SFPD Park Station's monthly community meeting tomorrow evening is your chance to weigh in on the ongoing harassment of bike commuters led by new captain John Sanford.
On the ride there, you can join a second Wiggle "stop-in" to demonstrate the folly of holding bicycle riders to the letter of the stop sign law.
Sanford's decision to devote police resources to these tickets is now opposed by at least three supervisors: London Breed, John Avalos, and Scott Wiener.
"Enforcement against minor bike violations won’t make our streets safer but will make it a heck of a lot harder for people to bike," Wiener wrote in a post on Medium today:
In my view, traffic enforcement should focus on dangerous traffic behaviors -- which are largely by motorists -- that lead to deaths and serious injuries on our roads. Regarding bikes, police absolutely should enforce against cyclists engaging in dangerous and reckless behavior , for example, blowing through stop signs without slowing down, violating the rights-of-way of other road users, biking on sidewalks, and speeding . However, enforcing against cyclists for minor violations -- such as slowing down at a stop sign, cautiously and safely entering the intersection, and not violating anyone’s right-of-way -- is not a productive use of scarce traffic enforcement resources.
While Sanford fixates on holding cyclists to a strict interpretation of the stop sign law, SFPD still seems to ignore "rolling stops" committed by car drivers at the same locations.
A new video produced by Volker Neumann and Kristin Tieche (below) shows traffic on a normal night at the intersection of Page and Scott Streets on the Wiggle, where most bicyclists and drivers don't come to a complete stop when there's no cross traffic.
In the video, a driver rolls a stop in front of an SFPD cruiser, and then the police driver proceeds to make a "California stop." Because it's only dangerous when cyclists do it.
SFPD Park Station's community meeting starts tomorrow at 6 p.m. at 1899 Waller Street (in Golden Gate Park, along Kezar Drive next to the Waller skate park).
Be sure to check out the other videos from Tieche and Neumann on the first Wiggle "stop-in," and send in any footage you catch of the Park Station bike crackdown in action.
