Active Arizona

There will be a meeting to discuss Flagstaff PD’s education and directed enforcement effort:

Flagstaff Police Auditorium
Law Enforcement Administrative Facility, 911 E. Sawmill Road
Sept 1, 2011
6 – 8PM

AzDailySun story.
FMPO stats from 2005-2009 bike-MV crashes.

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3. PROCEDURE: Effective immediately officers assigned to the Patrol Section will proactively enforce traffic offenses committed by both motorists and bicycles that tend to contribute to accidents between the two. Enforcement does not always mean that a citation will be issued to the offender and officer discretion is advised. However, statistics have shown that a traffic citation often has the greatest impact on changing driving behavior. This community policing project will begin on August 23rd and will remain in effect through October 2011. Two uniformed officers assigned to the Selective Enforcement Unit will be assigned, as staffing allows, to conduct intensive bike patrols in “hot spot” areas where we are experiencing a high percentage of car vs. bike accidents. Typically these high visibility bike patrols will be conducted during daylight hours when we can expect the greatest impact from them. The traffic corridors of San Francisco Street and Beaver Street between downtown and NAU are two areas where cars and bikes interface on a frequent basis, particularly when school is in session. Patrol Squad Sergeants will collaborate with the Selective Enforcement Sergeant to staff the bike patrols and provide marked patrol units to assist in enforcement activities as deemed necessary.

The following is a partial list of offenses committed by both motorists and bicyclists that have been determined to cause accidents and/or lead to injuries of involved parties:

• Bicyclists riding on the sidewalk when prohibited by posted sign. (e.g. downtown area, city ord. 09-05-001-0013A)
• Bicyclists riding the wrong way in the bike lane. (28-721A)

• Motorists failing to yield to a bicyclist riding in a designated bike lane (3 foot rule, 28-735A)
• Motorists and bicyclists failing to come to a complete stop at posted stop signs. (Must stop at painted “stop line” prior to entering intersection.) (28-855B)
• Motorists and bicyclists failing to stop for red traffic lights. (28-855B or 28-645A3a)
• Bicyclists under the age of 18 not wearing a helmet. (city ord. 09-04-001-0018A)
• Motorists exceeding the post speed limit in residential neighborhoods and in designated school zones. (28-701B2 or 28-797F)
• Bicyclists crossing the roadway in an unsafe manner. (28-729(1)).
• Motorists failing to yield right of way to bicyclists when making a right turn on a red light/stop sign after a stop. (28-645A3b)
• Motorists driving in designated bike lanes. (28-815D or city ord. 09-05-001-0017)
• Bicyclists riding on a sidewalk (where allowed) and failing to yield the right of way to pedestrians or vehicles when crossing driveways. (city ord. 09-05-001-0013B1 & 3)
• Bicyclists riding at night without a white headlight visible from a distance of at least 500 feet. (city ord. 09-05-001-0007A or 28-817A)
• More than one rider on a bicycle (unless equipped for additional riders; e.g. tandem bicycle, city ord. 09-05-001-0003B or 28-813B)
• Following too closely. (28-730A)
• Motorists failing to stop before crossing sidewalk when emerging from a private driveway or alleyway. (28-856.1)

The Community Relations Sergeant will coordinate the dissemination of educational and safety awareness information to the local media. Additionally the Community Relations Sergeant will keep the public informed as to the progress of this Operation by providing regular updates, via the media, on enforcement activities and educational outreach events. The Community Relations Sergeant will be responsible for communications with the Flagstaff Biking Organization’s Safe Kids Program as well as the Coconino County Safe Kids Coalition.

As an American who has been living here for several years, I am struck, every time I go home, by the way American cities remain manacled to the car. While Europe is dealing with congestion and greenhouse gas buildup by turning urban centers into pedestrian zones and finding innovative ways to combine driving with public transportation, many American cities are carving out more parking spaces. It’s all the more bewildering because America’s collapsing infrastructure would seem to cry out for new solutions.  … read the rest

As a nationally certified cycling safety instructor I was intrigued by Critical Mass’s endeavor to improve cycling in the Valley, so I participated in Friday night’s ride. To the consternation of leaders I stopped for red lights, but I also stood up to motorists that were trying to endanger cyclists by not following the rules of the road.

I fully support the effort Critical Mass Phoenix to bring attention to the lawlessness of some motorists relative to the legitimate use of bicycles on the roads, but not by breaking the law ourselves. How many law obeying and innocent motorists were wrongly delayed and inconvenienced and are now generally resentful of all cyclists? I believe it’s the wrong message.

One reply I received was that the group was akin to a long limousine, the front of which entered the intersection on green, but the rear completed on the red. No, we are all separate drivers of our bicycles and are not joined by a steel frame. Hence we are individually under the rules of the road. Another reply was that keeping going on a red light kept the group together. I have led and been on other rides that stayed together by lawful means.

We all need to follow the rules of the road.

Gene Holmerud