Bicyclists Look for Signals That Motorists Care

I can hear readers now: “Who cares what bicyclists need?” Let me suggest, maybe all of us, including motorists (especially motorists), care or should care.

Why? Well, we all have a huge investment in the road system, and bicyclists can make that work better by helping to decrease congestion, at a public cost that’s far lower than even buses, let alone trains. That’s because every bike is one less car. If there were more bicyclists, there would be fewer cars, and maybe motorists wouldn’t sit in traffic so long.

Not only that, but it’s a way for poor folks to get around, again at low public cost. If you mostly see bikes being used for recreation by people who resemble yuppies, keep in mind that motorists also use cars for more than getting to work, and that not every bicyclist in a bright-colored jersey is a yuppie.

As for the reason there aren’t more bicyclists: Many, perhaps most, potential cyclists are afraid to ride. They’re afraid of motorists--not all motorists, just the angry or careless ones or the ones who get angry, or turn out to be careless. You may wonder why bicyclists don’t ride on trails, or off-road. Lots do. Many won’t ride anywhere else.

But bike trails are for recreation; even though some commuters use them, those same commuters must use streets too. Trails don’t take them from their homes to where they need to go. To commute or do errands, or to get to bike trails, bicyclists need to use the streets. Everybody lives and works on a street, not on a bike trail.

So, then, what do bicyclists need? They need to feel comfortable using the streets. For that, they need to see motorist anger or carelessness controlled by fair application of the laws. It’s true that bicyclists often roll through stop signs, and occasionally make an obscene gesture at motorists, and shouldn’t do either. But what can happen to bicyclists when motorists are careless (or worse -- lots of motorists are angry) is a real problem.

This year in Orange County there have been several bicyclists (actually, I believe, eight so far this year, and I hope that will be all) killed by motorists. (How many motorists were killed by collisions with bicyclists? None.) Each case is different and each has its own lessons. But let me talk about one particular case.

In March on Coast Highway in Newport Beach, a motorist hit a bicyclist and a bus, police said. The bicyclist was trapped under the car. The driver started to drive off with the bicyclist underneath and was stopped by pedestrian onlookers. The pedestrians tipped the car up and got the bicyclist out, but too late. He died.

That was in early March. We know what happened to the bicyclist, but what happened to the driver? In August, the district attorney decided to prosecute him, for “misdemeanor manslaughter.”

I’m disappointed that it took five months to make a decision. There is no doubt it was a close question and a hard decision.

Everybody in the justice system--police, district attorneys, attorneys, juries and judges--is a driver. When a bicyclist is killed in an accident involving a driver, they all say to themselves, “That driver could have been me; let’s let the poor driver go.”

That case is still pending. It seems clear the motorist shouldn’t always be prosecuted. Bicyclists can be just as wrong as motorists, and we shouldn’t be blind to that just because the price bicyclists pay for mistakes (their own and others’) can be so much higher. But let’s be sure we aren’t being unfair to bicyclists, and that’s what’s happening now.

The first step in this unfairness is often the police report, which is often slanted to favor or exculpate the motorist. Often, not always, and not deliberately. Many cops are bicyclists, but even those are usually off-road bicyclists. They know about on-road problems, and many cop-bicyclists won’t ride the roads either.

The next step is to decide whether to charge the motorist, a decision that’s usually up to the district attorney’s office. The district attorney who makes that decision is also a motorist, and knows everybody in the trial will be, too. That doesn’t make it any easier to get a conviction.

But if the motorist is unjustly charged, and in fact is not guilty, what then? The trial itself (which requires proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” and is conducted by motorists) provides substantial protection against unjust convictions.

Keep in mind, next time the bicyclist or pedestrian might be you or your spouse, or your child.