Pasadena wants to steer cyclists from sidewalks to the streets

Bike week begins Thursday in Pasadena. There are a variety of events scheduled around the city, including workshops, group rides, parties, bike-to-work programs and even a history of cycling in the city.

But Pasadena officials are also using the week to try to encourage most cyclists not to use sidewalks.

Police and city officials said they are concerned about the number of cyclists who drive on sidewalks because they feel safer there than on the streets. Officials say the cyclists can cause their own safety problems as they dart by pedestrians and sidewalk cafes.

"We're trying to change those attitudes," Rich Dilluvio, a Pasadena transportation planner told the Pasadena Star-News. "We're trying to create alternate routes where people would feel more comfortable. But it's difficult and it's a natural reaction for some riders to feel safer in the sidewalk."

Dilluvio told the paper the city does not want a total ban on bikes on sidewalks because officials still want to allow parents to teach their young kids how to bike there. The solution, they said, lies in adding more bike lanes and encouraging bikers at events like Bike Week to use the streets.

-- Shelby Grad

Comments

[Mark]

The real solution is dedicated bath paths, separate from the street. It should feel safe for everybody, from 8-year-olds to 80-year-olds. Painting a stripe on the same street that cars use isn't going to work. It never does.

[adam]

This is all fine and good from a planner desk until you start to ride on the streets in the busier areas of Pasadena and people start bullying you with their cars. Try to ride north-south from my home to say Old Town and I can't seem to keep the cars at a safe distance. Perhaps the occasional enforcement stop from a police department on drivers that are too close to cyclists will help with education. Warnings and signs will definitely help.

[Patricia]

Pasadena has a lot of hardcore Type A drivers. I can understand why bikers prefer the sidewalks over there. People are not laid back in Pasadena like they are on the West Side or in Santa Monica. In Pasadena the drivers will not slow down to let someone else through. It's a conservative town with some very competitive, driven people.

[Evan]

I don't disagree. Now hopefully they'll turn to drivers and tell them to treat cyclists with respect and drive safely and responsibly at all times.

[Stanley]

That's BS, it is much safer on the side walks than the streets, I avoid the streets at all costs. The point is MOST OF THE TIME, the side walk is unused, and can safely accommodate the bicyclist. Pedestrians are few in numbers and do very short walks compared to cyclists. The law needs to be changed to let cyclists share the unused sidewalk and yield to pedestrians. Pasadena has the wrong idea. In 2008 110 cyclists were killed in the streets in CA by cars, none were killed on the sidewalk, and no pedestrians were EVER killed by bicyclists.

[Stanley]

Look on the sidewalk, most of the time they are EMPTY but for a few pedestrians walking to and from their cars, or from the curb to the store.

[pat]

I find it strange so many cyclists ride on sidewalks, in my book that will get you injured more swiftly than riding in the street. I don't know about Pasadena, but when I lived in West L.A. I noticed a large number of them are Latinos. They really seem afraid of the street. But the problem becomes they don't handle a bike well enough - or have enough time to react - to pedestrians stepping out of doorways, cars coming out of alleyways, etc. So that's why I say it is more dangerous - for riders as well as the walking people - than if the cyclists stayed in the street.
More bike lanes!

[Colfax]

Riding bicycles in the street is suicide. Last Saturday I was stuck in a collasal traffic jam on California Boulevard in Pasadena. The quagmire was caused by a man bicycling in the middle of the right lane, effectively shutting down traffic. The net effect of this was that cars were whipping past each other to pass him, creating a very dangerous situation on the the street. Why are officials continuing to promote the myth that riding bicycles on the street is safer? Wouldn't it be safer for everyone if cyclists were taught how to deal with pedestrians on the sidewalk, then allowed to bike there?

[Lawrence W]

I moved into Pasadena for years and am a cyclist. I used to ride in the streets, but being harassed by large vehicles and with too many close calls by impatient drivers, I decided to drive my car around instead. I don't at all fault bicyclists for riding on the sidewalks. I wouldn't recommend it, but people on the streets just won't share the road with cyclists. If you want people off of the sidewalks, you first need to make sure that drivers share the road as the law requires.

[Andy]

I'm a cyclist who grew up in Pasadena. I'm also an engineer with a physics background and have frequent exposure to rehab from traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries in my work.

The attitude that most bikers should be forced to ride on the street is plain stupid (road bikers riding at high speeds for exercise aside). Those who are riding for leisure and commuting at low speeds are much safer on the sidewalk.

The damage a car will wreak on a cyclist is immense compared to the injury that can be inflicted to a pedestrian if they're hit by a bike. It's just simple physics: kinetic energy = mass*velocity squared. Cars weigh about 20 times the average person on a bike, and tend to travel 2-5 times faster on surface streets. That means they've got around 300 times the kinetic energy of a biker. Do the math. An accident between a bike and a car is MUCH more serious than between a bike and a pedestrian. Perhaps there may be an increase in minor accidents when people ride on sidewalks, but the severity of the accidents and the number of life-threatening and life-ruining injuries is greatly reduced.

Until there are sufficient, safe bike paths, cyclists should not be cajoled into riding on the street as long as they ride safely at low speeds and walk their bikes through crowds.

The attitudes of city planners, transportation departments, police, and much of the general public is obnoxious, ignorant, and detrimental to the general safety of the public as a whole.

[rs]

If I'm riding my bike down a street like Del Mar, there is no way I'm riding in the street, there isn't enough room to ride safely without the fear of being, at the least, clipped by a cars mirror. However, if I'm riding down say S. Lake in the shopping district, I will most certainly ride in the street as it's safer than possibly running over a small child or dog. I won't even think about riding my bike anywhere near Old Town, it's crazy enough there as it is without having to worry about both cars and people.

[Tommy]

Bath paths???

[Kat]

Finally! I thought I was the only one who was outraged about cyclists ILLEGALLY riding on the sidewalks. It is in the Motor Vehicle Code that a bicycle is the same as a car and must follow the same laws and rules as cars do. It's scary, yes, which is why I wouldn't do it in the city but that's the way it is. Drive in the street with the car traffic and with a helmet. I am shocked that I have never seen a police officer give a ticket to a sidewalk (that's WALK not RIDE)cyclist. I have been hit by them as they pass me. The nice ones take a driveway into the street to go around me but most of them just move me over so they can get by. Terrible. I used to yell "ride on the street" as they brushed me off...I bet there are a few who remember me! I also used to call them sissy boys until I said it to a gay man who thought I was personally attacking him...I just think men who ride on sidewalks are little girls, saying nothing about their sexual orientation. Oh he was mad.

It would be great for the community if this law was enforced.

[ian]

the real solution is to make cycling illegal except in velodromes. These velodromes should be fully funded by the cyclists themselves. I am sick and tired of self righteous cyclists thinking that they can ride where they like with no regard for the road rules and other users. If they really want to do their bit for obesity and the environment then walk.

[Buckchin]

21650 (g) VC This section allows bicycles on any shoulder, or sidewalk

[Tony]

In a City that has allowed its population to grow at an exponential rate over the last decade; Mr. Dilluvio has no idea what it is like dealing with the traffic conditions in the City of Pasadena while riding a human-powered vehicle. If the City really cared about the safety of the riders enjoying their human-powered vehicles they would have to do much more than encourage bikers to use the streets! Sadly enough, I lost a good friend (and work companian)last week who was riding his bike to work (JPL); he was riding in the street! The City of Pasadena needs to take responsibility for the public safety of human-powered vehicles and stop pouring millions into it's Gold-Line Glamor Flats!