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- How to deal with scofflaw cyclists... send them to school.
- By:admin
- http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...0,853103.story
Huntington Beach has become the first city in the state to offer traffic school for bicyclists who break the law.
The city's police officers now give cyclists the option of going to court and paying high fines or going to traffic school. Some counties, including Santa Cruz and Marin, offer traffic school for bicyclists, but court permission is required first. In Huntington Beach, violators will not need permission or go to court if they elect to take the city's offer.
Unlike the much longer traffic school for drivers, the Police Department's Adult Bicycle Safety Program takes two hours, said Lt. Russell Reinhart. Since the program began late last month, Reinhart said, most of those cited have gone the traffic school route. Ten people opted for the class the first day it was offered, he said.
Violators are charged $50 to cover the cost of the class, which also waives any other fees or fines.
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That is done here as well.
http://www.tempe.gov/court/bdc.htm
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I would prefer a nice spanking instead.
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In the Castle Anthrax! I guess I could stay for a little while longer.
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Interesting way to deal with violators.
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I would prefer a nice spanking instead. Hey now, this is a family forum.
Maybe I can hope that somehow this will make motorists respect cyclists on the road more? Probably not. I do like that it may make some cyclists realize what's legal and what's not, though. I honestly believe some of the "scofflaw" cyclists just don't realize that they're supposed to follow the same rules as motorists.
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Gotta catch 'em first...
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Unlike the much longer traffic school for drivers, the Police Department's Adult Bicycle Safety Program takes two hours, said Lt. Russell Reinhart. Two hours sounds pretty useless. Two hours classroom, an hour on the bike in a parking lot, then an hour long supervised street ride would be a bit more useful.
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Two hours sounds pretty useless. Two hours classroom, an hour on the bike in a parking lot, then an hour long supervised street ride would be a bit more useful. Agreed... frankly I'd prefer a day long class... like a quick LAB Road 1 session... but at least this is a start.
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Two hours sounds pretty useless. Two hours classroom, an hour on the bike in a parking lot, then an hour long supervised street ride would be a bit more useful. It is an alternate to paying the full fine. If it is too long it will increase likelihood for scofflaws to pay the ~$200 fine instead of $50 and 2hrs of their time (which is more likely 3hrs with travel time) Also a longer class will cost more so it could for example be a $100 for a 4hr class which would be even less desirable than $200 (at least for those that can afford it)
Motor vehicle classes can get away with longer classes as the motivation is for drivers to not get points and increases in insurance.
More important than how long is the content. Is it 1hr of lecture on needing to wear a helmet plus how to check brakes and tires.
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Agreed... frankly I'd prefer a day long class... like a quick LAB Road 1 session... but at least this is a start. I'd go one better and make it required in addition to the defensive driving class for any driver with an offense that involves a cyclist in any way. Get a bike shop to donate some loaner bikes (or fix up the PD's stash of unclaimed bikes) of different types, (good advertising and it lets other cyclists try bike styles they may not have ridden before) and stretch it to a full day or more.
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