Should Boise Police crack down on Scoff-law bikers?

My reaction was a bit of both. Actually has driven a bit more reflection. While I would like to see TVCA recognized as this unifying effort, we need to be realistic about what is required to be this. In our Safe Cycling Summit thinking, we identified five key areas needing focus - Awareness, Legal, Education, Infrastructure, and Enforcement. Since we put this together, we've seen the Mayor's response team emerge, Armstrong PSA, the rally on Monday, and the panel discussion next Thursday. Each of these is approaching parts of the five focus areas. Our tact right now is to support each of the other efforts including the Mayor's response team, then see what the actions and on-going efforts will be, and where TvCA can provide the most value. While we can see the bigger picture needed, we have to be realistic about what we can deliver from a small, volunteer effort.

Is anyone at TVCA offended or inspired by the piece in Boise Weekly? “Even after cars killed three cyclists in May and June, police and media have dominated the response rather than a strong, local bike advocacy group,” said Nathaniel Hoffman on page 10 of the July 1-7 issue of BW.

We seem to be a well positioned target of Hoffman’s criticism. He mentions talk of forming a broader bike coalition. Anyone hear anything about that?

I'm too much a newcomer to be offended, I am inspired. I'm trying to grasp on to the implementation part of the ACHD's bike plan. I've biked in a lot of cities, and the disjointedness of Boise's bikeways 'system' has me convinced that the designer/builders are not users. Seattle, Portland, Eugene, Corvallis, New York, Ithaca, Berkeley, Palo Alto, Davis, Amsterdam, all value bikeways continuity.

Its great that others are focused on education and enforcement, I want to work on engineering.

I hear that the ACHD BAC is working on re-striping arterials for wider shoulders, this is good and can be completed within ten years at almost no cost.

We need a citizens group to coordinate a spot improvement program, identifying and fixing the countless physical obstacles to safe, efficient and pleasant cycling. Part of that group's work is going to have to deal with the interjurisdictional issue, at least four in Boise City alone. City, ACHD, ITD, Parks and Rec.

Also in the Weekly, in the letters to the editor, a cyclist was cited for running a closure barricade, --flooding on the Greenbelt under Broadway-- after the flood danger had past. I've seen other examples of excessive, irrationally long closures on the Greenbelt. Whoever is in charge of those closures seems to think (like many Statesman letter writers) that we're only riding for pleasure and can just go ride somewhere else for 40 days, (in the case of Warm Springs Golf Course and Red Bridge to Park Center Bridge).

OK, I sincerely hope I'm not just venting and won't be lulled momentarily in to thinking that my job is done! help?

As usual this time of year, they've been giving us a good thrashing in the Idaho Statesman's Letters to the Editor, even more so this year due to all the hype caused by the recent cycling tragedies. We need to get over there and defend ourselves. Here's my letter:

Recent letters to the Statesman have questioned why cyclists do not always remain in the bike lane. Here are some reasons. Bike lanes:

• Violate intersection destination positioning rules by channeling straight-through cyclists to the right of right-turning vehicles.

• Position cyclists where cross-traffic collisions are more likely, due to diminished sightlines and reduced cyclist conspicuity. Motorists don’t always look that far to the left.

• Place cyclists in the door zone of parked vehicles.

• Are frequently quite narrow, resulting in closer passes by overtaking motorists.

• Accumulate debris that can degrade braking performance, puncture tires, and cause a potentially catastrophic loss of control.

• Create an illusion of safety, resulting in inattention blindness for both motorists and cyclists.

• Reinforce motorists’ prejudices that cyclists do not belong on the road and provide vindication for the harassment of cyclists who are traveling on the roadway in a safe and lawful manner.

Cyclists have the same rights and the same responsibilities as motorists. I’m sorry if passing me carefully will cost you a 5 second delay in arriving at the next red light.

Regarding bicycle registration to help fund road maintenance: damage to roads is directly proportional to vehicle weight. I will gladly pay $1 per pound every year for my bicycle. Will you do the same for your vehicle of choice?

I strongly agree with Chief Masterson's plan to step up enforcement for cyclists. The community will get a bigger bang for the buck with enforcement vs. building more infrastructure. As a poster from Japan stated over on the Bike Forums "Advocacy and Safety" forum, "Bike lanes themselves aren't helpful at all until drivers learn to respect the bikes inside them".

Here is an email message I received from Mike Masterson on this topic:

"Dana, Thank you for sharing your views on the recent publicity on the three fatalities involving cyclists in our community and the need for greater roadway safety. I appreciate hearing both positive and constructive feedback on the department's operating and enforcement procedures. Officers have just one motive in mind when enforcing bike, traffic, or any law, and that motive is public safety.

Personally, I have been a bicycle "enthusiast" for the last forty years, thirty of which was policing the City of Madison, Wisconsin, where bikes often outnumber cars on the roadways. For the past five years, I've enjoyed riding Idaho's recreational mountain trails, but try to reserve most of my riding these days for Boise's greenbelt. And I still manage once or twice a year to put on my bike uniform and accompany my bike officers on patrol. Most recently, it was Saturday, May 30th and Sunday, May 31st. Riding with Officer Tom Shuler, I put about 50 miles on patrol, from checking out Quinn's pond for juvenile behavior complaints, to riding east of the city to see the bike path under Bown's Crossing bridge. In between, I spent a lot of time riding streets downtown. I got to see first hand some of the issues impacting cyclists, pedestrians and motorists, and hear from my bike officers which steps we as a police department could take to gain greater compliance with laws.

In part, because of the recent tragedies, and partly because so many Idahoans are choosing to use bicycles to save on gas or help the environment, we at the Boise Police Department have undertaken an educational initiative to not only educate bicyclists who we see violating common laws that jeopardize their safety, but to raise our own awareness of the types of behaviors both motorists and cyclists engage in that endanger lives.

Our approach on this and many safety issues is to "educate first; regulate when necessary". The first two nights of the bicycle safety initiative, Boise Police officers warned over 60 cyclists after they observed those cyclists riding in a potentially dangerous and illegal manner. Only a handful of cyclists whose behavior was most egregious were cited. At the same time, Boise officers just completed a campaign cracking down on aggressive driving. More than 800 citations were written by officers for speeding in a short, two-week period. When using Boise roadways in a potentially dangerous manner, anyone, a motorist, motorcyclist, bicyclist, or pedestrian risks a ticket if that behavior is witnessed by an officer. It's always up to the individual officer, but sometimes, issuing a ticket is the best tool we have to try and get a citizen to recognize and change their unsafe behavior.

Although we take our enforcement role seriously, you've heard it said, a police officer can't be everywhere every time. Individually, our enforcement role is limited by the number of officers taxpayers can afford to have on the streets, and what those officers can personally observe. Beyond that, we try to reach larger numbers of citizens with education. Alerting the public, often through media, that officers are watching for certain behaviors can influence citizens to be more mindful of traffic laws. We hope those educational messages spread among families, clubs, schools, anywhere people gather, to influence even more of us to pay attention to our own safety and the safety of others. It is naive to think we, as Boise's police department have the sole responsibility for ensuring safety, or that we have all of the answers to safety issues. Although our community expects us to provide leadership on these issues, we are only one part of the overall strategy for community safety.

My hope is that you, as a citizen, regardless of whether you choose to support police efforts, do choose to learn and follow traffic laws, encourage others to do the same and continue to advocate for bicycle safety. Boise has been recognized by many outside authorities as a beautiful, active outdoor community, but it's up to those of us who live here to keep safety as the foundation that this community is allowed to grow by. Only a community considered safe by it's citizens can flourish. We at the Boise Police Department take our responsibility to provide that safety seriously, but recognize our safety is up to all of us.

I've attached the Bike Safety Charter which Mayor Bieter has asked city leaders, including myself, to develop to look at the issue of bicycle safety in Boise. That effort is just beginning in earnest. Public in put will be an important component.

Again, thank you for taking the time to communicate your thoughts. I appreciate hearing from you.

Sincerely,... Chief Mike Masterson"

Although the timing seems bad, the recent tragedies have given motorists the opportunity to vent about bad bicycle behavior. Some of their complaints are totally unfounded - the one that REALLY makes me shake my head is when I see the suggestion that if a cyclist is impeding traffic, it's his duty to get off the roadway (completely?) and let those important Car People by. (Yeah, right!) But there is also a lot of legitimate hostility out there.

If this results in more law-abiding behavior by cyclists, and better knowledge on the part of police officers (and the general public), I'm TOTALLY in favor! (If I happened to get stopped while lawfully cycling - as happened to Dwight - I would indeed look at it as an opportunity to perhaps share some detailed info. with the officer.) Mostly I'm quite confident that the law-abiding cyclists have nothing to fear, from the law being enforced. And everything to gain. (Some of the "club cyclists" could do a LOT more to be good ambassadors. I hope they're paying attention!)

If cyclists are being ticketed for bad behavior, I see that as another indicator that bicycles ARE vehicles, not toys.

If I never again had some dumb gomer riding against traffic, straight toward me, on a busy street, on a "Chicken!" collision course, that would be just FINE by this transportation cyclist!

Steve Hulme aka "bikeboy"
Boise, ID
http://bikenazi.blogspot.com

Laws don't solve problems, & law enforcement doesn't solve
problems. There are LOTS of stupid cyclists, and there always will be.
Increased law enforcement is going to lead to safe, experienced riders
getting more frivolous tickets, like the one we saw recently where an
experienced rider was cited for supposedly riding too far out in the
lane. This just leads to increased frustration among the safe cyclists
and drivers alike. Meanwhile, the idiots will continue to operate like
idiot.

Education and advocacy of both sides (cyclists and drivers) solves problems.

...danielo

I too am disturbed by the timing of the 'crackdown.' It does smack of blaming the victim, as if to say that cyclists are the problem.
We also have some serious problems with the infrastructure. Eighth Street downtown, is the most blatant I know of. It is a de-facto bike boulevard, but there is no signage allowing for counter-flow bikes northbound from Main to Bannock. Cars hate us on Capital, Sixth and Ninth are one-way southbound. Not a lot of good choices.
It is very clear that the people who design and build our bike facilities are not users.

I feel generally positive about more enforcement for cycling misconduct in traffic. I see side benefits such as the dialogue within the law enforcement community and transportation agencies/advocate groups about what constitutes safe cycling. They will need to determine what authoritative guidance exists to inform their interpretation of enforcement. In short, they will need to educate themselves or refresh their understanding to reflect the latest thinking.

I see a dialogue with the adult leadership in our children's schools, after school youth clubs, boy scout troops, et al about the need to seek out professional views on what constitutes safe cycling and arrange for that to be taught.

In both of these dialogues and teaching/advocacy opportunities, I see TVCA as well positioned to be a positive contributor.

Finally, it will only take a few tickets for the word to start spreading. One kid in a school gets a ticket, the whole school will know. One club rider gets a ticket, the whole club is going to know. One bicycle commuter gets a ticket, all his/her co-workers are going to hear about it. One bar patron ticketed for riding their bike the incorrectly to their neighborhood bar, all his/her bar buddies are going to know.

The law of unintended consequences could result in people choosing not to ride their bikes or choosing to ride on sidewalks to avoid misconduct on the street, but I believe that if the enforcement comes with an emphasis on the education of what is the correct conduct, these consequences could be avoided.

Imagine a new day in Boise where more cyclists are riding the correct direction, with lights at night, and demonstrating proper conduct on the roadways. What an easy way to bring visibility and create a positive image of cyclists as law abiding citizens.

I agree with the Chief's idea to enforce cycle rules of the road if he and his officers know what they are. My past experience has been that most of the BPD are not aware of what State of Idaho code is relative to bicycles and how they are to operate.
The chief did not say anything about having his officers foucs on motor vehicles that may put cyclists in harms way due to their driving habits.
I am very concerned with the attitude that cyclist are bad and in the wrong so I am going to have my officers focus on operators who may be putting cyclists at risk based upon their illegal driving habits. It is the attitude that is being presented to the public that cyclists are always in the wrong and do not belong on our road ways that is the message I am getting from the Boise Police Department.

I've had a number of close calls with individuals on bicycles riding the wrong way so I fully support Chief Masterson's order. I'm sick and tired of so-called "cyclists" breaking the bicycle laws with impunity, and in the process, endangering the general public as well as themselves. Unfortunately it has taken three cyclists deaths for this issue to come to the forefront, but this has been something that many of us have been wanting to see happen for years.

Yes, I was once stopped by a BPD officer who thought that I was violating bicycle law when I was not. I believe that he has learned from this incident, and I'm sure that the entire department is now quickly getting up to speed in bicycle law.

If I could get one message out to the BPD in response to this Chief Masterson's order it would be: "GO GET 'EM, BOYS!"