One of the biggest dangers to me as a slow biker, especially on Market Street, are the many bikers who don't respect any traffic rules or common sense, so I've been pleased with the recent crackdown by the San Francisco Police Department on bikers violating the law on the city's main thoroughfare.
A post yesterday at the SF Streets blog delved into whether the cops are selectively targeting bikers on Market Street, and provided this background:
Last Friday, as part of SFPD’s traffic safety campaign [pdf], officers beefed up enforcement at 5th and Market and issued a total of 83 citations, mostly to bicyclists, but not a single driver was cited.
Here’s the breakdown, according to numbers provided to Streetsblog by SFPD: 30 bicyclists were cited for running red lights, 21 bicyclists were ticketed for riding on the sidewalk, 16 were cited for “bikes without brakes,” 3 “skateboarders on the sidewalk” were given tickets, and 1 pedestrian was cited for “jaywalking.” The SFPD said “12 misc. citations” were handed out, but withheld specifics. ...
Absent from the post were any photos from the current enforcement program, and I have pix to share from yesterday, showing a motorcycle cop citing a bicyclist. I took these pix, sorry for the two fuzzy images, around 5:30 PM on Friday at the corner of Market and 4th Streets and the cop and biker stood in front of the Starbucks outlet near the old Virgin store.
Let's hope this crackdown is one piece of a larger effort to address the havoc and dangers posed on Market and other San Francisco streets by bike riders who don't give a damn about red lights, pedestrians in crosswalks or on sidewalks, or slow bikers.
Here, here! I wish they would also crack down on motorcycles and scooters using the space between cars as an 'on the fly' travel lane. A few times, I've dropped a pen out the window and then opened my door because I see them a few cars back in my driver's mirror. hehe
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