Cycle Task Force Discusses Radar Signs, Speed Bumps
City streets like Ridge Park Road, where both motorists and bicyclists often drive unsafely, could get permanent radar signs but probably not stop signs or speed bumps.
At the third meeting Monday afternoon of the Newport Beach Task Force on Cycling Safety, members discussed the best ways to create and distribute maps of city bike paths as well as “hot spots” — intersections and areas in town where cyclists are in danger because of road design, hills or other conditions.
Ridge Park Road was a major concern because cyclists often reach high speeds going downhill, and motorists frequently misjudge their speed, or can’t see them because of the sun. Last summer, a 43-year-old cyclist was struck and killed at Ridge Park Road and Tesoro, and task force members said they recalled at least one other fatality in the same location.
“There are close calls all the time,” said Jim Sweet, a task force member from Newport Coast. “The motorist is getting the sun right in their face and can’t see you.”
Member Tony Petros of Big Canyon said his cycling club now cycles up the Ridge Park Road hill — but down another route. He proposed re-engineering the lines to create a larger bike path on the uphill lane and a much smaller downhill path, which could potentially encourage cyclists to avoid the road going downhill.
The city’s traffic engineer was skeptical that plan would work.
“They’re going to ride their bikes down Ridge Park,” said Tony Brine. “You don’t want to set up a situation that is hugely unsafe.”
Members discussed whether stop signs or speed bumps could help, but they decided those also would be unsafe.
Radar signs, which would pick up speeding bicyclists and motorists, might be a solution, he said. But the signs cost about $5,000, and choosing which communities get the signs has to be considered carefully, Brine said. The group would need to establish criteria for a street to have a sign, he said.
“I personally think we need to try these out,” said Councilman Don Webb. “Some of those downhill areas would be a good start.”
Any suggestions and ideas that the task force develops will go in a report to City Council members for further review and action.
The task force also discussed whether city bike maps should contain advertisements to underwrite the costs, or if maps could be sold for a small amount, like $1. Member Frank Peters of Corona del Mar said he had talked to a developer who said an iPhone app with bike paths could be developed, possibly for $5,000.
The group decided to wait for its next meeting to address school cycling safety. That meeting will be held at 4:30 on Jan. 11 in Council Chambers. The public is welcome to attend and make comments.
Read our earlier coverage of the task force here and here.
Filed under: Home (General)
Instead of Newport Beach selling bicycle maps or generating ad revenue from bicycle maps, the city should consider free educational type of brochures. The city can offset the brochure costs from its revenue-sharing in events. The music festivals at the Hyatt with its stream of parking shuttles are actually injury risks to Back Bay bicyclists. The bicycling brochure could be entitled “Newport Beach Bicycling Hazards” and describe the following five warnings: 1) Narrow Roadways without bike lanes; 2) Hilly slopes and sharp turns; 3) Car Speed Limits up to 50 mph; 4) Traffic Signals do not detect and not timed for bicycle left turns; 5) Police Department cites bicyclists with CVC 21453 moving vehicle violations. The information could also be posted on signs similar to the warning on the downhill in the Back Bay from Eastbluff. The first four items could reduce Newport Beach liability for traffic planners and engineers widening roads and replacing traffic signals that endanger bicyclists. Examples of roadways are Bison Road with UCI students and Eastbluff Drive with three schools along with the recent Ridge Park incident. Examples of hazardous signals are the two Back Bay entrances that had traffic signals with motion sensors that triggered for bicycles but now have non-detecting inductive wires and a disconnected bicycle button. The fifth item in the brochure or signage would alert women cyclists in sports apparel about the practice of being detained by the NBPD to obtain vehicle information. As Caltrans evaluates implementation of AB-1581 for signal detection of bicycles, Newport Beach will also have to evaluate its compliance with California statutes. Orange County’s November presentation to Caltrans resisting AB-1581 defies safe bicycling.
I’m sorry my story did not make it perfectly clear that the reason to sell ads or charge for maps is to pay for them, since the city is in a severe budget crisis.
Bicycle maps would typify how Newport Beach city employees are detached from the community and hide behind paper. How can Newport Beach have a budget crisis affecting safety with high revenue from retailers, businesses and residences? And Newport Beach is comparatively low operating costs being in the top 3% nationally for low crime rate and having light traffic not being contiguous to a major freeway. Newport Beach’s only constraints are the tourist shortfall and being bounded by the ocean and reduced funds caused by California’s deficit. The city staff can exert marketing skills to find a safety sponsor such as a bicycle vendor. The sponsor would get the benefit of co-op advertising with the city. The goal would be engaging with the community through safety clinics with awards, contests, freebies, and a map with safety tips for risk areas. Newport Beach’s only engagement with bicycles has been NBPD police motorcycles chasing bicycles for vehicle citations at traffic signals that city engineers have set back to not detect bicycles. The NBPD police cars that speed through the Back Bay with no headlights at night exemplify the detachment. To the contrary, the Newport Beach Fire Department has shown incessant engagement both in daily routines and planned activities. Newport Beach residents and visitors deserve a more positive engagement for safe bicycling, and without selling maps or ads.
The Newport Beach Safe Cycling Task Force appears to have yielded to the city’s preeminent Revenue Department by selling maps to bicyclists. Good selling.
Actually, nothing has been decided and printing costs are being investigated.
Cycling maps, speed bumps, and warning flashes will have negligible impact on bicycle safety in Newport Beach. The safety difference will be road design with bike lanes and no parking. Bike lanes reinforce to motorists that there might be a bicycle around a curve or after a hilltop. San Joaquin Road going uphill or east to Newport Coast is safe because of the bike lane. Cars do speed and cyclists waver on the uphill, but most motorists move to the left lanes to stay clear of cyclists. The danger points are Jamboree Road north, Bison west going uphill, and Park Ridge in both directions. Jamboree north is a narrow right lane from San Joaquin to Ford. From Ford to Bison, the road is wider but a motorist will not be ready for a bicycle after the crest as shown by the Donald Murphy tragedy. Also, bike lanes contiguous to parked cars are unreliable. An example is the first half mile of Back Bay Road. I had a car pull out this week from a parking space next to the Hyatt. The driver was extremely apologetic. The driver’s mistake was making a U-turn out of the parking space and focusing on looking ahead instead of looking in the right mirror or behind. Each month I have about one incident in those parking spaces from visitors to Hyatt meetings trying to save on parking fees. San Joaquin Road going down to the Back Bay is another example with parked cars from Park Newport. As cyclists gain speed going down hill, parked cars pull out to make a U-turn at the divider. And some of the parked vehicles appear to be storage trucks. Newport Beach needs more bike lanes, and safely designed away from parked cars.
The NBPD has traditionally watched for bicycles during Christmas at the Back Bay signal nearby police headquarters. The signal has been set back by Newport Beach traffic engineers to not detect bicycles turning into the California state preserve. Cyclists are unlikely to stop on holidays when there is no traffic and signal will not detect . The Christmas gift from the NBPD has been a $350 vehicle citation, a damaged driving record, and increased insurance premiums. Please update cyclists of what can be expected from the NBPD for this Christmas. Thanks.
The fatality of engineer and cyclist Don Murphy is an extreme tragedy. The markings on the road show the how the hit-and-run was horrific. I am a regular bicycle commuter past there, and the tragedy has to be a call for action. There needs to be clarification about the NBPD reports to the OCRegister of Jamboree as a “busy thoroughfare” and “hit while riding in the bike lane”. The time was actually at sunrise with minimal traffic but dim daylight. And Jamboree Road has no bike lanes going north from Balboa Island into Irvine. The problem was the crest in the hill after Ford just before Bison. The driver probably never expected a cyclist after the top of the hill and either drove too close to the curb or inattentively swerved to the right. This tragedy like the Ridge Park fatality shows that cycling safety is not about traffic, but road design to accommodate both bicycles and cars. For safe cycling against the unpredictable, the roadway has to be designed for both space and speed.
At the January 11th meeting, the Safe Cycling Task Force needs to recommend that the City Council issue the following statement: “Newport Beach is unsafe for school or work commuting by bicycle until further evaluation of road design, warning signage, signal detection, bike lanes, and speed limits”. Let’s hope the holiday season is without a bicycle tragedy. The three entrances to the Back Bay preserve are flawed for bicycling. The two Jamboree entrances have non-detecting and untimed traffic signals. The Eastbluff entrance has car traffic going 50 mph in the 40 mph speed limit.
On Christmas Day, I observed a cyclist using the traffic signal at San Joaquin and Jamboree going downhill to the Back Bay state preserve. The cyclist pressed the bicycle button and waited, but the button has been disconnected by Newport Beach city traffic engineers. Then the cyclist futilely zigzagged across the embedded wire loops without triggering the traffic signal controller. When there was a traffic break from a left-turning car, the cyclist vigorously pumped his way across the six lanes of Jamboree Road. The signal only has a 4 second green and 1 second yellow pause for a single car. In the past at such situations, NBPD police motorcycles have chased cyclists to concoct CVC 21453 moving vehicle citations. The intersection is about a half mile from where engineer Don Murphy, the bicycle-to-work commuter, was fatally struck on December 9th. Let’s watch for bicycles on the New Year’s weekend, and pray that Newport Beach does not repeat the two bicycle fatalities of 2009.
[...] our earlier cycling task force stories here, here, here and [...]
Yeah I agree. Good points really!