COVER STORY : On the War Path : Cyclists Battle Skaters and Pedestrians for Space on Seaside ‘Bikes Only’ Lane

Avid cyclist Andy Hale races along the beach bicycle path like a human pinball.

He slips by two carefree pedestrians sipping beers. He eases around a bare-chested jogger weaving in the lane. He ducks a chain of 12 children on in-line skates. He steers clear of being hooked by sticks carried by two roller-hockey players. Up ahead he maneuvers around a skater towed by a dog on a leash.

Time for a breather.

“This path is just not set up for people trying to bike,” Hale said. “There are so many who don’t understand the rules of the road. You really need a bell or whistle to be out here.”

A first-aid kit could come in handy too.

More than 20 years after the first segments of the 21.6-mile seaside path from Pacific Palisades to Torrance were laid, many believe it has become a victim of its success. Frustration--and injuries--have mounted as cyclists jockey for space on the 14-foot-wide ribbon of concrete with a host of in-line roller-skaters, skateboarders and pedestrians, who in recent years have taken to the trail in droves.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works recently estimated that about 1.5 million cyclists annually pedal along the path. But county officials are increasingly worried about the hundreds of thousands of additional users who ignore the “Bikes Only” signs along the pavement (all but a one-mile segment in Pacific Palisades is designated for bikes only).

Sure, plenty of people spend a mishap-free afternoon zipping along the path, a favorite among tourists and residents alike.

But it can get dicey, as cyclist Dave Jeffords, still recovering from a broken collarbone and concussion he suffered last year in a head-on collision with another biker, can attest: “It’s like running a human slalom course. It’s actually safer to just ride up the Pacific Coast Highway.”

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, who took a tumble a number of years ago while bike-riding in Venice, said, “It’s really quite a mess out there; you really just have to take it slow, take your time.”

County and city officials say they are looking into ways of making the path safer.

“Our Westside deputy has been made aware of concerns in the community about safety on this issue,” said Joel Bellman, spokesman for County Supervisor Ed Edelman, whose district includes the path north from Marina del Rey. “But we’re not clear how extensive the problems are or what are the most appropriate solutions. We are still in the preliminary stage of looking at the problem.”

Nevertheless, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence from people who use the path and from authorities who patrol it.

Los Angeles County lifeguards estimate that almost half of last year’s 2,300 first-aid calls from Marina del Rey to Pacific Palisades, where the trail is most congested, were for injuries on the bike path. Ankle and wrist sprains and strains, along with bad scrapes, accounted for most of the calls. In 10 years, there has been only one death on the path: a pedestrian who was struck by a cyclist in 1986 just north of the Santa Monica Pier and died after four years in a coma, said Dean Smith of the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors.

Although officials do not keep precise numbers on accidents, they believe the situation is worsening.

“Every year, it’s just getting more and more out of control--the bike path is being used by everybody,” said Craig Mattox, a Santa Monica Beach lifeguard. “We’re seeing more collisions, head traumas and cervical injuries. It’s a nightmare out here.”

Most lifeguards are used to treating what they call “cheese pizzas”--severe abrasions. But other injuries can be grislier. Dan Cabrera, a part-time county lifeguard, remembers a head-on collision between cyclists that left one bike rider with the sprocket gears stuck in his head.

“It went in behind his right ear and pulled his scalp back a bit,” he said.

Lifeguards say a particularly dangerous stretch is the 1.5-mile segment at Venice Beach, where the path narrows and twists sharply. Another trouble spot is the tunnel under the Santa Monica Pier, where path users, blinded by sunlight as they race out of the dark, must frequently dodge knots of bathers crossing the lanes to reach the beach.

Many path enthusiasts believe the trail rules are haphazardly enforced. Bikers say they receive tickets if they ride on pedestrian walkways, particularly Ocean Front Walk at Venice Beach. But they believe tickets are rarely issued to pedestrians or skaters who use the bikes only path.

They may have a point. Police have been wary of cracking down on a recreational activity that is a petty violation of the law.

“The number of citations we write is zero; we don’t enforce it, though it is a technical violation of the law” for anyone but cyclists to be on the path, said Officer Cory Palka of the LAPD’s Pacific Division, which patrols the Venice Beach area. “If hundreds were crying and screaming, we might do something about it, but on weekends the skaters usually outnumber the bicyclists.”

Lt. Bill Brucker of the Santa Monica Police Department says police issue about 10 to 20 citations a year to in-line skaters and pedestrians using the bike path, usually in response to a rash of complaints.

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Despite recent problems, the beach bike trail remains one of the county’s most spectacular successes, according to those who were behind its construction.

It was conceived in the early 1970s by Los Angeles Councilman Marvin Braude, a cycling enthusiast who saw the need for a continuous path along the coast for the region’s growing population of bikers.

Braude coordinated a joint project with Los Angeles County through the late Burton Chace and Kenneth Hahn, both supervisors at the time. The city and county approved the project over the objections of environmentalists worried about paving on the area’s beaches.

Much of the construction was completed between 1973 and 1976, with the final 1.2-mile strip in front of Santa Monica’s famed Gold Coast colony of movie stars finished in 1989.

The path cost about $2.5 million in state, county and city funds. The county spends about $200,000 annually on cleaning and maintaining 14.6 miles of the path, with local cities tending to the remainder.

Over the years, millions have swarmed over the trail--even on cold winter days, when the route, viewed from the Santa Monica bluffs, looks like a human fly strip against the background of deserted beaches.

Braude says it remains one of his proudest achievements.

“My blood is in that walk and I feel the bike path is one of my greatest accomplishments,” said Braude, who regularly bikes on the path and still carries a scar on his knee from a scrape he suffered a few years ago when he bumped into another cyclist. “It’s one of the cheapest public investments in terms of cost and how many use it per day.”

But he, too, sees trouble from the path’s mix of users and is investigating ways to make it safer.

“Whenever you have too many people in a playground, injuries go up,” he said. “You may pay a price for that, for having too good a parade.”

For many people, drawn by the ocean vistas, sea breeze and a track that is smooth in comparison to surface streets, the path has become a daily addiction.

“It’s a great escape from the pressures of work and school,” said Jeff Neinstein, 27, a Santa Monica biker and in-line skater. “There’s nothing better than some good tunes, a sunny day, the wind at your back; it’s very soothing. I’d feel very claustrophobic without it.”

Others such as Juliet Sanchez-Hassan, a resident of Manhattan Beach and a Santa Monica city staffer, use the path to commute to work. Sanchez-Hassan says she has been riding the 31-mile round-trip daily for four years, a trek that takes about 45 minutes each way. Winter nights can be particularly spooky around Playa del Rey, where Sanchez-Hassan relies on her 16-watt halogen bike lamps because there are no lights on the path.

“Biking to work is often faster than getting stuck on the freeway,” Sanchez-Hassan said.

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Bikers and in-line skaters debate which group causes the most safety problems.

Many bikers blame the increased risk on the influx of in-line skaters, whose numbers have swollen in recent years and whose etiquette can differ markedly from that of cyclists.

Cyclists say skaters take up more space on the path by kicking their legs side-to-side and swaying their arms to propel along the trail.

“Some skaters are also always wearing headphones, and when you scream ‘on your left’ as you’re trying to pass them, they never hear you,” said Ilana Israel, a regular path cyclist and employee at Helen’s Cycles in Santa Monica. She has so far avoided injury on the path.

Mickey Lorne, 17, of Pacific Palisades, was riding near the Santa Monica Pier recently when a skater cut him off, sending him to the pavement with numerous “road rashes” on his knees, elbows and thigh.

“We got up and he started yelling at me that it was my fault--he wasn’t even supposed to be on the bike path,” Lorne said.

Others complain about the huge trailers abutting the bike path that rent skates to tourists on weekends without requiring lessons, although many do tell beginners where to take them.

Skaters counter that they outnumber cyclists and that the bikes only rule is outdated. Many say their speeds are consistent with that of bikers. The in-line skaters, in turn, blame pedestrians for trouble on the trail.

“Sometimes you’ll see them, a typical family of four abreast, just strolling along the bike path,” said Bob Lagunoff, a dedicated skater and owner of Skatey’s, an in-line skating shop in Venice. “Why don’t they walk on the pedestrian path?”

Still, most bike path users agree about the worst type of problem: “weekend warrior” skaters and bikers--frustrated office workers who explode in a blaze of speed on the path come Saturday and Sunday.

County lifeguards say the greatest dangers come when such skaters, some wearing brightly colored tight-fitting uniforms and often sporting five-line speed blades with no brakes and no helmets, try to pass clumps of people. Bikers going full throttle on 16-speed racing bikes contribute to the menace. Add a few hairpin turns and some sand on the roadway and you have the makings of a catastrophe.

To make the path safer, users, police and lifeguards offer such suggestions as mandatory helmets for everyone (only cyclists under age 18 must wear them; there is no such rule for skaters) warning signs for dangerous areas and crosswalks at designated areas so path users would know where to slow down. Some even call for a separate path for skaters.

Dianna Pollard, an architect at Studio Architecture, a firm hired by the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks to design the Venice Beach Ocean Front Walk refurbishment, said the group’s latest plan includes a separate lane for in-line skaters. In addition, a 22-inch-high concrete wall would line the west side of the path to provide seating and block out sand.

French expatriate and dedicated bicyclist Michele Forest offers a distinctive European solution: “They should just build huge roller rinks on the beach somewhere for the skaters to go round and round.”

To deter one of the county’s most popular attractions from slipping into anarchy, Nadirak Rama, a clerk at a Santa Monica Beach in-line skate rental trailer, offered a recognizable refrain.

“Can’t we all just get along?” he said with a wink.

A Crowded Path

The increasingly popular, 21.6 mile seaside route from Pacific Palisades to Torrance may have become a victim of its own success.

On the Cover:

The tunnel under the Santa Monica Pier is one trouble spot on the seaside bike path from Pacific Palisades to Torrance. Injuries have increased as cyclists, in-line skaters and pedestrians jockey for space on the narrow cement trail. The path is designated for bikes only, but enforcement has been lax, users say.