The AZ Star on Platinum Status
The Arizona Daily Star has an article today on Tucson’s “bicycle friendly” nature. It features comments by Richard Corbett and others about Tucson’s desire to be the second city in the entire nation to achieve “Platinum” status by the League of American Bicyclists. This would put us at the very top in terms of how “bike friendly” our city is.
I have lots of mixed feelings about this, as readers of this blog know. For one thing, once you are at the top there should be nowhere else to go, but I see lots of room for improvement. Particularly in terms of how local law enforcement handles bicyclists who get assaulted by motorists, but also how it handles those who are injured.
I have clients who were hit in left-hooks, right-hooks, hit by baseball bats, shot at by paint-ball guns, struck head-on, deliberately struck from behind, and hit with fists — all of whom got next to no help from the police department. I have a client who was charged with misdemeanor damage because his body left a dent in the car that swerved into him.
I have another who was cited for not having a bike light on his bike after a motorist did an illegal U-turn and plowed into him in broad daylight, sending him to the hospital.
I have a client who was left bleeding on the pavement after the motorist who hit her called 911 and then fled the scene. The city would not trace the call to cite the motorist — I had to subpoena them to get the number the call was made from, and then subpoena the phone company to get her identity. The city still will not pursue her for her hit-and-run.
My client who was struck with the baseball bat has gotten no response from the city even though he got the license plate of the assailant and we know where he lives.
And don’t get me started on the tickets that motorists routinely do not receive after striking my clients. I have one client who was riding through a green light on Fourth Avenue when a car struck her, making a left-turn directly into her, sending her to the hospital. The officer wrote in the report that since both vehicles had the green light, it was impossible to determine fault!
Something tells me that we have a ways to go before we get to platinum.
–Erik Ryberg
March 24th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Are we even gold status right now? I see all these signs that say “Bicycle friendly city 2004-2006″
March 24th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Hi Mickey,
Yes, we are currently gold. One short step away from being a bicyclist’s heavenly paradise!
EBR
March 24th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
I have not been an avid bicyclist since 1976. However, I would not want this false honor if I were a Tucson bicyclist. Such an honor bestowed on Tucson would denigrate all those other cities that are “Platinum” and I would question the validity of the entire “commendation” or rating system.
Mr. Ryberg, you definitely deserve commendation for representing your clients. The injustice they are experiencing from the TPD is astounding and completely unacceptable.
March 25th, 2008 at 8:32 am
A criticism of the BFC program, with suggested improvements:
http://www.labreform.org/BFC.html
March 25th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Ahh, now I see how the process works. So one of the “E”s – Enforcement – can truly suck toads, as it does; as long as we’re good enough on the other “E”s to make up for it. You gotta admit, as far as lots of bike lane miles, freely available maps of such, cyclist and public awareness education programs, riding encouragement programs and such – Tucson is way ahead of most communities, at least most of the ones where I’ve lived anyway. That leaves a lot of wiggle room for TPD and the DA’s office to continue to be the bigoted asshats they seem to be and we still get a pretty good average grade. Of course that’s little consolation to victims that are denied equal protection under the law as a class because of their choice of transportation.
So maybe instead of trying to present the problem through the Bicycle Advisory Committee (who are less apt to see the problem clearly because other than that we’re doing a pretty good job), we should start filling up the “call to audience” roster at the Citizen Police Advisory Review Board, or perhaps the City Council subcommittee that sets the TPD budget?
March 25th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Jeez, does Tucson have any bike cops? Maybe if they got a taste of what’s it like to ride…
March 26th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Erik,
It’s ironic that one of the top news stories today is “More pedestrians and cyclists dying on Tucson roads.”
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/231470.php
Hmmm.
-Charlotte
May 31st, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Maybe if Tucson cyclists actually OBEYED a traffic law occasionally, they’d get more sympathy. After being clipped (as a pedestrian) several times by jackasses on bikes, I’m cheering for the SUVs.