Letter to the City Council: D Clarke

by email

From de@yakuza.ucolick.org Mon Jan 22 13:10:34 1901
Subject: Serious issue:  bike safety, recent events


Dear City Council members:

I write to request that in your discussions of the recent 
SCPD application for a substantial grant for "bicycle 
safety enforcment," the following issues are included. 

First, I think it bodes ill that the SCPD seems to have 
consulted with none of the local bike committees or 
advocacy groups before drafting their grant proposal.  
The police need to listen to cyclists, if they are to 
understand the threats to cyclist safety and take 
effective action to improve our safety record.  

Second, I think you must by now be aware of a very 
disturbing incident which took place on Saturday.  
Multiple witnesses assert that Joe Gutierrez drove his 
truck into local cyclist Shawn Duncan -- apparently with 
intent -- inflicting minor injuries to the rider and 
serious damage to the bike.  

Witnesses say that Gutierrez showed recognizable symptoms 
of "road rage" including shouting invective at the 
cyclist, who was threading his way between cars in a 
traffic jam.  Witnesses say that the driver attempted to 
leave the scene but was prevented by pedestrians who 
blocked his passage.  

However, SCPD dismissed the incident as an "accident" and 
accepted the driver's statement that he "did not see" the 
cyclist, despite the presence of several witnesses to the 
contrary.  This seems a slipshod and inadequate response. 
There is at least reasonable doubt that the incident was 
accidental; if it was not accidental, then it was a 
serious form of assault.  A car is quite a deadly weapon.
To launch a car at someone in anger is far more serious
than throwing a punch or even a rock. 

Bike organizations in most of the US States have 
documented a persistent bias in favour of motorists and 
against pedestrians and cyclists, even in cases where the 
motorist was clearly violating the law at the time of 
killing or injuring a non-driver.  This issue has also 
been discussed in the UK House of Commons, with concern 
and frustration being expressed over the light sentences 
(or lack of any charge at all) meted out to drivers who 
through carelessness or ill-temper have injured or killed 
another person.   (I can provide many URLs on this topic
if you wish to research it.)

The casual handling of this recent local incident seems 
to indicate that our own town is not immune from this 
problem.  If there is any question of intent in this 
incident, and eyewitness testimony suggests that there 
may have been, then we need to investigate it rather than 
to dismiss it casually.  

To any cyclist with experience on California's roads, 
this sounds like a classic "road rage hit".  Most regular 
cyclists on Santa Cruz's roads have experienced 
harassment or threat from motorists at one time or 
another.  "Road rage" incidents claim the lives of 
cyclists every year.  Prevention and deterrent sentencing 
of irresponsible vehicle operators are very important 
cycle safety goals; therefore, allowing incidents such as 
this to pass without serious investigation sends the 
message that cyclist safety does not matter.  In which 
case, one is obliged to doubt whether any funding 
increment for SCPD will be productively spent.  

I urge strongly that the "road rage" incident of this 
last Saturday be part of any discussion of our police 
program for improving bicycle safety. 

I urge that you make agenda space at tomorrow evening's 
public session, so that local cyclists can inform you of 
their concerns and their reactions to this event and to 
the SCPD grant proposal.  I would like to work towards
a future in which the SCPD is a friend and ally of
cyclists.  Clearly we are not there yet.  We need to
educate and train police officers about the realities
of cycling, as well as training cyclists to respect
the vehicle code and carry lights.

I hope that you will also direct SCPD to make a fuller 
investigation into Saturday's regrettable incident. From 
what I know so far, it does not appear that SCPD made any 
serious effort to discover the truth of the matter;  and 
this should be remedied.

Yours sincerely

de