Santa Monica Daily Press Letter to the Editor about Cyclist.

Thread started by
louisbianchirider at 05.29.09 - 12:56 pm
Last Sunday my wife's weelchair was almost struck by a cyclist riding on the sidewalk. Approximately a month ago, I almost struck a bucyclist with my car after he had blown through a stop sign.
So it is with great interest that I read a letter to your editor suggesting that bicyclist be more courteous when violating the law.
Santa Monica Municipal Code 3.12.540(a) states that there are to be no bicycles on sidewalks. California Vehicle Code 21200 states that bicyclist are to obey all of the rules of the road. Unfortunately, these laws are ignored in Santa Monica creating a very dangerous and chaotic situation for pedestrians, motorists and bicycle riders alike. I can't recall when I last saw a bicyclist stop for a stop sign or a signal for a turn.
To the contrary, bicyclist are constantly blowing through stop signs, speeding down the sidewalks, flying out of alleys, cutting diagonally across intersections and generally behaving in a manner that evidences a complete oblivion to common sense.
I really knew that things had gotten out of hand when I saw a woman bicyclist, with a small child in a seat behind her, using one hand to steer as she use the other one to talk on a cell phone.
I am very suspect about the city's sensitivity to this problem after seeing a group of uniformed Santa Monica police officers bicycling down the sidewalk near the only one who is concerd about this problem and I would be very curious as to your readers' opinions on this issue.
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My thought about this is that you cant judge every cyclist for the one that almost hit you or the one that you had almost hit. I have seen tons of riders out there that stop for the signs, and everything else although I do see the few shit bags that are riding on the sidewalk and are getting yelled at by me to get off the sidewalk grow some balls and ride on the st. The tell me to get a life shove off and fuck you but hey all I know is the fact that all I can do is behold the law like I do.
The one part that I dont get is this person believes that the cops in Santa Monica do nothing to get cyclist not abbiding by the law I can do nothing but laugh at this because I cannot tell them how many times I have seen fellow riders being harrased by the Santa Monica Police Department.
Please write to this in regards to your comments aswell writing back to the letter to the editor and will include all of your testimonials to this.
louisbianchirider05.29.09 - 1:02 pm
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