Santa Barbara police target law-breaking bicyclists

November 13, 2014

bicycles-70aSanta Barbara police cracked down on bicyclists who disobey traffic laws this week and issued a total of 69 citations in a two-day span. [KEYT]

On Tuesday and Wednesday, a team of motorcycle officers placed themselves in locations where bicyclists frequently break rules of the road. The officers then ticketed bicyclists for violations, like riding through stop signs and riding on the sidewalk.

Police say they are trying to reduce collisions between bicyclists and cars and pedestrians. A recent study ranked Santa Barbara second among similar sized cities in California for having the most bicycle collisions.

“Every time you investigate a stop sign intersection [collision], they say they didn’t see the car coming,” Police Officer J.C. Hunter said. “Because they didn’t see the car, that is why you are supposed to stop.”

During the two-day sting, officers also ticked drivers who broke traffic laws at the locations frequented by bicyclists. Police issued 18 citations to motorists.


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Here is arrogance for you,a couple weeks ago there was a group of spandex pedellers riding south on HWY 1in the Cuesta Collage area,4 groups of about 30 or so,each group had chase cars or motorcycles,BLOCKING the slow lane, so that the working class taxpayer had to get bound up in a traffic jam and move to the left lane,no signage vehicle behind them to warn up coming traffic that these people were on the road. In a call to the highway patrol to see what was going on and why there was no CHP unit out there,mainly to give tickets, I was informed that this group had been warned and talked to last year as they had no permits for this charade,this year this group did not get permits again,did not inform any local city that they were coming thru disrupting traffic and what not,I asked why no one was stopping this group and issuing tickets and the officer started to stutter that that would be a political boo boo if the CHP were to do that.


Cyclists infuriate me. They think they own the road. What the hell is a gym for?


A LOT of the disregard, in my opinion, is when bicyclists (I’m one), feel the urge not to stop because they have to grind to get back up to speed. That is selfish, unsafe and gives a bad rap to those who aren’t so lazy at stop signs etc. Aren’t we riding in part to exercise? Well, then, exercise those thighs and don’t be a blemish on the sport!