and Capital Projects site, it appears that bike corrals may soon make an appearance in the neighborhood of Hillcrest:
By installing more bicycle parking amenities for the city's growing cycling population, the City is (if at somewhat of a snail's pace), making progress in meeting its objectives described in the Bicycle Master Plan to promote bicycle transportation which was adopted by the City Council last year.
For a better understanding on what a bike corral actually is, the following video from Streetsfilms is very informative:
Uptown Planners Vote to make India Street Safer for all Road Users
I attended the Uptown Planners Meeting earlier tonight to listen to how the Uptown Planners Board would vote on the issue of removing 137 parking spaces on India Street and Kettner Blvd in order to install bike lanes going northbound and southbound.
Over a hundred people were in attendance to offer their support or opposition to the installation of bike lanes.
The Uptown Planners is the city-recognized community-planning advisory board for the neighborhoods of Bankers Hill/Park West, Middletown, Mission Hills, Hillcrest, and University Heights (west of Park Boulevard). Their Board voted against removing the automobile parking spaces because of business opposition against the removal. However, they voted to recommend installation of lighting in the tunnel that goes under the 5 to ensure the safety of cyclists who ride the corridor. Additionally they voted to recommend that traffic calming measures be implemented on India Street and that a feasible alternative for cyclists ought to be made a priority. They voted to have the 35mph speed limit enforced so that sharrows, if painted, could be effective rather than a liability.
All in all, it was a successful vote for cyclists that will ensure that we're one step closer to making India Street (which was under the ruling of the Uptown Planners) safer for all users.
Councilmember Todd Gloria's Bike Ride Through District Three
As promised, on July 25th, District Three's Councilmember joined a group of bicyclists in District Three for a casual bike ride through the District. The ride began in South Park and went through the neighborhoods of North Park, Normal Heights, and University Heights. Members from the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition were also in attendance.
Councilmember Gloria and his representative, Anthony Bernal, were very attentive in listening to the bicyclists concerns and thoughts on what riding through District Three entailed.
Below are a few photos from the day.
All in all, it was a fantastic ride and very inspiring to have a Councilmember ride with us. It is just the first step in what the city can do to acknowledge the many cyclists in San Diego.
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I thought I noticed other riders (including the owner of Thomas Bikes) with cameras on the ride but have not seen them posted online. If you do have them available online, please do join our Flickr group or our Facebook page and we'll be happy to give you credit for your photos.