This Just In: Bicycle Coalition Blasts Proposed New Bills — “These Bills Won’t Make Philadelphia’s Streets Safer”
Put on your helmets, people: The ride is about to get bumpy. After yesterday’s controversial news regarding a slew of new fines and regulations for bicyclists being proposed by City Council, The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia has issued a formal statement on the matter. Their take? The new regulations would be eight kinds of wrong, and don’t nearly get to the heart of the problem; they wisely acknowledge that “the city’s streets are chaotic. In the absence of adequate enforcement, all road users – motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians – bend the law to suit their own needs, with little if any consequences. This situation has led some road users to develop bad habits that endanger themselves and others.” Furthermore, says Advocacy Director John Boyle, “These bills won’t make Philadelphia’s streets safer. The problem is not that penalties are too low, the problem is that tickets are rarely given out. It is pointless to increase penalties as proposed by Councilman Kenney when the current penalty system has existed only on paper.” Boyle then goes on to address the most cockamamie parcel of the proposed legislation — registration and license plates for bikes: “Bicycle license plates are impractical and unworkable. Let’s learn from other cities’ experiences and not waste time and resources on an ineffective program.” To their credit, the Bicycle Coalition is also proposing a more thorough enforcement of the bike laws already on the books — and ” urges City Council and the Nutter Administration to implement immediately an equitable and consistent traffic education and enforcement program to enforce the laws that are currently on the books before City Council raises penalties, requires mandatory registration, and puts other restrictions in place.” Full press release after the jump.
PROPOSED BICYCLE REGULATIONS WILL NOT SOLVE PHILADELPHIA’S
TRAFFIC SAFETY PROBLEMS
Philadelphia needs enforcement and education, not new lawsPHILADELPHIA – November 19, 2009. The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia opposes bills that are being introduced today by Councilman Frank DiCicco and James Kenney to increase penalties and require license plates on bicycles.
“This is the wrong approach,” said Sarah Clark Stuart, Campaign Director. “Bicyclists shouldn’t be singled out when the problem is all road users – motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians – bending the law to suit their own needs, with little if any consequences. The absence of adequate enforcement has led some road users to develop bad habits that endanger themselves and others.”
“These bills won’t make Philadelphia’s streets safer,” said Advocacy Director John Boyle. “The problem is not that penalties are too low, the problem is that tickets are rarely given out. It is pointless to increase penalties as proposed by Councilman Kenney when the current penalty system has existed only on paper,” he added. Other cities, including Los Angeles, Houston, Washington DC, Detroit, Albuquerque, and the states of Minnesota and Massachusetts have all repealed laws similar to Councilman DiCicco’s proposal. Los Angeles’ Police Department Chief directly recommended to LA’s City Council that their program be discontinued. Said Boyle, “Bicycle license plates are impractical and unworkable. Let’s learn from other cities’ experiences and not waste time and resources on an ineffective program.”
“Enforcement can work and up to now, traffic enforcement hasn’t been a priority,” said Breen Goodwin, Education Director. “To achieve better compliance with traffic laws, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia believes that equitable and consistent education and enforcement of current laws on all road users must be implemented. Until that happens, enacting higher penalties or registration programs is ineffective and counterproductive.
Like many others in Philadelphia, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia recognizes that the city’s streets are chaotic. In the absence of adequate enforcement, all road users – motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians – bend the law to suit their own needs, with little if any consequences. This situation has led some road users to develop bad habits that endanger themselves and others.
Philadelphia’s streets need to be made safer for everyone. The first step toward safer streets is equitable and consistent enforcement of traffic laws as they apply to all road users. Up to now, traffic enforcement has not been a priority. The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia urges City Council and the Nutter Administration to implement immediately an equitable and consistent traffic education and enforcement program to enforce the laws that are currently on the books before City Council raises penalties, requires mandatory registration, and puts other restrictions in place. Safety education coupled with enforcement, applied equitably to all road users, is the first step to improve safety for all.
The Philadelphia Police Department appears to be ready to engage in enforcement in tandem with the Bicycle Coalition’s Bicycle Ambassadors education program. The Bicycle Coalition urges City Council to help develop a strategy for an equitable and consistent traffic enforcement and education campaign applicable to all road users. The Bicycle Coalition looks forward to working with city officials to help calm the streets.
With regards to laws requiring registration and licensing of bicycles, the Bicycle Coalition does not support a mandatory program. Among other issues, we are concerned about the potential for a registration program to discourage riders, impose financial disincentives, and expose the City to numerous legal issues. Peer cities and states have passed and then repealed registration and licensing programs. We recommend a thorough investigation of registration and licensing programs in other cities to determine whether such programs would help or hinder efforts to achieve peace on Philadelphia’s streets.
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November 19th, 2009 at 11:59 am
My main question about the license plate requirement is what happens to people who bike in from outside the city? I occasionally bike to work the length of Chestnut Street from my home in Lansdowne. Would I get a pass on the registration requirement? Would I be stopped every three blocks for failing to display a license plate? Would I be required to prove my residence? How would I do so, when no license is required to operate a bike? How would authorities then identify city residents who *are* required to register their velocipedes?
Seems like there are many problems with this plan.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:59 am
The Bike Coalition has way too much sway in this city.
I just want to say this: Try being a skateboarder in this city and see how well you get treated. It isn’t fun. Try walking across City Hall plaza with your deck in your arm, trying to get to your bus, and being harassed by a cop for it and being threatened with confiscation while someone on a bike rides through and doesn’t get harassed at all. Cyclists get away with more law breaking than skateboarders, so really, I don’t have a ton of sympathy here.
There’s some good points in the legislation, and raising the fees for riding on the sidewalk and registering bikes make sense. It could help get some stolen bikes back faster, and it can make the streets in Center City safer.
November 19th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Nail on the head. No need to make new laws when you don’t enforce existing laws.
No one double parks in Center City because they know they will get ticketed or towed, in South Philly it’s pretty standard to double park, even overnight. Why? No enforcement. People are not stupid and will get away with whatever they can.
November 19th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
@Larry Skateboarding causes repeated physical damage to city property, which is why it is illegal around city hall. I do agree people riding their bike through city hall should be stopped, and so does the bicycle coalition. They are asking for the state to enforce existing laws before imposing new ones.
November 19th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Skateboarders bashing bicyclists is like when the oppressed bash the other oppressed. It’s not bicycle riders who are making life hard for people who want to skateboard!
If the whole city was more oriented toward mixed-transportation and less toward car travel, it might benefit skateboarders as well as bicyclists. I have seen a few skateboarders in the new downtown bike lanes, and as someone who regularly bikes them, I’m personally happy to share the safer part of the road.
November 19th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
@jessen:
Not saying I don’t understand the reason, but the law is clear that no skateboarding, cycling, scooters, or even roller blades are allowed there. Skateboarders on a whole even those of us who just use it to get from Point A to Point B) put up with more legal hurdles than cyclists do.
At any rate:
There are already laws and fines in place. Maybe upping the fines will force actual enforcement of these laws.
November 19th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
I really appreciated the thread last night which basically boiled down to a debate over whether Feculent Rainbow or everyone else was “intellectually lazy” (which in itself is an intellectually lazy, and often dishonest, aspersion) and look forward to another day of it. I guess we all should have known the old reliable velocipede is a bigger traffic magnet than BLACK TACO. Philebrity Nation prefers to circular firing squad hate itself than celebrate when it comes down to it.
Have the police been mandated to take personnel off of traffic duty and onto special bike traffic duty, or would these laws simply allow those police assigned to traffic duty to enforce what are basically existing laws that have been hitherto unenforceable?
Yes, there are regulations about bicycle conduct. As is the case with automobile drivers, a portion of bicycle riders operate their bicycles outside of those regulations. Unlike, automobile drivers, bicyclists are generally immune to legal sanctions/penalties because the mechanisms to effectively enforce those regulations does not exist.
When a car is pulled over for a violation, there is system in place (registration and licensing) that ensures an owner/operator may be held accountable; and if an owner/operator isn’t complying with that system, that owner/operator can be subject to greater penalties. With a bicycle, that’s just not the case currently. While the specific dollar amounts may seem disproportionate to some, a registration system may well be the consequence of a road to a level playing field laid out by the Bicycle Coaltion, et al. Will bicycles become some sort of “oppressed class” under this regulatory yoke? I doubt it. You’ll see bicyclists getting ticketed about as often as you see the police ticketing motorists.
Face it, the Bicycle Coalition is heavily invested in “freedom” (from oppressive automobile culture, the energy marketplace, etc.), but my guess is they spend much more resources on advocating the “freedom” side of ridership to the public and public officials than they do the “responsibility” side of the issue.
Only way to be truly innocuous on the streets is to be a pedestrian. Assault laws cover the only way pedestrians under their own power could be remotely capable of the scales of damage cars and bicycles can cause.
November 19th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
I’m all for stricter enforcement of transportation laws in the city, across the board. Right now drivers, pedestrians, and bikers all feel entitled to the streets and don’t feel a need to give any quarter to each other. Crack downs on rule-breakers would help cut through that sense of entitlement. I know I’ve rode my bike through red lights, and I’ve done so with cars driving through the red lights right beside me or with pedestrians jaywalking through traffic on a red light.
The only thing we can all agree on is that we all hate those Septa bus drivers who think honking their horns means they’re allowed to drive through a series of red lights on the parkway. Fuck those guys.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
@Black (jack) Taco the Eviscerator!
Having known people who have been ticketed for bicycle related violations I can assure that there already is a workable registration system in place. It’s simply your driver’s license or state ID. If you refuse or don’t produce one they can, and sometimes will, arrest you until your identity can be ascertained. Any further bicycle license plates or registration would offer little additional benefit at great bureaucratic expense.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
I just wanna know if they will sell vanity plates for bikes, cuz that will RULE!!!
PS
Give Hipsters a BRAKE!
November 19th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
@expat, so by great bureaucratic expense you’re saying it’s a jobs program? I’m totally putting in for Bicycle Registrar.
But, seriously, the police nab people for bike violations? I mean, besides that one guy on South Street? I knew they could do it, but unless real damage has been done, I wouldn’t have seen police bother, ‘less you pissed ‘em off in some fashion.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
@Black (jack) Taco the Eviscerator!
Having worked for three years at the largest courier company in Philly (which shall go unnamed for no particular reason), I can assure you I’ve known many a biker who has been ticketed. University City police, and their bike cops in particular, are the most aggressive, but it can happen anywhere.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
I’m a Philly cyclists for over twenty years and born and raised here, Its all bullsheet man! The rules are simple Dont mutha F-ing ever hit anyone, if you do own up like man!!! Franky D on city council needs to go! He stands on the pulpit with a money bag and has deaf ears. City streets are dangerous for all, look both ways and you’ll be ok!!!
November 19th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Ah, bike couriers are in a bit of a different pickle since the nature of their jobs allegedly “requires” them to get their deliveries to their destination by any means neccesary … or so said a caller “debating” the Bicycle Coaltion’s lip service for traffic law compliance last week on WHYY.
They’re easy to spot and easy to tag. Most cyclists don’t ride like bike couriers.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
@Black (jack) Taco the Eviscerator!
Agreed to a point. There’s an large class of citizenry in Philly who emulate bike couriers both in appearance and riding style. Regardless of how much a bike courier, or those pretending to be one, stick out, cops will still put the hammer down on riders if suits them.
I’m hoping for pedestrian license plates personally. I’d like to see all the idiots standing in between opposing lanes of traffic on East Market St while trying to cross in the middle of the block be hauled off to hard labor.
November 19th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
As far as enforcement of laws for bikers, it’s exactly the same process as giving citations to pedestrians for things like jaywalking. Yes, the police never ever do it in Philly, but they can if they chose to enforce it. And it doesn’t require pedestrians to register their shoes. Same deal for bikers.
November 19th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
“The first step toward safer streets is equitable and consistent enforcement of traffic laws as they apply to all road users.”
Speaks volumes.
November 19th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
@ [Philly-centric-food] the [specific-perpetrator-of-violent acts]:
Wanna fight?
I threw out exactly one ’strawman’ and called out Feliatrix for bullshit, reactionary logic. With all due respect, your gross generalization of yesterday’s thread is 800lb, bedridden man of intellectuality.
That being said, I’ll meet you by the monkey bars at 5pm.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Talk about mountains and molehills. Look, one of the best things about Philly is that stupid laws are almost never enforced. Its like marijuna – illegal, with fines and jail times to back it up, but unless you flaunt it, few cops here are going to bother busting you.
So, everyone chill out. Even if DiCicco/Kenney’s stupid bills become law, no one will follow or enforce them, leaving us right where we are now, which is on the whole, a pretty easy and safe town for biking, driving, skating, and walking.
Move to NYC if you like gestapo cops who enforce nitpicking laws.
November 20th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
I hope/suspect that you’re right, Splasher.
However, you can you not cede a little credence to those who call bullshit for tripling fines when simply enforcing preexisting laws should suffice?