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This past Saturday night, the Los Angeles Police Department set up a Sobriety Check Point on Hollywood Boulevard between Gower and Bronson and staffed the effort with officers from the local Hollywood Station as well as a couple of dozen officers from West Traffic Division.
Captain Nancy Lauer, Commanding Officer of West Traffic, said they were committed to making the streets safer for everybody. "One of the most effective things we can do is remove drunk drivers from the streets. That's why we're here tonight"
Captain Lauer demonstrated her unique and effective management style by working her way through the crowd of officers, personally thanking each one of them for their efforts. She also greeted the pedestrians and spectators, explained the operation, passed out her business cards and asked the public for suggestions and feedback.
The operation was supervised by Sgt. Windsor and ran from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. with a special detail staying on site until 3:45 am.
Meanwhile, Santa Monica demonstrated its unique commitment to safer streets by running a task force on Friday night that focused on cyclists.
Santa Monica Police Officers were out in full force, riding motorcycles alongside the Santa Monica Critical Mass and citing cyclists for leaving the bike lane (not a violation of the law - CVC 21208) taking control of a traffic lane (not a violation of the law - CVC 21202) and turning left from a left turn lane. (again, not a violation of the law- CVC 22100)
An informal survey indicates that over a dozen cyclists received tickets for riding their bikes on the mean streets of Santa Monica.
A cyclist who goes by the nickname, "FuzzBeast," reports that the police were ignoring motorist behavior while focusing on the cyclists. "I was stopped at the corner of Colorado and 4th, waiting for the light to turn green for a left turn...well after the light was green two cars ran the red making a left turn past us. I turned to the cop as I rode off and said 'Yeah, well, what about them, they ran the red, I know you saw it, are you going to do anything about it?' They just scoffed at me."
There is history to the tension between the Santa Monica Police Department and the Critical Mass cyclists, with the SMPD writing tickets that fail to stand but that have a chilling effect on the success of the ride.
Through it all, cyclists are left wondering about Santa Monica's commitment to public spaces "where those on foot and on bicycle have equal priority with the automobile." Perhaps it doesn't include Friday nights!
Sgt. Horn, the supervising officer for the Santa Monica Police task force, was unavailable for comment.
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On Hollywood bl on a sat night from 8pm to 2am? Can someone please tell me how every single driver wasn't arrested for DUI suspicion? How does this work? How many people did they catch?
Capt. Lauer reports that 7 motorists were arrested for Driving Under the Influence and that 16 vehicles were impounded. (Motorists without a license were cited, their car was impounded and they walked)
Does anyone else think that DUI checkpoints shouldn't be announced ahead of time? Wouldn't they be more effective?
"A cyclist who goes by the nickname, "FuzzBeast,""
If the goal is to have more DUI arrests, then they shouldn NOT announce ahead of time. But if the goal is to have fewer people driving under the influence, then they SHOULD announce checkpoints ahead of time. The idea is that people will give up their keys or drink less, knowing there's a checkpoint.
I guess there's an argument that drunk drivers will just take alternate routes. But, really, how crafty is a drunk driver? How much are you going to trust your drunk self to slyly elude Hollywood Blvd.?
my network of drunk driving friends text each other when one of these things is spotted or announced. better safe than sorry.
"my network of drunk driving friends"
Sounds like someone needs some new friends.
I think they have to announce a checkpoint publically, or else it becomes a illegal search & siezure issue (? - I am not a lawyer but I play one on tv...)
I don't think they can set up a secret location and then start hassling people, they need a pretext (usually an observed broken law - tailight, no signal, etc...) so when they say "HEY EVERYONE WE ARE DOING THIS" even though everyone did not necessarily hear, the po-po made the effort to announce, thus giving them pretext...
Apparently SMPD finds giving bogus cyclist infractions a matter of vital importance with seemingly no qualm about devoting massive amounts of tax payer dollars on this "mission". Not sure what this mission accomplishes besides discouraging new cyclists and tying up the courts with paperwork from cyclists experienced enough to know a bogus ticket when they see one. Maybe real crime simply does not exist in Santa Monica, so they must take it upon themselves to make up crimes, and what better demographic to pick on then people going 15 MPH.
Having done a variety of different mass bicycle rides in Los Angeles, the Santa Monica Critical Mass is one of the most polite, law abiding groups there is, which makes this crack down so unwarranted. Riders let cars through at stop signs, they don't cork intersections and despite sometimes large gatherings always keep lanes open for cars to pass. I shudder to think what a SMPD response to a ride like San Fransisco Critical Mass would be like, riot gear, tear gas, barricades and helicopters?
gatsby, it's like, really, really easy to plan alternate routes in hollywood if you know the city well, especially if you plan your route home BEFORE going out and drinking.
it's not like a.08 BAC renders one incapable of navigation. i wouldn't characterize it as a legion of about-to-pass-out drunk drivers avoiding the checkpoint, more like people planning to go out, knowing they'd be doing some drinking and being smart enough to take sunset or santa monica to avoid a pesky potential DUI and a long traffic delay.
I rode Santa Monica Critical Mass on Friday and can tell you there were more laws broken by police that had no idea what they were doing than by cyclists who at worse broke nuisance laws. Motorcycle police zoomed past me in the right lane (both of us in the right lane) at a speed and distance that was unsafe. If there had been something on the road, (pothole, broken glass, etc...) I would have been forced into it so the cop could get to a red light and...sit there and do nothing while motorists broke the law.
At some point after my house back in New Jersey sells we'll be buying a house somewhere. My experience with the SMPD convinced me that Santa Monica shouldn't be on the list.
SMPD sucks balls. They run a trap outside my house for people riding bikes on the sidewalk down to the beach every weekend -- while the homeless couple f*cking behind the dumpster remain undisturbed. If you're lucky they'll write you up for not having a "bicycle license".
my bike was impounded
Yet they still can't keep tourists and pedestrians off the bike path on the beach.
I was in Montreal this past week, and the bike lanes are amazing! Not only that, but the drivers and the police understand and respect cyclists rights.
Why I stay in LA, other than the weather, is beyond me.
OK, OK, Riley...StreetCloud...you've proven to me that a determined drunk driver can find his way around a DUI stop point.
I still think it's great to announce the event if it deters at least a few people (not you guys, 'cause you're such cool party boys, yo) from driving while intoxicated.
I'm very thankful to be protected by the LAPD, and I respect every officer who lays his/her head on the line every day in order to achieve a safer, more livable community for all of us. I especially applaud Chief Bratton...he is “la creme de la creme”. However, it's unfortunate (for us) that the LAPD is still not equipped/staffed up enough to deal with tragically serious cases like kidnappings.
Recently, my very dear friend's 10-yr old son and his two male cousins, 8 and 12, went missing...taken by the boys' two criminal fathers (http://findthesilahchildren.com/news-updates/). Even though this case involves three boys and two wanted men, my friend still cannot get any action from the police because there are so many other kidnapping cases that are ahead of hers. Whenever she has attempted to engage the assistance of the police to recover the missing children, they feed her some sort of BS. She's feeling completely helpless and demoralized.
"[...] citing cyclists for leaving the bike lane (not a violation of the law - CVC 21208) [...]"
It's not a violation to leave the bicycle lane but it must be done safely. If we look at CVC 21208, we see the following:
No person operating a bicycle shall leave a bicycle lane until the movement can be made with reasonable safety and then only after giving an appropriate signal in the manner provided in Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 22100) in the event that any vehicle may be affected by the movement.
So, for example, if you're riding along the bicycle lane slowly and I decide to pass you, I can't just jump out into the street. I have to signal first. Did the cyclist signal before entering the street so that any approaching cars would know that the cyclist was about to pull out in front of them?
Let's pick another one, shall we?
"[...] taking control of a traffic lane (not a violation of the law - CVC 21202) [...]"
Here's the rub. Yes, you have every right to take control of the traffic lane. No, you don't have the right to hold onto it and slow down the rest of traffic. Section 3 is the one that is mentioned the most, let's see the whole text:
When reasonably necessary to avoid conditions (including, but not limited to, fixed or moving objects, vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, animals, surface hazards, or substandard width lanes) that make it unsafe to continue along the right-hand curb or edge, subject to the provisions of Section 21656. [emphasis mine]
And what is this mysterious section 21656?
[...] a slow-moving vehicle [...] behind which five or more vehicles are formed in line, shall turn off the roadway at the nearest place designated as a turnout by signs erected by the authority having jurisdiction over the highway, or wherever sufficient area for a safe turnout exists, in order to permit the vehicles following it to proceed.
Let's see. Saturday Night, Santa Monica...I'd be willing to bet there were more than five cars behind this guy in the roadway. If he missed an opportunity to pull off and let them pass, he gets a ticket.
Hey, Steven Box (the writer of this story). One of those pesky things the public likes is facts. You mention, for example, that "more than a dozen people" got tickets. How many were in the ride? 100? 200? 300? This let's us know whether or not these tickets were more the exception than the rule. Furthermore, it's good to get both sides of the story. A little word from the arresting officer, when possible, about the reason for the ticket is always worthwhile. Believe it or not, while the police may not be lawyers, they might know a bit more about the law than some guy named "FuzzBeast."