7 Responses to “CdM Well Represented With Cycling Task Force Appointees”
Comments
Park Cyclist
October 31st, 2009
The claim of Attorney Joseph Higuera for the Tesoro/Park Ridge will determine the city's responsibility for roadway design and bicycle safety. Park Ridge is a frequently-ridden road for cyclists to the Crystal Cove State Park, and is the only entrance besides access from Pacific Coast Highway. The State Park entrance has been enhanced and sports fields added at the top of Park Ridge. To ride safely from the State Park, a cyclist must stay in the middle of the single downhill lane to be visible and avoid cars turning right out of Tesoro. But mid-lane riding through RIdge Park's blind curve is risky for a left-turning car like the accident's circumstances. How was the demeanor of police at the accident? I observed a NBPD officer laughing at CDM high school as the fire fighter demonstrated the cause. A few weeks earlier, the same NBPD officer was laughing with the LIfeguard Battalion Chief at a Big Corona neck injury accident. The situation was a week of swells and sandbars, parking lot half filled including two school buses, lifeguard towers unstaffed, and the lifeguard remote from the beach in the Fuji Grill building. Let's hope the Bike Task Force will assert new leadership for Newport Beach safety.
Commuting Cyclist
November 1st, 2009
The appointees to the Safe Cycling Task Force are diverse, but will they understand traffic engineering and police practices? Safe bicycling involves traffic signal detection by embedded wires that range from circular loops to dipole and quadrapoles with options for diagonal strips. Can the Task Force appointees analyze why Principal Civil Engineer Tony Brine and Traffic Engineer George Bernard have reset signals to not detect bicycles? And can they evaluate California Statute AB-1581 for bicycle signal detection and the NBPD practice of contriving vehicle citations from bicyclists? Newport Beach has the distinction on Wall St. of bond leader PIMCO being headquartered in Newport Center. But Newport Beach is more risky for bicycle commuting than New York City. Newport Beach is not contiguous to a major freeway and is in the nation’s top 3% for lowest crime rate, but no bicycle commuters are to be seen. Instead on weekends, cyclists can be seen stranded in the median at the left turn into the Back Bay State Preserve. The signal does not trigger unless a cyclist finds the “sweetspot” of the embedded wires and waits for a car from the opposite direction to refresh the signal. Prior to the reset by the traffic engineers, motion sensors had detected bicycles when they entered the lane. Meanwhile, NBPD motorcycle police chase bicyclists into the Back Bay to contrive vehicle citations. In a letter, Traffic Services Commander Lieutenant Steve Shulman enumerated the city’s policy to be that a bicyclist should first test the signal, then dismount and go across the traffic to the curb to press the crosswalk button. The test-and-cross policy is questionable for the safety of both bicyclists and motorists. In telephone calls, Lieutenant Shulman and Sergeant Mike James both supported police motorcycles chasing bicycles and contriving vehicle citations. The NBPD has a robust headcount of 149 uniformed, 90 staff, and still hiring at the Website. The Safe Cycling Task Force has the challenge of deciding if the amassed vehicle citations contrived from bicyclists will be Newport Beach’s legacy in American urban transportation.
Tasker
November 1st, 2009
The Safe Cycling Task Forces has the first task of not having another bicycle fatality during its tenure. The appointees should expeditiously assign the city with the task of checking bicycle buttons at traffic signals. The bicycle button at San Jouquin/Jamboree down to the Back Bay is an example of either being intentionally disconnected or not checked for functionality. The button deceives cyclists with only a combined 5 second green and yellow when one car is present. Because the NBPD has proactively cited bicyclists at non-detecting signals, citations can be a resource to finding other flawed signals. A clerk at the municipal court said that they get several vehicle citations per day for bicycles. Many cities have heavily issued warning and non-vehicle citations because of college campuses. But with its small population and low traffic, Newport Beach could hold the national record for concocting the most vehicle citations from bicyclists.
Bicycling Jurist
November 10th, 2009
Newport Beach bicycling can be summarized in three practices. Firstly, Newport Beach traffic engineers have purchased and installed traffic-activating signals that do not detect bicycles. Secondly, the Newport Beach Police Department (NBPD) chases bicycles for CVC 21453 vehicle citations at the undetecting signals. Thirdly, the Orange County Superior Court has assumed the authority to define bicycles as vehicles and uphold CVC 21453 citations. California does not have a statute that defines bicycles as vehicles. California does have CVC 21200-212 that bicyclists have the same rights and duties as motorists. Will Newport Beach be like the Vacaville and Orange County traffic engineers who challenged Caltrans's implementation of AB-1581 for bicycle detection upon first install or replacement of signals? Vacaville maintains that five-lane arterials cannot be monitored despite the availability of enhanced signal technology. A city with Newport Beach's high revenues merely has to invest in the signal-detection technology to protect bicycles. The NBPD's policy of recommending crosswalks for bicycles leads to confusion such as last week's Portland accident. A bicycle leaving the roadway to a crosswalk is inherently hazardous. The Jamboree Road has five lanes going north, but no bike lane and no signs to permit sidewalk bicycling. A large SUV and a bicycle do not fit in the right lane, and OCTA and UCI buses also use the lane. Let's hope that the Cycling Safety Task Force invests more in signal technology and makes room for bicycles in Newport Beach.
Infocyclist
November 12th, 2009
The agenda of the first meeting for Newport Beach’s Cycling Safety Task Force appears distracted. After introductions, the first two agenda items are basically what is citable in California for bicycles and how is it being cited by the NBPD. The starting point should be discussion on data collection for the following seven metrics: 1) Percentage of roadways without bike lanes; 2) Frequency of bicycles using sidewalks; 3) Percentage of non-detecting traffic signals; 4) Volume of bicycles using crosswalks; 5) Citations caused by unsafe bicyclist; 6) Citations by the NBPD with the hazard created by the city instead of the bicyclist; 7) Schedule for compliance with AB-1581 following Caltrans implementation guidelines. As a Task Force, subsequent meetings would be evaluating the data across the preceding seven metrics – e.g., roadways without a bike lane having greater than 10 bicyclists per day or weekend, 25, 50 and greater than 100. The seven metrics can also be cross-matrixes to determine the risks for hazardous bicycling in Newport Beach.
Bicycle Naysayer
November 12th, 2009
Newport Beach is not on the roadmap for bicycling. Newport Beach is a destination for sailing, restaurants and shopping. Partying is prevalent in Newport Beach, and the NBPD has acted accordingly. The new Nordstrom's close to the Coast Highway indicates future traffic for the beach city. Newport Beach has spent this decade widening roads and changing traffic lights that do not accommodate bicycles. The next decade is risky bicycling for Newport Beach.
Sailing Satirist
November 12th, 2009
Bicycles are a humble matter for the Newport Beach City Council compared to the design of the majestic sails for the new City Hall.
