SOUTH BAY 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 beer. 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. 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 Torrance to Pacific Palisades 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 1.5 million cyclists pedal along the path annually. 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 and a nearly two-mile segment in Hermosa Beach 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, who is recovering from a broken collarbone and concussion he suffered last year in a head-on collision with another cyclist, 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 concede that solutions are hard to come by.

“We’re aware there are problems, but what to do about them I don’t know,” said Dennis Morefield, a spokesman for County Supervisor Deane Dana, whose district includes the path south from Marina del Rey. “In this economy, you can’t think about building a separate path for skaters.”

*

Meanwhile, anecdotal evidence of the problem mounts from people who use the path and from the 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 Torrance 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 deteriorating.

“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 stretches of the path near popular South Bay beaches are particularly dangerous. Beach-goers frequently dart across the path, oblivious to the crush of oncoming bike and skate traffic. Inevitably, collisions occur.

Officials in Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach have installed flashing lights that, when activated on crowded days, warn cyclists to walk their bikes along busy sections of the path. The lights have significantly curbed the number of accidents in those areas, officials said.

But many path enthusiasts believe trail rules are haphazardly enforced. Bikers say they receive tickets if they ride on pedestrian walkways, but they believe tickets are rarely issued to pedestrians or skaters who use the bike 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.

*

In Manhattan Beach, where roller-skating on the path is almost as popular as cycling, police issued about 25 citations to skaters last year.

“We normally wait until a complaint is made,” Capt. Robert Cashion said. “Technically, they are in violation of the law and, if there was an accident, a skater could be held liable.”

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 bikers.

Braude coordinated a joint project with Los Angeles County through Kenneth J. Hahn and the late Burton Chace, 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 Vista del Mar Boulevard north of El Segundo, 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,” Braude said. He regularly bikes on the path and sports 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 breezes and a track that is smoother than surface streets, the path is almost magical.

“There’s nothing like this in Kansas,” said Sara Lundberg, 18, a vacationing in-line skater who made her way down the path in Hermosa Beach on a recent afternoon. “This is probably the best surface I’ve ever been on.”

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.

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 themselves 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.

*

Skaters counter that they outnumber cyclists and that the bikes-only rule is outdated. Many say their speeds are consistent with that of cyclists. 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?”

But in Hermosa Beach, skaters and pedestrians are permitted on the path. On crowded days, the mix makes for some serious swerving, as cyclists pass skaters who are trying to avoid pedestrians.

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

County lifeguards say the greatest dangers are when such skaters--some wearing brightly colored, tight-fitting uniforms and often sporting five-wheel speed blades with no brakes and no helmets--try to pass clumps of people. Cyclists 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.

“On days like this, I don’t even think about going fast,” said Bill Carr, 45, who slowly cruised the crowded path in Hermosa Beach recently on his 21-speed mountain bike. When Carr wants to race at high speeds, he heads for quiet roads near his home in Rancho Palos Verdes, he said.

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) and warning signs for dangerous areas and crosswalks at designated areas so path users would know where to slow down.

*

In Redondo Beach, where the path weaves along Harbor Drive and through a busy parking lot near the pier, the city plans to begin construction of several ramps that will allow cyclists to ride over the lot and avoid the traffic.

In other areas, 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.