SFPD Park Station Begins Pointless Harassment of Bike Commuters

Here’s Sanford’s response to Rea’s complaints:

It appears that you have already made your mind up and you clearly do not understand our obligation to address all issues within the district.  I respect your opinion, but we obviously disagree with each other.  Again, I have noted your concerns and admit we have many issues with motorist, but I have not heard you admit that some cyclist our violating the law. Despite them not being able to cause as much damage as vehicles, it is still the capability of someone getting seriously hurt.  Again, sorry we disagree.

While pedestrian injuries involving bicyclists do happen, rarely, SFPD’s literal application of the law is sweeping up safe cyclists instead of targeting the problematic locations or bicycling behaviors.

This morning on the Panhandle, a man riding a bike hit a woman on the narrow Panhandle path, which is often crowded with bike and foot traffic. The woman was sent to the hospital, according to a tweet from KRON 4’s Stanley Roberts, who is expected to run a “People Behaving Badly” segment on bike enforcement today.

Kiniry and Rea both said they see bike violations that range from annoying to dangerous, but that SFPD’s indiscriminate dragnet isn’t making streets safer.

“I always thought what I was doing was the law,” said Kiniry. “I get upset when I see cyclists blow through stop signs. I think that’s dangerous. I would never do that.”

“The people that put people in danger, that put pedestrians in danger — I’m not one of them. And they’re not giving them tickets. They’re giving someone like me a ticket.”

The next SFPD Park Station community meeting will be held next Tuesday at 6 p.m.