Its a Speed Trap! California Cops to Check Bicycle Speed with Radar and Ticket Fast BikersBy Matt Agorist Earlier this month, Marin County parks officials launched a new enforcement program to enforce an arbitrary speed limit on bicycles. City officials refused to call it a crackdown on speeding bicyclists and instead opted for the Orwellian option of calling it an educational program. We want to get data, educate users and hopefully gain a useful tool, said Max Korten, assistant director of county parks. Through the Road and Trail Management Plan there are a number of proposals to open trail alignments to bikes that have caused safety concerns among some neighbors and preserve visitors about the speed of bikes on the trails, he said. Its important that as we consider implementing some of these proposals; we have a tool to address this potential issue. Mercury News reported Korten billed the program as a pilot effort, saying officials dont have good data about how often speeding is occurring on open space trails and we have not used this technology on open space roads and trails in the past. In a discouraging move, instead of rejecting the premise of the state forcing cyclists to travel at an arbitrary speed through the threat of extortion, some local hiking and cyclinggroups are embracing it. Tom Boss, offroad director of the Marin County Bicycle Coalition, said he welcomed the countys new educational program. Linda Novy, head of a local hiking group, the Footpeople, who urged the crackdown on cyclists, touted the Orwellian move as a step in the right direction. We are glad that the Marin County Open Space District will begin using Lidar to track speeds, she said. Our understanding is that without this device, Rangers are not able to issue citations or possibly issue warnings. Novy told Mercury News that the amount of citations last year was far too low and noted theyincluded 418 involving dogs and 95 involving cyclists in areas closed to bikes, but none for speeding, failure to yield or riding in a manner that endangers other users. Overall, with 11 rangers and a single deputy sheriff on patrol at the time, the 558 violations amounted to fewer than four violations per month per ranger/deputy, the Footpeople observed, according to Mercury News. Instead of realizing that the lack of violations issued could be due to the lack violations that exist, Novy advocates for the force of the state to impose her will onto others. According to Korten, violators will be warned first, and citations will follow depending on the circumstances. After a few collisions involving cyclists, in instances where their speed was entirely unknown, the government reacts by sending in armed agents of the state. The action.will once again allow for seven-day-a-week law enforcement coverage in the countys park lands, Undersheriff Mike Ridgway said. Insteadof people being held responsible for hurting others through irresponsible acts, such as wrecking into hikers or bikes,all cyclists will now be punishedfor simply riding over 15 mph. This move by city officials should come as no surprise as the states only available tools to incite change are extortion and violence. Matt Agorist is the co-founder of TheFreeThoughtProject.com, where this article first appeared. He is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Follow @MattAgorist My experience with the bicyclists is they want the road they never paid for! Tax the cyclists same as a cars.Problem is elitism of cyclists being they want more road rights. Where I live the roads which have two or more traffic lanes to move cars are being usurped for exclusive bicycle lanes, a total waste of pavement that the car drivers paid for, but cyclists want exclusive use of. This article is complaining about bicyclists having to follow the rules of the road , which I think is good. No, its complaining about more regulations being forced on people which will include more LEOs hovering around in parks to monitor everybody. The EXCUSE for the increased presence is peoples safety, but this is just one more regulation being shoved down everyones throat and one more excuse to have more government toadies watching everyone so they can control and freak out because someone picked a flower. You think theyll only focus on the biking regulation? HA! Also, just because you feel inconvenienced by someone, that doesnt give you the right to treat everyone else (who enjoys the same hobby) like a child, the article writer is absolutely right on that. Might as well be in kindergarden no running, no picking plants, no this, no that seriously, adults are allowing themselves and others to be regulated like they are all children! Im certainly no fan of government regulation but my point is, theyre extremely dangerous where I live. They dont have enough rubber on the road to safely stop when traveling 40-50 mph. Can you give me a georeference of a road where bicyclists routinely sustain a speed even approaching 50 mph? How about sustaining 40 mph? Ever honestly seen a cyclist do that? 40-50 mph? What are you smoking, and can you spare any? These 50 mph cyclists need to stop riding around your neighbourhood and start competing internationally. They would win if they could sustain even 45mph. And as for stopping, what would you bet any modern bike can stop faster than any car on the road, in terms of either distance, time, or acceleration? Can you give me a georeference Ever honestly seen a cyclist do that? start competing internationally. what would you bet any modern bike can stop faster than any car What are you smoking Well, youre right. On a steep enough grade, anything that doesnt crash can go 50 mph while its falling with gravitys assistance. Skateboard, car-with-no-engine, wheelchair, bowling-ball, railway flatcar, etc. But that doesnt satisfy the definition of sustain. If you average the speed getting up the hill, assuming they didnt simply drive up, it would be well under that. Sounds like speed-checking bikes rolling past your house is an ongoing hobby of yours. It also sounds like you might want to get these speed limits enforced in your area, instead of just talking about it here. All you need is low sun and a blind driveway and youve got a potentially dead cyclist. But ordinary seat-and-two-wheels bicycles under human power dont go 40-50 mph except down steep hills, or perhaps momentarily when falling off cliffs, as you indicate. Notice with stopping, I said can stop not will always stop. Locking the brakes is the the worst way to stop anything on wheels. Take it from someone who stops several hundred tons, dozens of times a day. Hit that front brake at that speed, it will throw you head over heels into the pavement at great force. Had a pit bull jump a fence and come at me, went head over hills, got up and tried to beat him with the bicycle, but he jumped back over the fence. riding a bike in a city where pit bulls abound is interesting. Theres a car/bicycle war going on here. The city planners have tried a couple of times to take lanes from the cars and give them to the bikes. Of course that created huge traffic jams so they had to back off. The problem with the latest crop of babies now grown to young adults, s the everybody gets a trophy mentality and were all special. Now we have a generation of spoiled narcissists,that can not see past themselves. The statement about picking flowers is a good example, You must realize that you are a part of the whole and what YOU do is what everybody must be allowed to do. so if we as a group allow one to pick A flower then ALL must be allowed to pick a flower. Pretty soon there would be no more flowers! Actually..you are a collectivist and an authoritarian..you just dont know it. The Females of this new crop are the worst! Perfect. Hes clueless, probably be one of the first in line to get chipped. Ahh, so ratnn, this is not about bicycles at all, is it? OOOH SNAP! lol Couldnt agree more. Sounds like you might live in Colorado. Bicycles are out of control here. Traveling 45 mph in a 25 mph zone in front of my house is the norm. (Steep canyon.) And I get over a thousand per week during the summer months. Not exaggerating. The most recent controversy is the fat tire bikes dominating the ski and snowshoe trails during the winter. Theyre crashing into both people and cars regularly as they have little control. Im a native of the area and a regular hiker, I havent had any problems. Must be certain areas are hot spots. Yeah, since no bicyclist in world history has ever owned licensed a car, held down a job, or paid income tax, they dont deserve any consideration at all, and cannot ever have paid for any infrastructure. Why, theyre lucky not to be in jail with their usurpations, elitism, and unreasonable expectations! Why arent you doing more to stop filthy freeloading bicyclists in your community? Complaining here doesnt really help. The article focused on parks and trails that serve bikes and hikers. Its matter of common sense, bikes should always yield to pedestrians, just as cars need to yield to pedestrians courtesy and the golden rule doesnt require Big Brother micromanagement. Are you in favor of tracking devices in every vehicle? The next step is pay per mile. how do you legally regulate someone who does not need permission to travel on roadways? drivers of autos need a license to use the road, ie. permission. if they violate the rules you can sanction them. bicyclists and people walking are not licensed. they can go as fast or as slow as they want, their safety notwithstanding. if i was pulled over (it would be a voluntary stop) i would ask the cop what law he was trying to enforce? and his response? This must have come about because people are walking on bike paths. People used to know better, but now no one obeys any rule. One Sunday morning 25 years ago (this is an old problem) I was doing volunteer work of invasive plant control in the Marin Headlands unit of Golden Gate National Recreation Area. I was surprised by a long, widely-spaced string of mountain bikers going at top speed in a full athletic heat. Minutes later I found a sweat-soaked folded-up sheet of paper dropped by one of the bikers which turned out to be a twenty-mile race route through GGNRA, Mount Tamalpais State Park, and units of Marin County Open Space District. The next day I phoned all of the rangers from the parks (who I knew personally through my volunteer work) and none of them knew about the race being held in their parks. The head ranger at Mt. Tam State Park lamented that they had at least one mountain bike accident per week bad enough to require an ambulance. By the time the ambulance had been escorted to the scene and back out, and the reports written, each accident was about four hours of ranger time. Nature preserves used to be set aside for the plants and animals that lived there and the nature lovers to visit, quietly and peaceably. The invention of mountain bikes in the 80s (in Marin County, no less) changed all that. Now we have an invasion of thousands of an entirely new type of park user who couldnt care less about the nature they are passing through as quickly as possible. They are merely using nature as a cheap carnival ride and are oblivious to the danger, disruption, and degradation of trails they cause for everyone else. The sad thing is that speeding tickets for these yahoos probably wont slow them down a bit, just make them more cagey. Its the attitude, frankly, not the mode of transportation. Many people, myself included, like the bike to get us to our destinations in an efficient way for ourselves and our planet. Then when we are on the path slow down to just about walking speed to enjoy the scenery, take frequent stops, picnic, etc. ambulance help required for M Bikers is roughly .00003% of all Ambulance use in America . One in five die of obesity and make up a staggering amount of all Ambulance use and other med resources . Most mountain bikers are usually very fit individuals that respect both health and nature . you lump all under one umbrella . I find motorcycles tearing up and down the streets like the one in your avatar causing more threat to the public than these M Bikers will ever pose. your attitude = abject filth and youre a rat the above article mentions arbitrary speed limit, what the article fails to mention is the arbitrary and capricious application of the law.. fyi prosecutors have never ever had evidence of applicability proving that their rules, laws, policies, statutes, etc apply to anyone! Wow picking on firefighters is really reaching for the lowest fruit on the tree. Good thing you dont live in Montana where 95% of all the firefighters in the entire state are volunteers, as in No Money Ever. One of the reasons they live longer than the rest of the working public is because they are required to maintain a certain level of physical fitness in order to perform their jobs, like hauling hundreds of feet of fire hose into buildings and cutting line in the forest. They also respond to traffic accidents, dangerous search and rescue operations in the wilderness, and forest fires that rage all summer. All for free, the public pays only for equipment. Perhaps you should find some other more worthy profession to pick on, say corporate CEOs or banksters. Firefighter one of nations safest jobs The nations astoundingly well-paid public firefighters insist that Lawyer Checking Why Firefighters Routinely Cash In On Charity Work LVRJ Some firefighters collected cash, banked it, then wrote a personal check for Planck retired in November 2005. His attorney said his life fell apart after he was caught. Planck said he was only doing what every other firefighter does by Also: Certain firefighters were being paid quarterly bonuses of about $1,000 from the foundation. Yet another: Money meant to help burn victims and their families was squandered on parties for firefighters. At Planck was caught March 17 stealing thousands of Members include firefighters from departments all over Nevada. The D/A refused to comment about the foundations expenses or where money was used for personal expenses. the tax deduction is not the DAs jurisdiction; it would be the job of the A The foundations, have raised over $400,000 . Raising money is one thing, getting it to the intended victims is another. A check of the groups tax returns showed that in that year, the only year Perhaps Doesnt seem like a real cost-effective operation . The next fundraiser is set for Another Dustin said tax fraud by local firefighters collecting for the Burn Foundation also There is a paper trail to pursue. , firefighters were collecting cash and writing personal firefighters using money meant for charities for their own fun and profit, Free advice to those who want to make sure their contributions to any Hero syndrome The hero syndrome is a phenomenon affecting Pension Tsunami New Ideas to Fund CALPERS Pensions darken for California taxpayers ORANGE COUNTY EDITORIAL Despite fairly steady economic growth and state budget surpluses, Total spike in unfunded liabilities for fiscal year 2014-15, which ended June 30: $24 billion. Before last year, total unfunded pension liabilities, as detailed in Mr. Crane noted that, because these unfunded liabilities accrue at a Additional perspective was provided by Richard Rider, chairman of San And Mr. Rider pointed out that, according to the current This fact gives added emphasis to the need for state and local Statewide, two pension reform initiatives are being advanced by If 585,407 valid petition signatures are gathered by June 6, the Thats happening in every State. I live in RI WE ARE BROKE, Gina Raimondo is putting up TOLL Booths to screw the Truckers. Reactionary legislation, pure ~n~ simple. Next, tickets for running to fast..wtf is wrong with these ignorant morons! Cali, just fall off into the ocean already~ Meanwhile. politicians and insiders get away with insider trading and a lot worse. I dont want anything except maybe for you to quit whining and do something productive about whatevers bothering you. I dont think its bicycles. I can see how youd be so unhappy, making so many assumptions. With the number of bicyclists who have blown through stop signs in front of me over the years, I find it a bit hard to have sympathy with those now being told to follow the law. The state should steal more of our money to pay people with cages and guns to make sure this DIRE threat of fast moving bikes is dealth with! YOU ARE a useful TOOL MAX. 