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July Fouth's "road rage" incident on Mandeville Canyon was reported here on Monday morning and the story quickly gathered steam with TV stations clamoring to interview the cyclists, the Police Captain reporting that the case would proceed as a criminal assault case and then culminating with Councilman Bill Rosendahl going on TV (video above) and referring to the Cyclists' Bill of Rights (PDF version), which addresses equality and access as basic civil rights that ensure cyclists their place on the road.
The Cyclists' Bill of Rights was introduced by the Bike Writers Collective earlier this year and it has been gathering Neighborhood Council endorsements with the East Hollywood NC taking the lead, Silver Lake NC following and Atwater Village due this Thursday.
Steve Hymon refers to the CBR in his Bottleneck Blog and today's LA Times article on the Mandeville incident concludes with Rosendahl quoting from the CBR saying "Cyclists have the right to travel safely and free of fear."
Disclosure: LAist contributor Stephen Box is one of the authors of the Cyclists' Bill of Rights
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I was at the transportation committee meeting today for the LA City Council and watched as Stephen Box handed the Cyclists' Bill of Rights to a very supportive City Council. It was very inspiring.
In particular, Councilman Rosendahl was eloquent and compassionate about the horrible road-rage incident.
It was also inspiring to see such a clear shift in attitude. Bicycles are a viable mode of transportation that deserve an equal place on the roads.
What's more scary are the comments over on the LA Times article about the incident.....
yikes!
Bicycle's are SUPPOSED to have the same right of way on the roads of California as other vehicular traffic. Hopefully, the BBoR will give riders more rights (the need them) than autos drivers.
I also hope the two men assaulted by the emergency room doctor win a huge (I mean gargantuan) settlement. That will change things drastically.
I'd relate my own personal account of road rage, but it's very much like those reported elsewhere. There are simply some people out there who feel their massive car or truck has more rights than a person on a bike that weighs 1/100th of what their vehicle does.
Fortunately, there aren't many people who feel their expensive car/SUV gives them special rights. Unfortunately, it only takes one or two asses out of thousands of polite and attentive drivers to make two wheeled travel a nightmare.
Actually, I read an article on the incident today in the LA Times and I noticed one interesting thing.
The bicyclists were were riding side-by-side.
Now, this is a narrow road through the canyons with no shoulder. There is no excuse for bicyclists to be riding side-by-side in that kind of environment. They should be riding single file as far to the right side of the road as is safe.
Sharing the road means that both bicyclists and motorists should work together so that everyone can travel along the roads as quickly and safely as possible.
Actually, RedMercury, the exact opposite is true (well, except for the "side by side" bit). On a road that doesn't afford ample space for cars and bicycles to travel together, it's actually safer (and a protected right in the CA vehicle code, 21202) for the bicycle to take the lane.
The law is written this way to protect cyclists - if a road is too narrow for motorists to pass bicycles without crossing the centerline, it's dangerous for bicycles to hug the curb and make car think they can squeeze by. Better to ride a reasonable distance from the edge of the road and force the drivers to realize they need to deliberately pass you.
Riding single file is of course the most courteous way to share the road, although I doubt anyone here is suggesting that excuses the behavior of the driver in this case.