CORONA DEL MAR TODAY

Second Annual Safety Ride Scheduled for Friday Morning

Expect to see a bigger group — including Newport Beach Police Chief Jay Johnson — joining the Second Annual Bike Safety Ride set to depart from Corona del Mar at 8 a.m. Friday.

Corona del Mar Today’s Cycling Safety columnist Frank Peters is the ride’s organizer, and he said he began the event last year to raise awareness for cycling issues in the community.

“Last year I was in the middle of my term on the Newport Beach Bike Safety Task Force,” he said. “We struggled to gain community support for our initiatives.”

He organized the 2009 ride in an attempt to galvanize Corona del Mar cyclists, and he said the group was “small but enthusiastic.”

This year’s ride will follow the same route: Meet at Marguerite Avenue at Bayside Drive, follow the sharrows to Balboa Island, hop the ferry to the Peninsula (bring $2.50 for ferry fare), visit The Wedge and the Newport Beach Pier for a snack — and then return home the same way.

Besides ferry and snack money, the event itself is free.

Last year, the group included a local electric bike inventor and several Boy Scouts.

This year, Peters invited members of the newly formed Newport Beach Citizens Bicycle Safety Committee, City Council members and Chief Johnson.

Councilwomen Nancy Gardner and Leslie Daigle likely will miss the ride because of schedule and travel conflicts, but Johnson confirmed today that he was looking forward to the event.

“Years ago I was pretty active in cycling — riding to work daily and competing in a number of triathlons for fun,” he said. “As my time commitments with work and family increased, my cycling diminished. Now that my kids have started riding bikes, I will periodically ride around the neighborhood with them.”

Peters sent an email invitation, Johnson said, and he thought it was appropriate to lend his support to show the department and city’s focus on cycling safety. One of the department’s 2011 goals, he said, was to reduce bicycle accidents through enforcement, prevention and education, he said. Newport Beach has averaged 94 bicycle accidents a year over the past five years, he said.

“To be successful, it will require the police department and city government to continue to partner with the community to raise awareness and education for both drives and cyclists,” he said. “Frank’s Bike Safety Ride is one avenue to bring attention to this issue.”

He said some members of his command staff also would join the ride, which would help continue to build police and cycling community relationships.

“Neither cars on the road nor bicycles on the road are going away anytime soon,” he said. “We need to find ways to better share the road and reduce accidents.”

To read about last year’s ride, click here and here.