I'll be there. Re parking, my friend sent me this: If any of you are planning to attend the cycling meeting you may want to consider alternate parking. I'm sure the parking lots at the Newport Beach Library and Bristol Farms shopping center will be packed and it only has one exit. I would suggest parking on Sea Lane (enter off Mac Arthur onto Harbor View Dr and make an immediate left onto Sea Lane) which runs parallel to MacArthur between San Joaquin and the PCH. Walk down to the PCH and use the crosswalk to get into the Bristol Farms parking lot as crossing Mac Arthur without a crosswalk is not a good idea. You may also be able to park along Avocado (ocean side of PCH). or some of the other side streets.
Pass that article to some people in the same SB County prison. Hopefully one honest inmate will step up and do the right thing... and I use "the right thing" loosely.
http://www.dailypilot.com/news/tn-dpt-0918-leaf-20120917,0,3921513.story so sad...also info on the second rider...a Doctor on a link to the left.
So I went to the meeting and found it very interesting. I think if there was even half as much turn out at subsequent meetings positive things could happen. I joined the OC Bike Coalition primarily because I am familiar with the LA Bike Coalition and would like to see a similar group representing cyclists' needs in the OC. It's a grass roots organization just growing but you have to start somewhere. OC has so many bikers of all types. Just think what might happen if we joined forces. LA got lucky when that car caused Villaraigosa to crash on his bike but hopefully we can accomplish the same by just organizing and speaking up.
90 Days for killing someone ? Unbelievable ! Our justice system is so flipping soft it is frightening , liberal judges and a bleeding heart mentality that says " Oh you can rehabilitate them " give me a break. An innocent cyclist is run down and murdered by a street racer and he gets 90 days. What a slap in the face of the lives that were ruined because of this guys actions.
what is a bike coalition going to do? honestly? I'm not being sarcastic, but I'm cynical and need it summed up for me in one sentence. And "bringing awareness" is fluffy nonsensical BS.
I have no clue what a bike coalition will do, but I hope they lobby for better/safer roads. I visited a few bike friendly cities this summer and was amazed how bike friendly they are. When my wife and I rode a few days in Albuquerque NM they have barriers to keep cars out of the bike lanes (big concrete barriers) on busier roads, they also had dedicated bike trails to get around the city without dealing with cars. Other cities had dividers in busy sections too. It defiantly took care of the normal close calls I experience here. I'm not sure if creating a bike route network is possible but some cities have them and work great from my experience.
No, that's a good question. In LA County they seem to have made strides with getting bikeways done and with getting law enforcement to defend the bike riders rights but that's just word of mouth. I guess I'll have to find out what they actually have done.
It's going to take more videos, more complaints filed (keeping on file the perps - like the Brentwood Doc episodes) and more yelling at roadies outside bike lanes/running red lights or drivers passing going brainless. I just don't understand why motorists who get angry with roadies acting reckless don't take videos and report the incident(s) to the police and post them on biker forums. Same for bikers - take videos, numbers - do something! My neighborhood is plagued with young fixie riders and beach cruiser types who ride chaotically down very tight, heavily trafficked streets. I give up on all this craziness - from both sides. I quit road, sold my good bike and ride dirt. Two knockdowns from nutto drivers (one head-on in Redlands) told me enuf's enuf - I will lose eventually in one of these accidents and I'd rather take my chances getting gonged on chunk sgl'track. I have enuf anger stored up at reckless drivers that I don't want to be in another run-in and then lose my temper and bop somebody and go to jail. It ain't worth it anymore around here. R.I.P. to these two women - they deserved better. Horrible way to die.
We are not alone with this problem. http://www.mv-voice.com/news/show_story.php?id=6079 Over 200 bike-related injuries in five years in one City...Mountain View CA. That is one bicyclist injured by a car every 9 days...in just one city. Dean
If I still did road I would organize around videos and bike patrols. This kind of footage needs to be seen: http://www.adventure-journal.com/2012/09/driver-goes-madman-with-horn-on-road-cyclists/ Send people out every weekend with cameras and start documenting what's going on out there. The Brentwood Doctor case showed that police departments can't/wont do anything about complaints w/o injuries/damages. But, when that guy finally went crazy they had prior reports to aid the prosecution and to shine a light on how lax police can be in defending cyclists. My accident report was "pending approval (not done)" six months after the accident. Why? I was still alive, the driver had insurance, we were settling the case and the CHP had "243" incidents to investigate in Riverside County that weekend. Do the math. Newport Beach has an atrocious number of cycling deaths in the last three years. I can remember now 8 people who have died around here doing the San Joaquin/Newport Coast Drive area climbs. You start sending up videos of Hummers going 90 MPH up San Joaquin and they aren't going to be too happy about that. Bike clubs should jump in on this. The OC Rebels and OC Wheelmen are out there in numbers every weekend. The Rebels lost one of their members a couple of years ago to a hit/run on MacArthur.They should be bringing video cameras and sending it up to KTLA and OC Weekly web sites. The city doesn't care about this - face the facts. Make them care. Let people see what it's like to get buzzed by cars going around OC. Painting bike lanes and adding signage does little IMHO. Riders have to take the battle to the larger public via the media. Let people see what it's like out there when their own children and friends start hitting the road for a ride. Forget the local government. They'll blow smoke, paint some more lane space and hope this all goes away without a big snapback from the victim's families and the riding community. Boston was hell to ride in for years until the coalitions got the Mayor on board and he started cracking the whip. Local pols in Costa Mesa and Newport are more concerned about breaking unions, cutting expenses and getting reelected. Nothing new there.
This is in Colorado. How many of these selfish drivers do you think are here? http://kdvr.com/2012/09/18/bicyclists-face-horn-rage-from-driver-near-longmont/
I also went to the meeting on Monday and I suggested to the cyclists in that room and I will do so here as well, that we as Road Cyclists need a national group formed similiar to MADD; you mention MADD to anyone and they instantly know what you are talking about and the stigma that MADD has added to drunk drivers and all the national recognition/acclaim/press they have gained to fight that fight has been great; we need to form a similar organization with a catchy name to begin spreading the word about the injustices that occur to cyclists on the road; when that doctor in LA went ballistic and tried to kill those two cyclists because he was tired of cycling groups riding on the road by his house, I was appalled at the lack of national press that got, not even a blip compared to so many other stupid stories you hear; we will probably never have the following that MADD does, but even if we get a fraction of the acclaim, press and attention that MADD has gotten, then perhaps we can start changing the attitude that unfortunately many drivers have of cyclists on the road, as is evident by some of these hateful/ignorant comments these people always post on the articles of cycling deaths; this organization can start pressing cyclists issues all across the country and hopefully begin educating non cyclist drivers what its like out there from our point of view and how a little patience, a little room on the road and some courtesy might just begin saving some of these unnecessary deaths; just my two cents, thanks for reading!
Very good idea, you should contact the local chapter of MADD in Tustin http://www.madd.org/local-offices/ca/orange-county/ they may be willing to help. I would think a large percentage of those injured or killed on bikes are done by drivers under the influence. Dean
AJ - Thanx for heads up on this. I went - you may have too. A good 150 people showed looking for answers to keep riders safer. BTW, I spoke with the detective on the case this afternoon - they caught the guy who likely killed the rider on NCD. He wouldn't say how but seems like the cameras on the toll road got him! At the meeting I proposed amongst other things leaving the ghost bikes up permanently so that drivers are forever reminded to be careful a rider was killed at that spot.