8 Responses to “City Could Get Bike Safety Task Force”
Comments
Karen
September 20th, 2009
When I was a kid at Harbor View, the police would host a bike safety event at school. We'd bring our bikes and ride obstacle courses on the blacktop, register our bikes for licenses and all that stuff. It was awesome. I wonder if they still do that?
September 28th, 2009
They should create a route using Seaview (Poppy to Marguerite or further), Ocean or Bayside (Marguerite to Jamboree). Less traffic there and safer for everyone. There is nothing worse than trying to get through CdM on PCH during summer. If you aren't driving 15 mph stuck behind a cyclist, you are avoiding being side swiped by another car taking half the lane trying to avoid one (or a pack).
NBcyclist
October 25th, 2009
The agenda of the Bike Safety Task Force will probably become preoccupied with the Peninsula boardwalk and the outcome will be speed-limit signs, single file, and police writing citations. The concern is that NBPD already has a history of chasing women cyclists in sports apparel at the Jamboree left turn into the Back Bay. The Newport Beach municipal court has amassed hundreds of contrived vehicle citations against bicycles into the Back Bay. The claims are yet to come. For about a decade since the left turn was built, the traffic signal signal had motion sensors to detect bicycles. Newport Beach traffic engineers have acknowledged that the signal was set back to not detect bicycles. The NBPD exploits the signal on quiet weekends when there is no traffic and a cyclist is unlikely to stop for a non-detecting signal. The north San Jouquin entrance into the Back Bay is similar with the bicycle button turned off and police parked at the service station. The cycling groups of Newport Coast cyclists could be seriously injured by not realizing the button is disabled and there is only about 5 seconds for one car. Regarding the unfortunate Ridge Park fatality, the Tesoro entrance was an accident waiting-to-happen because of the blind downhill curve, no bike lane, and no caution signs to either cyclists or Tesoro residents. Bison Road out of UCI to Jamboree has similar risks with no bike lane, impassable sidewalk with poles and shrubs, and the Fletcher Jones Mercedes (FJM) shuttle van. For bike commuting UCI students, the uphill ride as well as making the Jamboree left turn is risky. Instead of a bike lane from UCI, Newport Beach created the right lane for FJM to shuttle employees and for Toyota's Calty Design to have a second building. Let's hope the Cycling Safety Task Force realizes that roads need room for cyclists and that California has Statute AB-1581 for traffic signal detection of bicycles.
Corona del Mar Today Staff
October 25th, 2009
Reply to
NBcyclist
October 25, 2009
The agenda of the Bike Safety Task Force will probably become preoccupied with the Peninsula boardwalk and the outcome will be speed-limit signs, single file, and police writing citations. The concern is that NBPD already has a history of chasing women cyclists in sports apparel at the Jamboree left turn into the Back Bay. The Newport Beach municipal court has amassed hundreds of contrived vehicle citations against bicycles into the Back Bay. The claims are yet to come. For about a decade since the left turn was built, the traffic signal signal had motion sensors to detect bicycles. Newport Beach traffic engineers have acknowledged that the signal was set back to not detect bicycles. The NBPD exploits the signal on quiet weekends when there is no traffic and a cyclist is unlikely to stop for a non-detecting signal. The north San Jouquin entrance into the Back Bay is similar with the bicycle button turned off and police parked at the service station. The cycling groups of Newport Coast cyclists could be seriously injured by not realizing the button is disabled and there is only about 5 seconds for one car. Regarding the unfortunate Ridge Park fatality, the Tesoro entrance was an accident waiting-to-happen because of the blind downhill curve, no bike lane, and no caution signs to either cyclists or Tesoro residents. Bison Road out of UCI to Jamboree has similar risks with no bike lane, impassable sidewalk with poles and shrubs, and the Fletcher Jones Mercedes (FJM) shuttle van. For bike commuting UCI students, the uphill ride as well as making the Jamboree left turn is risky. Instead of a bike lane from UCI, Newport Beach created the right lane for FJM to shuttle employees and for Toyota's Calty Design to have a second building. Let's hope the Cycling Safety Task Force realizes that roads need room for cyclists and that California has Statute AB-1581 for traffic signal detection of bicycles.
We'll have a story early tomorrow about the new members of the task force. Looking forward to hearing what they come up with -- please feel free to give us your thoughts.
School Bicyclist
October 29th, 2009
The Peninsula boardwalk has bicycling problems, but the schools areas are more important for safety. The CDM school area is dangerous. Cars pass the school at 5pm going 50 mph when students get out of sports practices. Newport allows the speed limit to be 40mph. A car waved to me go ahead at the tennis courts crosswalk and got rear ended. I changed to using the stop sign at the track, and a NBPD Park Ranger car cut me. The most dangerous is the sidewalk going north on Jamboree and turning west to the schools. Cars accelerate in the right turn trying to beat out the oncoming traffic when the light goes green. I noticed a shoe among car parts in the bushes from a collision. Can Newport Beach reallocate some of the $100 million budget for a new city hall with sails to improve roadways and protect sidewalks for safer bicycling? I also have seen NBPD police cars speeding in the Back Bay at night with their headlights off and putting UCI commuting bicyclists at risk. Let's hope our safety officers will join in making bicycling safer in Newport.
BackBay Cyclist
October 29th, 2009
Besides the NBPD chasing women cyclists at the non-detecting left turn signal into the Back Bay on quiet weekends with no traffic, why is a police car parked in the secluded Shellmaker Road at nightfall just a half mile from the entrance to the preserve? Thanks for having the Bike Safety Task Force investigate.
Boise Bicyclist
November 14th, 2009
Each member of Newport Beach Cycling Safety Task Force should leave their first meeting with a copy of Boise's similar Task Force report that was just released in October and can be downloaded. Notice the Six-E's, and that they start with Engineering and end with Evaluation. And Evaluation is defined as ongoing. How did Newport Beach become engaged in the C's of citations and chases by police?
Old-Timer
November 14th, 2009
The old Newporter Inn used to have bicycles in the entrance for weekend guests to ride down to Balboa Island or around the Back Bay. Today the renamed Hyatt Newporter has become a venue for police chasing bicyclists apparently because a traffic signal does not trigger. I experienced two incidents of Newport Beach Police Department (NBPD) motorcycles chasing bicyclists in which there was neither traffic nor a safety concern. In the first incident, the NBPD police motorcycle turned around on Jamboree Road to go the wrong way to chase the bicyclist. For the second incident, the NBPD motorcycle came out of hiding in a driveway to chase a lone woman bicyclist with long hair hanging out of the helmet. Hyatt Regency has preserved the Newporter, but Newport Beach seems to be resisting bicycles.
