Officer Education
I thought I'd let you all see the letter I recently sent to the Garden City Police:
Dear Deputy Chief Allen;
Last week, while riding my trike south on Glenwood approaching Chinden, I came to the place where the bike lane changes to a lane marked "right-turn only." Following my usual procedure, I changed lanes to the left, to travel in the right-most lane appropriate for my direction of travel. I was stopped and subjected to the complaint that drivers were having to change lanes to pass me (just like the Idaho Driver's Manual says they should). I was also subjected to the opinion that I was required to pull into the right-turn only lane to let cars pass. I could find no section of the Idaho Code, nor of Garden City's that requires that on a multi-lane city street. Later I visited the Garden City Police Department and talked to the officer involved.
Officer Brannan of the Garden City Department had the following to say:
1. If a cyclist cannot pedal at whatever the speed limit is, and gets hit from behind, that is the cyclist's fault, not the fault of the person who drove into the cyclist. By not traveling at the maximum posted speed on the right-most through lane of a multi-lane road, the cyclist would be "impeding traffic." Brannan claimed he could prove this in a court of law.
2. For purposes of passing, a motorist is entitled to regard a cyclist as only 5 inches wide. Handlebars don't count. The driver's manual calls a safe margin at least 3 feet.
3. A cyclist should ride with his wheels as close to the curb as possible, regardless of right turn only lanes, destination, or anything else. The driver's manual says "as close as safety allows." It is not safe to travel to the right of right turning cars when traveling straight.
4. He claimed that the driver of a slower vehicle had a duty to pull to the side to let faster vehicles pass. I pointed out that the only Idaho law I could find, that had anything like that language, applied only on two-lane rural roads. He backed off on that one.
Another officer present failed to dispute Officer Brannan.
I find all of that appalling in its divergence from the Idaho Code, from the Idaho Driver's Manual, and from Idaho Bicycling Street Smarts. (The latter two books are distributed by the Idaho Transportation Department for the education of drivers and cyclists.)
I think what is needed here is some additional training. I've talked to Sergeant Clair Walker of the Boise Department's bicycle unit regarding that training. He said that nothing could be done about Brannan, but that his boss, the Deputy Chief was a good guy. I think you are the man Sergeant Walker meant. He is willing to have his unit provide the training to your Department. He said his people don't know Garden City Ordinances, but according to Garden City's website, you use the State Code, which is the same throughout Idaho.
Please let me know whether you are willing to set up that training.
Sincerely
Ian MacEwan.
I will let you all know what, if anything, comes of it.
Ian.
Called the Chief
Steve - Ian was stopped in Garden City, not Boise. The recommendations of the Boise Task Force, right or wrong, will have little bearing on the G.C. Police. We can refer to the recommendations as an example when we are discussing similar measures with other cities in the Treasure Valley, but each city council should adopt their own policies about bike safety.
As for Ian's incident, I've called the G.C. Police and left a message for Chief Allen that I would like to talk to him about it. If he calls back I'll see if I can find out when Ian can expect a response.
Dwight Tovey
Work to Live : Live to Ride : Ride to Work
officer education and enforcement
Enforcement, by police who do not know, and are unwilling to learn, the laws of the State of Idaho, is a bad idea, in my opinion. If drivers (I include cyclists in the term) were to hear and take to heart Sgt. Brannan's opinions as if they were the law, we would have motorists driving directly into cyclists (#1 above), sideswiping them when they failed to achieve a direct hit (#2), cyclists running down pedestrians on the Greenbelt (#1), and cyclists interfering with motorists making a right turn who could reasonably expect cyclists in the right-turn only lane to also be turning right in compliance with the law (#3).
After Dwight Tovey posted his account of a ticket he received, someone identifying himself as a cop posted this: "To those who believe they need to educate the officers when they are stopped, I laugh. Do you have hundreds of laws and traffic codes memorized? Did you spend 10 rigorous months in daily training to become an expert in law enforcement as officers in Idaho do? Heck, did you spend 10 learning your own occupation? I can’t speak for every officer, but no one posting here is going to teach Deputy Lim anything he does not already know." (http://www.biketreasurevalley.org/node/370)
Deputy Chief Allen has not responded to my forwarded offer of training.
officer education AND ENFORCEMENT
Props, Ian, for following up on a stupid traffic stop!
IMO, the only components which the Boise area lacks, for being TRULY a bike-friendly community, are education and enforcement. And obviously when the police are so ill-educated on statutory and common-sense bike laws, it's hard to expect the common folks to get educated!
Here are some comments I submitted to the Boise Cycling Safety Task Force:
... to me it seems futile and meaningless to pass a bunch of new bicycle-related laws, when the laws already on the books aren't enforced!
Unless things have changed since the recent spate of bicycle fatalities, the STATED position of the Boise Police Department has been, "Bike violations are NOT a priority for the Department." (I've called numerous times over the years, to complain about cyclists who ride against traffic - putting my life at risk - and have consistently told that by people who responded.)
... Will "bike violations" become a priority for the Department? Or at least on equal footing with motor-traffic violations? Will the mayor and city council direct the BPD to enforce (and learn!) the laws regarding bicycles, even if a traffic accident isn't involved? THAT, in my opinion, is the single most significant thing that you could do to improve bicycle safety in Boise. PLEASE!!
... I fully support all [education] recommendations of the Task Force. Particularly #7, "Bicycle law training for police." And I hope it would include an increased prioritization of bike violations (see Enforcement, above).
Steve Hulme aka "bikeboy"
Boise, ID
http://bikenazi.blogspot.com