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TEED_OFF
October 19, 2013
About a week ago, I saw a cyclist stopped
for what was perhaps the most bogus possible
red light running ticket: going through a
red on the flat side of a tee, at a slow
speed, without any ped cross-traffic.
Again, in more detail:
This was traveling north along the Embaracdero in San
Francisco. The intersection in question was a "tee":
traffic could come from the left, but not the right.
The cyclist was riding in the bike lane, and came up
to the light just as it was turning red. There was a
police car in the car lane next to him, who came to a
stop right at the light. The cyclist kept going
without slowing down-- but then he wasn't going all
that fast, and there was literally nothing to worry
about: there were no pedestrians queued up ready to
cross the street, a car turning from the cross street
should not even touch that bike lane.
Nevertheless, the cop pulled the cyclist over,
who nodded calmly, and got up on the sidewalk I sincerely hope the
and began digging through his bag, I presume for cop was reacting out
an ID. of a reflexive,
offended pride--
"he did it right in
Now: I was riding just behind this cyclist, front of me!"
but I had noticed the police car, and
decided to get up on the sidwalk-- along It could be this is
the waterfront, this is technically a yet another "let's
"mixed use trail" (bikes allowed)-- and up get tough on cyclists"
on the sidewalk, I was not required to stop campaign starting up.
for that red light out in the street.
Politicians have a
If that cyclist had been three feet history of tripping
over, he would've been technically themselves up in SF
legal... by taking on cyclists.
It's apparently
hard to grasp
that those weenies
on bikes really
An attempt at diagramming this tee-intersection, do vote.
just to give you an idea of how wide the gap can
be between technical legality and practical
safety:
.
. \ north-
.__ __\ east
//
//
/ ; ' / / ' ' / /
/ ; ' / / ' ' / /
/ ; ' / / ' ' / /
/ ; ' / / ' ' / /
___________. ; ' .______________. ' ' / /
' / /
waiting / /
cars light / /
_______. ' ' ._____________. / /
/ ' ' / / ' bike/ /
/ ' ' / / ' cop / /
/ ' ' / / ' ' / /
/ ' ' / / ' ' / me /
/ ' ' / / ' ' / / SF
/ ' ' / Median / ' ' / / Bay
/ ' ' / (MUNI / ' ' / /
' ' / tracks) / ' ' / /
The bike was clearly engaging in
very risky behavior, because, uh,
the waiting cars might've peeled
out, crossed 7 lanes, and swung IDAHO_RULES
a wide left into the bike lane.
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