Davey Oil was riding his bike up South Alaska Street toward Beacon
Hill on August 31 after spending the day promoting the Bikery—a
group that encourages cycling in Seattle—at the city-sponsored Car-Free Sunday in Columbia
City. As Oil pedaled across Martin Luther King Jr. Way South, a long
line of police cars rolled past him and Oil heard an officer’s voice
over a loudspeaker. “Hey you, pull over,” the officer said.
Oil says he was reprimanded for riding more slowly than traffic and
given a $103 ticket for not riding far enough to the right. Oil, a
former bike ambassador for the Cascade Bicycle Club, says he knows the
rules of the road and was stunned by the ticket. “I’m a trained
cyclist, and I understand lane placement and when it’s important to
share a lane,” he says.
However, Oil adds: “I think everybody who rides a lot has a story
about getting pulled over for bullshit.”
With the city spending at least
$3 million a year to promote
bicycling as a viable mode of transportation, there are more cyclists
on the road than ever. In 2007, the Seattle Department of
Transportation’s downtown bicycle count tallied nearly 2,300 bike
commuters, a 31 percent increase over 2000.
But even as the city promotes cycling, a growing number of riders
are coming forward with complaints about antibike bias among Seattle
Police Department officers.
“Every other week, we get an individual [with a complaint about
SPD],” says David Hiller, advocacy director for the Cascade Bicycle
Club. “It isn’t an epidemic, but it happens with enough regularity that
we’d like to see some changes.” Hiller recommends that cyclists file
complaints about officers with the Office of Professional
Accountability (OPA), which investigates allegations of officer
misconduct.
One 25-year-old cyclist, who wanted to remain anonymous, filed an
OPA complaint last year after, he says, an officer pulled up beside him
at a stoplight, asked him why he wasn’t wearing a helmet, and then told
him that the officer’s “‘not getting out of the vehicle and kicking
your ass is a courtesy.'” The officer told investigators he didn’t
recall the incident, and the investigation went nowhere.
Another cyclist, 59-year-old Bill Bloxom, says he was forced off the
road and almost hit by a patrol officer who claimed Bloxom had strayed
too far into his lane. Bloxom e-mailed a complaint to SPD but never
heard back.
Attorney Bob Anderton, who rides his bike to his downtown office
every day, represents riders in personal-injury claims. He says while
some officers pull cyclists over for legitimate reasons—helmets
are required by law, and cyclists have to have front and back lights at
night—there are plenty of cops out there who just don’t
understand cycling.
“I talk to quite a lot of people who get in accidents, and the
police come and [give cyclists] tickets for things they shouldn’t get
tickets for,” Anderton says. For example, he says, cyclists have
complained about getting tickets for “following too closely” when cut
off by a car.
Tensions between cyclists and cops came to a breaking point in July,
when a frustrated driver plowed into a group of riders who were
participating in a monthly Critical Mass protest ride through the city.
Several participants were accused of assaulting the driver after he ran
into the crowd of cyclists.
Lucy Morehouse, one of the cyclists injured in the incident, says
she was initially pleased with SPD’s response at the scene. But as the
night went on, she says, “officers from SPD… treated me with disdain
[and] suspicion. That was extremely upsetting. I’d just been hit by a
car.”
In the nearly four months since the incident, no one has been
charged.
Seattle Police Department spokesman Sean Whitcomb—who worked
bike patrol in the University District for two years—says he’s
surprised by cyclists’ claims of mistreatment. “I guess I’m a little
puzzled there seems to be this impression,” Whitcomb says. “There’s
absolutely no antibike bias within the department.”
Whitcomb also recommends cyclists files complaints with the OPA or
ask for a supervisor at the scene of an accident.
With the city planning to add 150 new bike racks, 19 miles of new
signed bike routes, and 90 miles of new bike lanes by 2009, cyclists
are hoping SPD will start taking their concerns seriously.
“[The police] have to protect us when we need to be protected,” says
Cascade’s Hiller. “If we can’t trust that they will take crimes against
bicyclists seriously, then we’re on our own, and it’s not a fun place
to be when you’re dealing with several tons glass and steel.” 
“When it comes to speeding, many American motorists don’t worry about safety. They just worry about getting caught.”
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/10…
44,000 dead by automobile every year, and you still hear folks whining about “those crazy cyclists”.
Other countries (think N. Europe) have far higher rates of cycling than we do. Is the result mass craziness on the roads? No. Why?
Because if you don’t like aggro cyclists you need to make cycling safer -> you’ll get lots of normal folks biking and the aggro types will move on to, I don’t know, turbo-charged skateboards or something.
We’re not all that far from reaping the benefits of mass utility cycling here. (There are 400,000 folks moved by bike every day in Berlin. Think about how much money that city is saving in health care costs, transit, road repair, pollution-related costs (asthma, heart disease), etc, etc. etc.)
Do you want to be poor and stupid all your life? If not try and stop embracing self defeating public policy. Encouraging cycling can save us buckets of money. Why throw it away just because of the odd wack job cyclist?
Every time there’s an article about biking, everybody says, “Oh yeah? Well, I had a rude experience with a bike once! So fuck you, everybody!” Nobody reacts that way with cars. Has anyone ever said, “This one time, this guy cut me off, so now I oppose all highway investment!” No, they haven’t, because that would be retarded, just like almost all the comments on this story.
Automobile drivers break way more laws than cyclists by not stopping at stop signs, driving too fast, talking on cell phones, stopping in the middle of the street, driving agressively, etc. and are much more dangerous to people and the environment, while making our society dependent on foreign oil. Cars are just so damn convenient that people treat them like they are the most important things in their lives.
Actually, I think what we’re experiencing is that cars are damn inconvenient- at least for urban use. In my opinion, the rage against cyclists is out there primarily because they are yet another obstacle in the path of autos. Driver rage tends to flare whenever anything gets in the way- no matter what or who it is. Yes, it is hellishly frustrating to drive in the city. All that useless horsepower gets you nowhere in a hurry. But that is precisely why I don’t drive downtown, or anywhere, when I can use a bike or public transportation.
The bike-haters just haven’t figured this out yet, and the arguments they use against bikes in blogs like this are just silly:
1) Bikes are dangerous to pedestrians.
2) Bikers are in my way.
3) Bike riders don’t obey the law.
4) Bicyclists don’t pay taxes to pay for roads.
1-3: can be said of cars, only more so by an order of magnitude at least. F=MV^2, right? A 150-200 lb bike and rider at 10-20 mph are not capable of doing the damage a 2,000 lb car at 40+ mph can do. Simple physics, as certain enraged car addicts are so keen on threatening us with. And yes, there are scofflaws in cars- they are also capable of doing much more harm.
4: Bicycles don’t need roads on the scale that cars do. They don’t do as much damage to the roads they use. Cars and trucks need wider roads and highways, they do more damage to the roads, and so therefore they should pay higher taxes.
Bottom line- bicycles are a more efficient, more logical, safer, less expensive, healthier and less polluting mode of transportation than cars. Enraged motorists, I feel sorry for you, because there are none so blind as those who will not see.
Biking is my hobby. It’s also my main form of transport, so I am one of those lucky people who gets to do what he loves about 1.5 hours a day, riding in this city and a couple others for over a decade.
I’ve never had a run in with the police.
I’ve never hit a pedestrian.
I’ve been in minor car accidents three times, once my fault (ran into a stopped car’s side view mirror because I was trying to read some homeless guy’s sign) and two the cars fault (signal your right turns please).
I wear a helmet and have multiple blinking lights.
I run traffic lights, stop signs, I take the lane when it’s need for safety. I never ride against traffic and only ride on sidewalks in a few spots where it is safer than the road. I am much more likely to get in an accident on a sidewalk, humans move erratically, fire hydrants and signposts tend to be randomly placed, etc…
The real reason everyone is so pissed off is one simple fact: Most humans have devolved into a bunch of fat lazy cattle that can’t stand to see anyone break the mold most of you crybabies fit into. You sit in traffic on the 405 for hours, but you don’t ever say cars are in your way.
As someone else pointed out, just because you get cut off by a car, or some ass blathering on their cellphone almost KILLS you, you don’t call for banning cars on the roadway, or talking on cellphones while driving. You just can’t stand to see anyone exercising, it is confrontational to the fat TV addicted middle of the curve slob in our current take a pill to get a hard on society.
Just shut up and deal with it you idiots. I ride a bike for transportation, for fun, and to stay in shape.
I am making no statement whatsoever, you read all your inadequacy’s into your own pathetic equation. Wait, here is a statement. Your secret fear is that my hard ass/rigid cock might drill your wife/girlfriend/significant other into next week while you are watching TV with your football buddies. Better watch out fat boy, and get that doughy ass pedaling.
Darren and the rest of the spoiled middle class children who moved here young and living their clueless city dream. The rest of the world doesn’t work like this. Busy cities don’t stop for a bicyclist that wants to change the world at the expense of the poor. In fact, what you are doing, is pure capitalism. Capitalism is when you want to have more at the expense of many others. Having that space on the road at the expense of so many people in not just cars, but in buses, trucks, and other other physical objects of similar sizes that move at totally different speeds than a bicycle, is very capitalist. In a simple language, it’s just no fair. And if you purposely want to do that, then it’s called terrorism.
If you hate vehicles so much, why not to move to smaller towns where there is more space on roads and less vehicles??
What people on buses, people who have no transit access, delivery trucks drivers, have to do with your anger against vehicles? It’s not their fault they have to drive or ride on the road that was designed for vehicles almost a century ago.
Try biking in rich neighborhoods, in front of ceo’s and other rich shots in this city.
And finally get a permit and have a street to yourself so you can protest all day.
If you don’t want to do any of these than it’s just mental. You are looking for conflicts without any constructive outcomes. And you even prepare to hurt yourself and others by doing this. That’s sadomasochism, pure mental illnes!
Bike riders are self righteous pussies!
Mishki-
If all of the bicycle commuters abandoned bicycles and took cars to work and to shop instead, do you really think that city traffic will improve? Putting a few thousand more cars on the road is the answer? Do you seriously believe this? Delivery truck drivers do get my sympathy- but I am helping them by NOT driving my car downtown, by NOT adding to the demand for parking places and road space. You aren’t going to go any faster than I am on a bicycle anyway- not anyplace between Mercer Street and Yesler Way at least. You should be glad I’m not one more car on the road, instead of accusing me of “capitalism” of all things. That is the silliest anti-bike argument I think I’ve ever heard! FYI- Bicycles were here in Seattle long before cars, in fact, some of the city streets in Seattle were originally bike paths.
Signed,
Former Poor Person who Wised Up
“vacation” is right! We must retool and rebuild the entire city so that it only favors bicycles!! Pedestrians should be targeted; bicyclists should be legally allowed to run over walkers, or shoot them if they DARE cross the street or use the sidewalk — hey, pedestrians! Do you think the “walk” in “sidewalk” is for you??? No! It is for us, your bike-riding overlords!! And “roads” were not invented for carriages or automobiles — they are for BIKES!! Everyone knows this! Only when bicyclists are truly hated by every motorist, pedestrian, child, parent, pet owner, and city worker will we achieve TOTAL VICTORY!!
Seriously, militant bikers are losers. Your hobby does not belong in my face. Think about it.
No, vacation is wrong…we should retool and rebuild the entire city so that it only favors cars!!! Oh, wait…
Hey Mishki, you know what happens when you assume? You look like a retarded ass, that’s what.
“Darren and the rest of the spoiled middle class children who moved here young and living their clueless city dream.”
I moved here at 26, rode bikes and engaged in other sports my whole life, and grew up dirt poor.
“If you hate vehicles so much, why not to move to smaller towns where there is more space on roads and less vehicles??”
I never said I hate vehicles, can you point out where I ever even came close to stating that opinion?
“What people on buses, people who have no transit access, delivery trucks drivers, have to do with your anger against vehicles? It’s not their fault they have to drive or ride on the road that was designed for vehicles almost a century ago.”
Followed by: “Try biking in rich neighborhoods, in front of ceo’s and other rich shots in this city.”
and:
“And finally get a permit and have a street to yourself so you can protest all day.”
and:
“If you don’t want to do any of these than it’s just mental. You are looking for conflicts without any constructive outcomes. And you even prepare to hurt yourself and others by doing this. That’s sadomasochism, pure mental illnes!”
Last but not least, the cherry on top is this gem:
“And if you purposely want to do that, then it’s called terrorism.”
Terrorism!!! What’s up with that? English may be your native language, but your penchant for high drama is evident in your mangled usage of said English language. George Bush Jr. and the boys down at Homoland Security would be right proud of you for slipping that in.
I ride at the speed of traffic, or fast most the time. I also am very conscientious, as others are not, and cars will run you down and kill you if you don’t pay attention.
All I said was that everyone is a fat bastard that hates to see anyone exercising or coloring outside the lines. They like to bitch about the little shit while the big shit crushes them to death.
I also stated that if you don’t watch out I will fuck your wife/girlfriend/significant other, because all that bike riding has me very fit and rather handsome, as well as extremely randy. This would bother you way more then me riding my “Terror Bike” around you and your precious car. See ya tards.
I learned to ride a bike when I was five years old, and I’ve owned and ridden everything from old Raleighs and Peugeots to a Litespeed, a couple of Bianchis, and a Serotta. I learned to drive a car on my Dad’s ranch on summer vacation when I was thirteen, and I still own and drive one today. I use not only a bike and a car to get around town, but I also travel by bus and walk as often as possible. I have no “side” in this argument, and my only goal is to be heard.
There are idiots who drive cars, ride bikes, drive and ride in buses, and walk on a regular basis. The ones that I’ve seen cause the most problems are the twenty-something young men in Capitol Hill and the U District. If they’re not driving like jack-asses, they’re riding their fixed-gear bicycles like the entitled little pricks that they are. When they get confrontational with each other on the roadways, the bicyclists lose – badly (an old Nishiki frame and some yellow mag wheels don’t make one quite as invincible as one might imagine).
Cars aren’t going anywhere. The vast majority of people on the roads will be behind the wheels of automobiles for a long time yet to come. The onus of responsibility for the safety of cyclists lies first and foremost on their own shoulders. Quit being aggressive fucktards unless you like intensive care units. And trust me, your fitness regimen that you are so convinced drives the ladies wild is a little tough to keep up when you’re lying in a rehab ward as a quadriplegic unable to feed or bathe yourself. Although by the smell of you when I pass you on the Burke-Gillman, the bathing thing was never really your scene, was it?
BTW- This publication has displayed a bias towards cyclists and cyclists’ issues. The Stranger knows who their audience is. Anti-cyclist sentiment in the SPD is probably a non-issue. Police officers reacting to rude and confrontational hipster kids and paranoid and delusional aging hippies (both with serious entitlement and mommy issues) is probably the real issue. Don’t treat the people around you (including the po-po) like crap, and they won’t treat you like crap. As for the issues with the way that people drive in this town, that is a whole ‘nother article.
Of all the polarizing issues, this is the most infuriating. People die on roads every day, and none of the politics mean jack when compared to a life.
Bicycling isn’t some postmodern crusade- you know the risks, live accordingly. Driving isn’t some lazy awful thing- it’s how our current society was built and it’s necessary for a large number of people.
What people need to do is chill out and realize that threats to throw sticks into wheels or key the paint off a door are worse than useless. Kick your ego in the ass and put the safety of all travellers above your petty feelings and asinine thoughts.
This article was pretty bicyclist-centered, but it was informative to those who may need help with these issues; I don’t really mind who gets upset over the craft of the article as long as people know what to do if they are mistreated.
Chill out, stop polarizing the issue, and start acting responsibly… if nothing else then by refraining from wild, blanket threats to other’s safety or property.
why do you feel a commuting cyclist at a non timed red light with no cars in sight should have to use the pedestrian signal to cross instead of just safely proceeding through the intersection? Are you that brainwashed into the infallability of law? A common complaint on this forum by motorists is that cyclists slow them down (oh my god your might arrive at the mcdonald’s drive thru at 5:13 instead of 5:12 and 30 seconds because of that ‘annoying hipster on the fixie going up the hill’) well changing a light using a pedestrian signal will add another 30 seconds onto your epic journey to the heart attack factory.
Also why has it been decided on here that cyclists are all members of the middle and upper class? Way to be us and them people. Most people I meet riding my bike to work are not on yuppie machines.
Also about someone in Federal Way not being able to afford to ride into Downtown on a commute. Depending on the time of day and the direction of traffic a combo bike/bus path SAVES time or at least there is a negligible difference. The next time you drive somewhere time yourself out the door until you arrive at your destination, and if you have the brain power figure out your average speed. You will find your number to be shockingly slow on trips under 20 miles.
Lets all pray for peak oil so all these angry motorists will be forced to either get fit and with it, or starve.
Oh yeah, and I like the points people on here try to make about how riding a bike makes you angry. How many roadie rage stories where a cyclist kills some foos are there? I only get angry when I am not on my bike for a couple of days, but I am sure that has less to do with my body demanding joy enducing endorphines associated with vigorous exercise, and more to do with me being an angry cyclist.
The reason I don’t stop at red lights is because I can’t stop, I have no brakes and my pants are too tight, fuck your wife shuffling her fatass in the crosswalk and fuck the police, we ride.
Mishki:
Actually, since I’m going from Lake City to Bellevue everyday, I do spend some time riding through Medina and some very rich people’s houses. They have nice lawns. What was I supposed to learn by riding there?
I grew up in the country, and here’s the thing about riding out there—there’s no place to go. You have to go to the city to work, so it doesn’t work for a bike commuter to live outside the urban core. Also rural roads are insanely dangerous for bicyclists, people drive fast, the shoulders are non-existent or crumbling, and the roads are often narrow, logging trucks have a hard time stopping… Aside from the nice fresh air, it’s no safer than the city.
Also, you have no idea what capitalism means.
Look at the infrastructure of cities like Amsterdam, where their bike lanes are about as plentiful as their tulip bulbs and pot brownies. Or, in Paris, there are now extremely inexpensive bike rental stations on nearly every block with thousands of bikes that have begun to dominate the roads. The city government in Paris subsidized the bike rental companies knowing that it would piss off drivers and clog the roads, but they are truly committed to curtailing pollution in their city and to moving transportation into the 21st century. I wish I could say the same about Seattle…
I can’t wait until gas is $10 a gallon. Apparently, kicking Americans where it counts (the pocketbook) is the only way to make a difference.
what’s up with accusing the bikers of being stuck up richies??? like the poor can afford gas and car payments and all the repairs that are unavoidable, but bikes are just too expensive??? please be real…
and y’all need to remember that the roads are public space. and there is a max speed limit, not a min.
honestly i get the same crap when driving my car from selfish impatient drivers who feel that the only important thing is their ability to drive fast. i get honked at and aggressively snaked for driving too slow when i’m going over the limit!
I almost got hit by one of those dumbass bicycle couriers, on a sidewalk…downtown, a few days ago. Wtf are those morons doing on the sidewalks, anyway> I shoulda clothes-lined the moron.
Like I said, mental illness.
Bikes aren’t cars, they are more sustainable, equitable, and safer for everyone, they shouldn’t have to follow the same rules. Do remember that car oriented society is at the root of many of our social problems. The most explicit example being; cars are the cause of most of the murders in this country. Priority in every regard should be given to bikers. Bottom line.
P.S. thanks for writing about this.