One of the things we love about the Intertubes is our newfound ability to put everything on video, like this one, from our pals at the SF Party Party.
This video proves what all car owners know, that the police never give tickets to cars!
After the jump, a bit of editorializing!
We've had several friends get nailed on their bikes recently for running stop signs (note: if you're on a bike, don't run stop signs. It's against the law, dangerous, and pretty stupid, especially in crowded intersections.) The video is kind of odd - showing a biker getting ticketed, then a few cars sailing right on through without even bothering to California-stop. The po-po pay no attention, preferring to go after the bikers. Why not just, um, ticket everyone who ran the stop sign that day?
And yes, we know that this is a pro-bike video, probably edited to better make a statement. But there's a larger point here: sure, hazardous bicyclists are bad, but not as bad as hazardous drivers. It's just like how cigarettes are bad, but not as bad as cigars. You don't mind if we blow some cigarette smoke in your face, do you? Hey, at least it's not a cigar.
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It's precisely the attitude this cyclist has that has been the big problem with the car/bicycle issue in this city. Yes, when a car runs a stop sign it's dangerous, but to assume that because you may not kill anyone on a bike when you run a stop sign, it's ok, is wrong. It's still illegal. Two wrongs don't make a right. Stop editorializing how enforcement happens and deal with the consequences of breaking the law.
This really shouldn't be about bikes, or cars, or who should get tickets or not. It should be about the completely shit job that the police around here do. Of course, the cops are understaffed by hundreds of positions last I heard, so it's kind of hard to get on them for doing a lousy job of enforcement.
Hey, spread the love and post some videos of jaywalkers! The Pedestrian Majority want to be heard (seen?) as well!
And don't forget skateboarders, Segway riders, Razor scooter kiddies, old dudes on motorized carts, rollerbladers ...
I live one block from this intersection and it's mainly a hazard for pedestrians. Crossing any side of that intersection between 4:30-6:30 is pretty dangerous and nearly all because of the type of driving that was documented in the clip. It's so frustrating to see cops purposely stopping cyclists! I don't know the statistic but there were definitely more than 2 pedestrian deaths this year.
I didn't watch the whole thing because some nearby paint was drying and it distracted me, but exactly how many illegal u-turns did that cop do?
Kudos to the interviewed cop for not being an ass.
The suit, the helmet hair—meet your green realter.
Who is this kook...? Cops have better things to do, I'm a green realtor?? Pretty stereo-typical of the nuts in SF. SF seems to think they live in a place where you can do anything you want.Smoke weed, Harbor Illegal aliens, redistribute the weath....No one is happy when cyclist is smooshed into the pavement. Illegal is Illegal .... when you get caught don't be a sissy whiner!
i love the fact that he tries to make so many excuses. be a man you piece of shit. own up to your crime. you aren't even sorry for doing it, just that you got caught. guess what separates you from anyone in san quentin? nothing!
i also enjoyed watching the few cyclists that actually stopped and put their foot down to make a legal stop since they saw a colleague getting a ticket. i bet that was the first time in 12 months any of them stopped.
The cops aggressively ticket jaywalkers around the city every once in a while, generally when a few have been hit recently.
There are still enough cops in the City to write tickets? Seriously .... we need more traffic cops out there writing tickets to drivers and bicyclists who ignore the laws. Folks in the City are so used to having an understaffed traffic patrol that they go ahead and ignore red lights and other traffic laws because probability is in their favor that there will be no penalty. Stop wussying around - hire more police (or allow citizens to write tickets using video evidence) and put the hammer down. Boo-yah!
Campers,
I'd say the cops message was to Critical Mass as much as anything. Last week the TL station detailed 5 cops to do undercover sting pot buys at Halladie Plaza despite their chief swearing before the Police Commission that her officers would make pot the lowest priority as required by a recent ordinance. Imagine, 5 cops buying pot amidst the tourists and BART security when they could have been buying crack 2 blocks over.
Face it, the cops don't have traditional SF values. Sadly, most of your posters don't seem to be feeling the love either.
See you all at the Progressive Revival.
h.
If they really want to boost revenues, they should just sit in the outer sunset and ticket people rolling through stop signs. They'd raise enough money to not have to worry about being understaffed anymore.
Breaking the laws your neighbors have established for everyone to follow is criminial, not, um, "progressive."
got a ticket this morning--cop said the mayor's pissed about getting heat from the bicycle coalition.
Ticketing bicyclists because the bike coalition is bugging you about bike safety would be kind of similar to ticketing outreach workers for jaywalking because a wino peed on Gavin's porch. If that's true, Gavin's somehow de-matured while in office.
I'd love to have some confirmation of this, recorded or otherwise...
Hells yeah y'all!
Now, when are they going to start ticketing the fucks who ride and skate on busy city sidewalks.
Oh yeah, dude. Because there are murders down the block, you should be allowed to break the law. Bicyclists who break the law should be ticketed.
Thank you Mr. Ossifer!
Oh yeah, who is the brain surgeon that suggested that cops should ticket themselves for illegal driving? Classic SF kookery.
That biker needs to man up.
I live right near there and bikes need to stop or slow the heck down when riding down that hill or they're at high risk of getting hit or even worse, hitting someone. I've seen so many near misses there it's not even funny. The bikes are going upwards of 35mph at that corner.
Bicyclists who run stop signs are making streets dangerous for everyone else, especially peds. The skateboarders are even worse. They deserve the tickets.
This whole bike/driver war in SF is turning into a mess. That's the real damage done by Critical Mass...it's caused both "sides" to dig into their positions (because they resent each other so much) rather than try to figure out a way to share what's apparently a limited resource, street space in SF.
I think both drivers and cyclists are getting out of control. Earlier today a guy on a bike flew right in front of me against a LIGHT while I was in the middle of a busy intersectios on California St. It was incredibly scary... At the same time, cops HAVE to stop cars from flipping u-turns in the middle of 4-way stops. That too is a growing problem. Nevermind that I see more and more cars rolling through stops without looking.
Not a bike advocate guy, not a bike messenger fan, just a regular biker, for exercise and commuting.
I don't stop for stop signs unless I have to. It kills all my momentum, robs me of lots of time and energy. I'm not a car, I can miss a pedestrian with two feet of notice, I can stop from top speed in ten or twelve feet, if I hit a car they might get a scratch or a dent, they won't get dead.
I don't like crazy bike driving one bit, and dangerous bike drivers do all sane bikers a disservice. But rolling a stop sign is neither crazy bike driving nor dangerous on a bicycle in and of itself. It is illegal, I know that.
Seriously folks, the law's got to change. Full stops at stop signs are not a reasonable legal requirement of bicyclists.
CP, I disagree. The bikes need to come to a FULL stop at the stop sign. It's not about robbing you of momentum, or time, or energy. Hey, I can argue that coming to a full stop in my car wastes more gasoline than necessary, leading to more dependence on foreign oil, global warming, iraq, etc. But I won't.
At busy intersections it's easy to miss a cyclist barreling down at a high speed. If the law does not mandate a full stop, I gaurantee you that every bicyclist will have his or her definition of "slowing down".
If you can really stop from full speed in ten or twelve feet, please do it when you see a stop sign. For your own safety!
It's unfortunate that these crackdowns always seem to be targeted at one group or another. Willie did the same thing -- targeting bicyclists instead of the general public, and it ended up exactly as one might expect, with only more suspicion and self-justification on all sides.
I'd be happy to see some bikers get tickets in a fair situation, not via selective enforcement. It might be interesting to Sunshine some of the orders in this case.
I live just half a block from where they were ticketing (on Waller between Pierce and Scott, just up from the wiggle). Some bikers don't just roll through the intersections -- they blast through far faster than the cars. The video didn't include those, I noticed.
I've been zinged twice and hit full-on once by bikes while *walking* across those intersections. When they're on the other side of bigger cars or if they're coming around a corner, you can't see bikers and they zip out extremely fast. It completely misses the point to say it's okay to do this since you're only on a bike and so can't kill anyone!
By far the worst, though, are bikers who do this at night. However hard it is to see folks in the daytime, at night it's near impossible. I'm still amazed that bikers will wear all black, have no reflective gear, no headlights -- and STILL run through intersections!
As for saying that cops should be worried about murders rather than road safety is to take for granted all that the police do in our neighborhoods. I've lived on this street for 12 years, back when gunshots could be heard through the night, and let me tell you, the cops here do what they can to help keep us safe, comfortable and -- yes -- friendly with each other.
Even if bikers were to slow to the pace of those cars rolling through the stop signs, I'd be happier as both a pedestrian and a driver.
Actually according to the city pedestrian safety, and bicycle folks that intersection has been noted as a problem for more than a year. After suggesting that the city bicycle safety people that this is the sort of intersection that they should be doing their so called community "outreach" and "education" that if I had a problem with the intersection I should contact the SFPD park station. (I was redirected to the city bicycle people by the pedestrian safety people after my leashed dog was hit by a bike not even slowing down going UP the hill, who then cursed me and took off). I guess by "outreach" they mean police. I was happy to see Paunch out there this week.
There's no rational reason to make bikes stop to the point where they put a foot on the ground - the difference in effort between slowing to 1 mph and a full-stop is much more significant for bikes than cars; this is one of those instances where the law allows some wiggle room - drivers don't come to a full stop at some deserted intersections, and that's ok. Absolutism is the refuge of small minds.
That said, bikes blowing through that particular intersection on the Wiggle is a big problem, and if bikers keep doing it (yes, I bike, and yes, I live in the 'hood) someone's going to get seriously hurt. I really have no problem with ticketing bikers there, as long as they nail cars for simlar violations.
The bike coalition has been hammering on the lights/helmets issue to their membership for years. If people don't use them, they can and should be ticketed. But...well, enforcing those kind of things is low priority, apparently.
Which brings us to the point so eloquently stated by Kwillets - going after one group or another is counter-productive, and makes drivers and bikers go afer each other. All we'd like is for the SFPD to nail people who violate the law on a consistent basis. If they did that, perhaps relations between bikes and auto drivers would improve.
As a cyclist, I've survived many years of urban riding by observing the laws of traffic, not the traffic laws. All this amounts to is fanatic respect for right of way, both mine and other road users, as well as striving for the Golden Rule. All of the other traffic laws are incidental to this.
That said, its time we changed the law to reflect reality. We need the Idaho law here.
49-720. STOPPING -- TURN AND STOP SIGNALS.
1. A person operating a bicycle or human-powered vehicle approaching a stop sign shall slow down and, if required for safety, stop before entering the intersection. After slowing to a reasonable speed or stopping, the person shall yield the right-of-way to any vehicle in the intersection or approaching on another highway so closely as to constitute an immediate hazard during the time the person is moving across or within the intersection or junction of highways, except that a person after slowing to a reasonable speed and yielding the right-of-way if required, may cautiously make a turn or proceed through the intersection without stopping.
2. A person operating a bicycle or human-powered vehicle approaching a steady red traffic-control signal shall stop before entering the intersection, except that a person after slowing to a reasonable speed and yielding the right-of-way if required, may cautiously make a right-hand turn without stopping or may cautiously make a left-hand turn onto a one-way highway without stopping.
3. A person riding a bicycle shall comply with the provisions of section 49-643, Idaho Code.
4. A signal of intention to turn right or left shall be given during not less than the last one hundred (100) feet traveled by the bicycle before turning, provided that a signal by hand and arm need not be given if the hand is needed in the control or operation of the bicycle.
Idaho law sounds like a good compromise, but needs the addition that peds should always get right-of-way, not just other vehicles.