I think it was about a year ago that I got a huge laugh when I read that the City of Santa Clarita won an award for being bicycle friendly by some national bicycle coalition or something. I laughed because I know it couldn’t be further from the truth. While Santa Clarita has some nice bike paths, it provides nothing in the way of safety for cyclists getting to and from these paths, or commuting to work. Furthermore, they actually continue to make it more dangerous on the streets of Santa Clarita by adding additional lanes to streets, without adequately widening or providing bike lanes and by failing to do simple things like add “Share the Road” signs.
The goal of the city is simply to get more cars on the road, not to provide safe transportation to those not in cars. I drive a car almost every day. I am not one of those people that think cars should be banned and bikes should rule. That is simply not going to happen. However, I believe that a city council, along with local law enforcement, has the responsibility to provide a safe environment for their citizens. That responsibility extends to all of their citizens, not just those that drive a motor vehicle.
Why am I bringing this up? Because the city council is at it again. A reader of this blog forwarded me notes from the May 26th meeting of the council, and they apparently want to add more lanes without making any accommodations for cyclists……again. I ask that whoever has the plaque or ribbon that the city received for being bike friendly to please burn it immediately. You do not deserve it. Send it to Portland at least they are making an effort.
RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING NO-STOPPING ZONES ALONG THE SOUTH CURB OF LYONS AVENUE AND THE EAST CURB OF BOUQUET CANYON ROAD – Staff is proposing to restripe roadway segments of Lyons Avenue and Bouquet Canyon Road to install an additional third travel lane to increase roadway capacity and improve traffic flow. These improvements require the removal of on-street parking along the south curb of Lyons Avenue and the east curb of Bouquet Canyon Road.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Adopt a resolution to establish approximately 630 feet of no-stopping zone along the south curb of Lyons Avenue between Wiley Canyon Road and Peachland Avenue and establish approximately 1,000 feet of no-stopping zone along the east curb of Bouquet Canyon Road from 500 feet south of Cinema Drive to 500 feet north of Cinema Drive.
Can we mix in a bike lane now and then? I mean really people. I know it’s only a couple of thousand feet, but a lot can happen in that distance. The train wreck (pun intended) that is now the Newhall Ave/Railroad Road intersection and the additional (car) lane without a bike lane on Newhall Ave. were bad enough. But now it looks as though you’re going to do it again. As a reminder, when I spoke to a Santa Clarita traffic engineer about this issue at the time, he essentially said that there are more cars, so they get preference. It apparently doesn’t matter that their actions could cause death and dismemberment. As long as we get more cars on the road everything is good.
Newport Beach in Southern California is an example of bicycle-unfriendliness becoming unsafe bicycling conditions. Besides cyclists being cautious and law-abiding, bicycle safety in a city depends on the traffic engineers and police commanders. The Newport Beach Police Department (NBPD) headquarters is located between two entrances to a heavily bicycled nature preserve. For the road leading down to the middle of the Back Bay preserve, there is a bicycle button but it does not trigger the traffic signal. If only one car is present, the green light lasts four seconds and the yellow pause is merely a second. The intersection has five traffic lanes on each side, including the left and right turn lanes. A bicyclist cannot even make it to the narrow median. I did a quick 360 degree turn to get back to the curb as the traffic roared. Amazingly, a police car parks at the gas station apparently to generate citations. The other entrance to the preserve just south of the NBPD headquarters has similar risks. For many years, the left turn had a motion sensor to detect bicycles and trigger the arrow. Newport Beach Principal Civil Engineer Tony Brine and Traffic Engineer George Bernard replied to my email that the left-turn signal had been set back to not detect bicycles. Motorcycle police chase bicyclists entering the state preserve. California has Statute AB-1581 of traffic signal detection for bicyclists at initial installation or upon subsequent replacement. In a telephone call with Sergeant Mike James, he supported motorcycle police chasing bicycles. Sergeant James seemed oblivious to bicycles and traffic-signal detection. Sergeant James also stated that the NBPD was “following state laws” by demanding a car license plate number from bicyclists to fabricate vehicle citations at non-detecting signals. During another call with Lieutenant Steve Shulman, he laughed. The NBPD Lieutenant sent me a letter that bicyclists should first test left-turn signals and then dismount to go across the traffic lanes to the pedestrian crosswalk button. The danger is going from the left-turn lane across three lanes of traffic to get to the curb. The bicycling risk is like the other Back Bay entrance with a four second green and one second yellow pause. With Lieutenant Shulman retiring and Police Chief John Klein resigning in Newport Beach, there is an opportunity for new leadership in safe bicycling on the roadways.
[...] blogger over at CyclingSantaClarita agreed with me and noted: Why am I bringing this up? Because the city council is at it again. A reader of this blog [...]