By Roger Swanson Santa Monica
Last Friday night, the Santa Monica police used shock and awe techniques (against) Santa Monica Critical Mass (SMCM). I witnessed what some in the city bureaucracy will call a great moment in public safety. That conclusion is debatable.
Why did the Police Department do this? Because they could? To promote public safety? To clear the streets for shoppers, who contribute sales tax revenue to the city? To film and showcase its tactics for AFM consideration?
I started riding with Critical Mass last December and have found the riders to be peaceful, fun-loving people, not party animals who go to the local pub, drink too much and then drive home in a 2-ton vehicle. This group rides once a month to show Santa Monicans that there is more to life in Santa Monica than getting in a car and driving to Third Street Promenade for another shopping spree.
What happened last Friday was an overwhelming use of force. SMCM is promoting fun and safety with new rules, which were clearly stated at the beginning of the ride: Stop for all traffic lights.
Over 20 tickets were handed out for, in many cases, truly petty offenses. If the Santa Monica Police were so vigilant at all intersections, there wouldn’t be a need for photo enforcement at major intersections, as currently proposed by the city.
Many others were cited for not having proper safety lights. SMCM is not a formal organization, but it does promote safe riding, including mandatory lights and reflectors. While I think it is foolish not to protect oneself, let’s look at the reality of the situation: You are riding with a group of other riders who have more than adequate lighting; a driver of a 2-ton vehicle would have to be blind, or senile, to not see the mass of bikes. I think a warning (or a fix-it-ticket) would have sufficed.
In a city that is considering installing photo enforcement of traffic lights, it seems odd that this show of force might have left the rest of the city without adequate coverage. Further, is the photo enforcement project to produce revenue or to make the streets safer? Santa Monica residents know that we have too many vehicles on the road with many of them speeding and, too often, running red lights.
In fact, the police should be protecting the riders from the many dangerous drivers in their 2-ton vehicles. Bike riders are not the problem! Further proof that riding a bike in Santa Monica is not safe is the number of riders, who ride on sidewalks, particularly in the downtown area. Some may do it out of ignorance of the ordinance prohibiting it, but 2-ton vehicles have a decided advantage over a bike and riders know that.
In the last several years there have been over a dozen pedestrian fatalities in Santa Monica. Not a good public safety record for a city its size... and not a single fatality was caused by a bike rider.
The City Council needs to recognize that bike riders need to be protected, not harassed. It is time to stop this folly.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 7, 2007. Read the original PDF.