[SDCBC] SD Police: "You need to be in the bike lane"

[Gene Carman]

Ah the lack of proper education rears it's ugly head yet 
again...  While indeed there are cyclists that could stand to learn 
how to properly ride a bike...  there is hardly any reason to do so 
when even the "enforcers" may tell them they are wrong.  (And I 
suspect you were riding in a very predictable manner.)

Once again, this points to my pet peeve that until the driving public 
understands that cyclists have the same rights to the road as any 
other road user, then we cyclists will continue to face issues of 
everything from "harassment by professional" such as you faced, to 
the ever popular and common "get on the sidewalk."

As Brian suggests...  the real answer is training the public about 
our rights...  even sending officers to Road 1.  Certainly PSAs along 
the lines of "Click it or Ticket" would help.

I sent an email appeal to "Officer Phil" of KUSI several weeks before 
bike to work week asking him to mention the legality of cyclists on 
the road in his morning traffic segments...  he has been tossing out 
questions about the driving test, as of late.  I got no 
response.  The opportunity is still there however for other local 
news agencies to focus on cycling as an alternative to gas guzzing 
motoring...  and of course to mention the rights of cyclists on the road.

At 01:42 PM 5/30/2008, you wrote:

>I worked from home this morning and then rode in to work right 
>before noon. At about 11:45 I was eastbound on La Jolla Village 
>Drive going over the I-5 interchange.  Traffic was pretty 
>light.  Before I reached the interchange I started out in the far 
>right lane.  As I approached the entrance to the S/B I-5 onramp, I 
>noticed in my mirror that someone behind me had slowed, so I 
>signaled and changed lanes to the left, leaving the rightmost lane 
>free for traffic that is headed across the interchange and onto the 
>N/B I-5 onramp.  I've been doing this route for almost eight years 
>now, and this is basically what I do every day.  Getting stuck to 
>the right of traffic in that rightmost lane sucks.
>
>Anyway, at the other end of the interchange is a traffic light at 
>the intersection with traffic coming off of N/B I-5 for which I had 
>to slow and stop because it was red.  I noticed the SD police car 
>behind me in my mirror, and that the officer changed lanes and 
>pulled alongside me at the light.  The passenger side window rolled 
>down and the officer on the passenger side said:
>
>Officer: "You need to be in the bike lane".
>Serge: "That's not a bike lane, sir."
>Officer: (glances at the paint demarcated rubble-filled shoulder and 
>then back at me) "You need to be further over"
>Serge: (gesturing at the onramp split behind us) "There is a right 
>turn back there - I want to avoid being right hooked"
>Officer: "Then how is everyone going to get around you?"
>
>I didn't get to answer because the light turned green and we had to 
>go, but I think my shrug and facial expression might have 
>effectively conveyed, "not my problem".  In retrospect, I should 
>have said: "Same way you just got around me".  Why is so 
>unacceptable for motorists to have to change lanes to pass a cyclist?
>
>What was interesting is that the emphasis was on staying out of the 
>way of motorists and not on safety.  Never mind that he was 
>effectively suggesting, I think, that I ride the white line between 
>streams of 45+ mph traffic in relatively narrow lanes such that they 
>don't even need to slow down because of me, much less (God forbid) 
>change lanes, and that after the split I continue riding far right 
>despite the curbside parking that starts after crossing that 
>intersection.  If you ride far right you get stuck having to 
>negotiate for right of way to move left of the parked cars (and door 
>zone), and are more prone that far over to be overlooked by a 
>right-on-red driver turning right from the N/B I-5 onramp onto 
>eastbound LJVD (been there, done that, years ago).   It's much 
>better to establish right of way near the center of the rightmost 
>lane before the intersection, and maintain it as you cross it, than 
>any other alternative.
>
>I think they just assumed, perhaps unconsciously, they could easily 
>intimidate me into riding "out of the way", and were befuddled when 
>it didn't work.
>
>Serge
>
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