Editor:
I am sick and tired of reading pie in the sky, utopian opinions and comments, like those of Charles Andrews (“Sticking up for cyclists,” Curious City, Jan.13) and Adam Rakunas (“Making it better for bikes,” Letter to the Editor, Jan. 7) and their ilk. They incessantly try to justify the breaking of the law by bicyclists. They say, “I understand why it’s done,” and “the reason we are forced onto the sidewalk is because of 100 years of ‘car culture.'”
I’ve got news for you people, you don’t have the authority or the right to pick and choose which laws you obey, whether it is understandable or not! If you don’t like a law, get it changed. You also should not, while on family bike rides, be teaching your young children that it is all right to run stop signs and red lights, as I have seen on a regular basis. You are teaching them unjustifiable civil disobedience and are sending the wrong message to an entire new generation. It is only a matter of time before these children, if not killed first, will be choosing which other laws are all right to break. I have also seen numerous incidents of parents on bikes committing these violations with children less than 3 years old in shoulder-strap baby carriers, in handlebar and rack-mounted seats, as well as in kiddy bicycle trailers. These people should be charged with child endangerment! I hope you parents are proud of yourselves!
The one and only reason you, Mr. Rakunas, feel unsafe riding on the street and are made to breathe so much dirty air is that you keep voting pro-development government officials back into office because they keep promising more bike lanes, which amounts to catering to the few to the detriment of the many. You don’t seem to have the brains to realize that the cars hurtling down your residential streets, and all those extra cars emitting all of that extra pollution, wouldn’t be here if we hadn’t allowed our city to be overdeveloped. If you sidewalk riders hit, injure or kill a pedestrian, you made a conscious choice to ride there and should be charged with assault with a deadly weapon and/or manslaughter! All of you should be required to have licenses and insurance to pay for the damage to life and property you may cause. Just because riding is environmental, doesn’t mean you have a license to break the law.
You that believe everyone can ride a bike, just because you have temporarily been able to make it work for you, are nuts. Look at the number of handicapped placards in cars and the ever growing number of seniors, look at the uncertainty of the job and housing markets. No one knows how far away their job or home may be in the future. If you are permanently injured or are taken ill, or your life changes in a dramatic fashion, you will be driving a car too, and be glad to have it. Odds are the life you have now is not practical or sustainable and you are in for a very rude awakening when your perfect little life has unforeseen changes forced upon it. The facts are that the overwhelming majority of people cannot do what they need to do, on a daily basis, on a bicycle and no matter how hard you wish for it, cars are not going away for the foreseeable future.
Mr. Andrews says he has almost completed his goal of walking every street in Santa Monica, and has never once seen a bike being ridden on the sidewalk. Well he must be wearing a blindfold because I literally cannot leave my house without seeing multiple occurrences.
Norton Willis
Santa Monica
Santa Monica is light years ahead of NYC! In NY it is not illegal to drive automobiles on the sidewalk and if you happen to be a taxi driver and hit/maim a pedestrian it can all be blamed on a pesky bicyclist legally riding on the street. Bicyclists behaving badly (running traffic lights, etc) is not good but ofcourse it is OK for motorists to turn right on red lights and aim at pedestrians in cross walks. Who allowed automobiles to take over our streets anyway? Gezzz!
I’ve heard all these arguments against cycling for years, but the numbers keep going up.
We’re not going away. Go cry about it. PS: Feel free to also weep about the fact that drivers inhale more pollution than cyclists. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2920084/
Hmmm…I’d be more concerned about the multitudinous sub-humans who call themselves ‘people’ who go around sneezing, coughing, and spitting in our streets! ( is no one aware of the dangers of this? )AND…while I’m at it…how about some warning signs for that?…or has it become LEGAL???
Very angry man, it seems. With issues, probably. Breath slowly. Get more hugs. Stop constructing enemies. Look around and smile. It is just regular people getting around as best they can. Santa Monica: Populus felix in urbe felici : Happy people in a fortunate city.
The law to have headlights and reflectors on bikes when they are used at night must be enforced.
The policeman at our community meeting said there are so many violations they would be doing nothing but writing those tickets.
1) A few people getting stiff fines would influence the rest to obey the law.
2) It should be a State law that bicycles cannot be sold without headlights and reflectors.
3) Bicycle licenses should require headlights and reflectors, which can be purchased very cheaply and could even be sold where the licenses are issued.
These ‘Ninja bicyclists’ have made driving at night a danger for everyone.
D’Lynn Waldron
Mr. Willis is guilty of excessive hyperbole in his distorted attack lumping most cyclists as scofflaws while completely ignoring the vast numbers of pedestrians and motor vehicle operators who routinely ignore the law. Inconsiderate jaywalking pedestrians could care less when they stop traffic as they blithely usurp the right of way. By law, cyclists and motorists alike have to yield to pedestrians. One woman was jaywalking on a busy street when her son killed by a speeding impaired motorist. BOTH parties were in the wrong, but the woman would have had to walk a third of a mile each way to reach a crosswalk every time she got off the bus near her apartment. I will bet that Willis honks his horn and curses at anyone who gets in HIS way, but refuses to use his turn signal, or look for cyclists when opening his car door after parking in this congested city! It is people like him who keep voting for the SMRR incumbents who are destroying this city! The problem is curmudgeons like Willis lack intelligence, insight and empathy, so they are incapable of seeing any point of view, but their own. The same kind of narrow and sanctimonious thinking can be attributed to cyclists, motorists and pedestrians, alike!
So, here’s me, talking about how pro-development I am:
http://www.giro.org/2013/05/08/miramar-eir-scoping-meeting-or-were-going-to-kick-michael-dells-ass-and-eat-cookies/
And I agree that cyclists who run stop signs, go against traffic, and ride on the sidewalk are dangerous and should be cited. It pisses me off because I follow the law when I ride, and I think anyone who breaks the law is an idiot who makes it dangerous for everyone else on two wheels. On the flip side, do you agree that drivers who injure or kill pedestrians or cyclists should be held to the same standards that you write about? Shouldn’t they be charged with assault with a deadly weapon or manslaughter? Shouldn’t we invest more in public transportation for those who are incapable of driving? Or would you rather everyone stays behind the wheel until we see some other driver repeat George Weller’s horrific crash through the farmers market?
I want a Santa Monica where people feel safe to ride in the streets and walk on the sidewalks. I want a Santa Monica where we have bus coverage for everyone so, if they can’t or don’t want to ride a bike, they can still get to where they want without having to rely on a car. I don’t want more parking lots, high-rises, or car-oriented development in Santa Monica. I want bikeshare stations at the 17th Street and 4th Street Expo Line stations so people can get off the train and not have to hail cabs. I want the MANGo and the Washington Avenue Greenway and everything else in the city’s Master Bike Plan. I want my daughter and her classmates and everyone’s kids to be able to ride their bikes to school on safe streets where people value the lives of their fellow citizens over their own convenience.
What kind of city do you want, Mr. Willis? One for cars, or for people?