It's nice to see articles in local papers recently about how "bike friendly" San Diego is. One of the La Jolla newspapers recently conducted a survey asking how "bike friendly" La Jolla is. The vast majority said that La Jolla is NOT bike friendly, and I agree with them. Several major intersections completely disregard any accommodation for cyclists. Most drivers aren't savvy enough to know how to work around a cyclist that is in "their" lane.
Examples include (1) southbound North Torrey Pines Road, right at UCSD where the bike lane disappears to make room for the right-turn lane onto La Jolla Shores Drive, and (2) southbound Torrey Pines Road, where the same thing happens again when the right turn lane to Prospect helps distracted, impatient motorists (many of them clueless tourists) try to make cyclists struggling up that climb feel like they have no right to the road.
The fact of the matter is that cyclists do have every right to the road, so "get off the road" is about the stupidest thing a driver can say, but that doesn't stop drivers from saying so. I'm not paying any less city, county, or state taxes when I'm using my bike for transportation or exercise and I'm probably paying a lot more taxes than the clueless clown yelling that favorite phrase (so...STFU, clown!).
Anyway, hopefully cyclist mayor Faulconer and cyclist chief of San Diego police Shelley Zimmerman can work on improving San Diego's safety and the highly-correlated "bike friendliness" of America's Finest City while also enforcing California's 3-foot rule. (Any tickets written yet?) And if worse comes to worst, nothing wakes up a bad/distracted driver like a good old-fashioned lawsuit. In case you need to take that path, I recently found Mike Bomberger. He's a personal injury lawyer who has helped many cyclists and pedestrians fight back against abusive, negligent drivers. Unlike one or two other "cycling advocate" lawyers, Mike doesn't also defend those accused of DUI. I'm not saying those arrested for DUI don't deserve legal counsel, I'm just profoundly disturbed by anyone who can make that part of their work while also allegedly looking out for cyclists. (Sober drivers are bad enough!)
Here's Mike's web site in case you're a cyclist who has been injured by someone's negligent driving.
http://mikebomberger.com
Examples include (1) southbound North Torrey Pines Road, right at UCSD where the bike lane disappears to make room for the right-turn lane onto La Jolla Shores Drive, and (2) southbound Torrey Pines Road, where the same thing happens again when the right turn lane to Prospect helps distracted, impatient motorists (many of them clueless tourists) try to make cyclists struggling up that climb feel like they have no right to the road.
The fact of the matter is that cyclists do have every right to the road, so "get off the road" is about the stupidest thing a driver can say, but that doesn't stop drivers from saying so. I'm not paying any less city, county, or state taxes when I'm using my bike for transportation or exercise and I'm probably paying a lot more taxes than the clueless clown yelling that favorite phrase (so...STFU, clown!).
Anyway, hopefully cyclist mayor Faulconer and cyclist chief of San Diego police Shelley Zimmerman can work on improving San Diego's safety and the highly-correlated "bike friendliness" of America's Finest City while also enforcing California's 3-foot rule. (Any tickets written yet?) And if worse comes to worst, nothing wakes up a bad/distracted driver like a good old-fashioned lawsuit. In case you need to take that path, I recently found Mike Bomberger. He's a personal injury lawyer who has helped many cyclists and pedestrians fight back against abusive, negligent drivers. Unlike one or two other "cycling advocate" lawyers, Mike doesn't also defend those accused of DUI. I'm not saying those arrested for DUI don't deserve legal counsel, I'm just profoundly disturbed by anyone who can make that part of their work while also allegedly looking out for cyclists. (Sober drivers are bad enough!)
Here's Mike's web site in case you're a cyclist who has been injured by someone's negligent driving.
http://mikebomberger.com
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