Bicycle police officers from the 9th and 6th Districts and Center City District will be on the streets enforcing the rules of the road in Center City. In addition to other violations, the Police will be stopping bicyclists riding on the sidewalk, not stopping at red lights or stop signs, and riding the wrong way in the road. The police department will also have vehicle units out on Spruce and Pine streets ticketing motorists who are driving in the bike lanes, illegally double parking and driving aggressively.
In response to this enforcement campaign, the Bicycle Coalition will have Bicycle Ambassadors out on the streets helping to educate bicyclists who may not know the rules of the road and provide tips for riding in traffic. For more information on the Bicycle Ambassadors click here.
Please be advised that this is not a test and tickets will be written. Safety education coupled with enforcement, applied equitably to all road users, is the first step to improve safety for all.
Vehicle Code Violations:
- 3112-A-3i- Disregard Traffic Signal ($119.50)
- 3112-A-3ii- Turn on Red, Fail to Stop/Yield Pedestrian/Traffic ($119.50)
- 3323-B- Disregard Stop Sign ($119.50)
- 3323-C- Disregard Yield Sign ($119.50)
- 3345-A- Improper Passing of a School Bus ($364.50)
- 3542-A- Failure to Yield to Pedestrian in crosswalk court ($119.50)
- 3711-A- Clinging to a Moving Vehicle ($119.50)
- 3714- Careless Driving ($119.50)
- 3736-A- Reckless Driving ($294.50)
Philadelphia Traffic Ordinances:
- 12-808 Riding a Bicycle on a Sidewalk ($54.00)
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27 comments:
bah.
And pedestrians as well I hope? Crossing against the light...jay walking...texting and walking...on the phone...not paying attention. As a frequent cyclist (and driver) in the city most of my harrowing moments are from people on foot completely oblivious to their surroundings.
About time. I ride a bike and walk the sidewalks. I've encountered too many people who just have disregard for others safety.
Just yesterday I drove past two cars stopped in the bike lane. What are these people thinking.
i highly doubt that pedestrians will be held accountable for anything.
I welcome this. I also appreciate that vehicles in bike lanes are co-targeted by the crackdown.
This is great news for anyone who believes in first-class citizenship for cyclists.
If I am now a "vehicle" I also have a right to use a full traffic lane. Lets see how police enforce the harassment bikers receive at the hands of motorists that can't get past.
This is a major mess and is just going to make the situation between bikers and drivers more hostile. It's also not doing much to make the city more bike friendly.
I also totally agree about pedestrians. If you're going to ticket bikers bending the "rules" then you better start ticketing for jay walking.
These fines are in violation of the STATE law at: www.dmv.state.pa.us/pdotforms/vehicle_code/chapter35.pdf Section 3502.
Take the lane if you need to - obey the rules of the road - signal and take the lane. Actually this could be a great thing for riding in CC. Take the lane - great for traffic calming.
If a cop tries to pull me over for blowing a stop sign they can have fun chasing me down the wrong way zone.
I'm hoping that the police will save their energy targeting people who are riding in a legitimately aggressive and dangerous manner. I cannot help but feel this is the work of the car-bound who sit trapped in traffic while efficient, timely, healthy, green transport rolls by. Ah, Philly. We're all equal if we're all angry about something.
When will the campaign end? That is, when can I ride in Center City again without fear of harassment from bike cops?
UPS and and FED EX (and other delivery)trucks will continue to terrorize the city and endanger bikers lives by operating as the usually do. Park their truck every block and deliver to buildings. This causes a back up of two to four blocks every time they stop, which causes bike to have to squeeze over into the other lane and try to not get run down by some scumbag in a car or SUV that can't wait to get to the next red light and sit there. This also causes people to block the box because the back up of two lanes cutting down to one results in a situation where the light turns green and no one can move. Drivers become angry and take out their frustration on bikers. Cops do NOTHING, because it "is not their job/problem, they are just collecting their fucking check and being lazy fucking worthless pigs. Serve and protect.... not in center city. Cabs, buses, and drivers have a free pass to drive in a way that endangers peoples live. Washington Ave, west of Broad street, bike lanes are full of illegally parked angled cars all day every day, as well as businesses operating in the bike lane. Chestnut, Walnut, Spruce, etc., in center city are illegal loading zones all day. People are so uneducated that half of them try to run bikers down because they think bikes are supposed to ride on the sidewalk , or think that bikes are only allowed to ride in a "bike lane" (read: illegal parking zone). A pedestrian dies being hit by a bike and douchebags like councilman Kinney want to start a war on bikers. Everyone cries that bikes ride on the sidewalks. That is because we are not safe riding in the street! Keep protecting the corporate interest and fuck the responsible people trying to ride a bike around the city and not contribute to the pollution of our air that we all have to breathe. Vehicle operators routinely switch lanes without looking or signaling, often while driving and talking on a cell phone, (distracted and blocked vision) or texting. Make the city safe for us to ride and we will stay off of the sidewalks. 38 bikers and pedestrians were killed by cars last year in Philadelphia. One person is killed by a biker and the whole world stops. Has anyone questioned whether this pedestrian was one of the many, many people who cross without looking, or stand with their toes on the very edge of the damn street, taking on phone, staring into space, texting, jaywalking, or any of a million other dumb ass things as bikers hug the edge of the lane to prevent being crushed to death by some obnoxious, oblivious asshole driver in a giant SUV that takes up the whole fucking lane, while trying to not get doored by random morons that open their door into the lane without looking? Boo-Hoo a pedestrian died. Excuse me if I don't have any tears left for the situation. Center City cops should get up off their fat lazy asses and do something to earn their check and enforce the laws regarding pedestrians, bikers, and drivers. If they are not willing then transfer them to the hood where I live and let them fight real crime.
It is fair enough to start imposing rules and restrictions – however the ticket amounts are outrageous as they are equal to regular driver tickets. It is totally unfair that these amounts be accepted by the bike coalition. I wouldn’t mind the sidewalk one but all the others should be reviewed and halved if not quartered.
Also – if certain restriction are to apply – they should be accompanied with additional cyclist protection:
1-against bike theft.
2-against septa buses* drivers who hit cyclists should be suspended off their job
3-additional street bike racks.
4-busting the black market of stolen bikes and bike parts.
5-pedestrians: who wouldn’t mind crossing a red signal if it’s only a bike coming towards them.
6-cabdrivers: who would hump cyclist or pedestrian to grab a client.
I'm all for crackdowns on sidewalk and wrong-way riders. Menaces to pedestrians and legitimate bikers alike.
Can you post a call for stories of people getting stopped/pulled over/ticketed? The location and situation, especially-- I'm curious what this "push" is focused on.
Here's my question: Does this include those who stop for the red light and then go through with no traffic but the light is still red, or just those who blow through or go through causing traffic having the green to put on the brakes?
I'm a biker and I'm fine with all of these. Hopefully it makes the news and people realize that bikes are the same as vehicles. I may go through a few redlights on my way home tonight though, I'll check for cops first.
what about bikes on sidewalks in and around campuses? does the city have jursidiction? so many roads in Philadelphia are not safe for cyclists and the adjacent sidewalks have few to no pedestrians. why make it illegal to ride on them (or enforce it) if the city refuses to invest in appropriate (and safe) infrastructure for every individual visiting and living or working in Philadelphia to ride a bicycle without the fear of a car door opening in their path, or a double parked car (or delivery truck) cutting off their legal path?
I'll be interested to see the statistics for the first weeks of this policy.
AWESOME! We need some enforcement, too many jerk bikers making a name for us law-abiders.
As many commenters have alluded, holding bikers to identical standards as cars is unfair and unsafe. See my response here.
how is this going to be enforced?
I mean, with a car it's easy enough: you get the license, registration, and drivers license.
But bikes require none of those. And correct me if i'm wrong, but I don;t believe carrying photo ID is mandatory in Philly.
There are some really good points here in the comments:
1. Motorized vehicles and man-powered bicycles are very different. It seems outrageous that the negative externalities of motorized transport will be ignored in so that bicyclists will be penalized the same as a car driver breaking code.
2. There are absolutely roadways that are unfriendly to bicyclists but have large yet unsuded sidewalks -- take a trip down Roosevelt Blvd. and much of Frankford Avenue north of Fishtown. Does that not seem outrageous to be fined? If every road has a bike path fine, but they don't.(This mentions a focus on Center City but is it wrong to think it will extend elsewhere when cops feel like it?)
3. Let's reemphasize the difference between a one ton piece of steel that goes no less than 25 mph on city roads and all of 150-200 pounds that can't exceed 7mph.
4. What is the enforcement like, as Brendan said. Am I going to be arrested for not having ID and then feeling less than enthused about being forced to give out my name.There are some really good points here in the comments:
I think the best part was watching bike cops riding on the sidewalk to stop people from riding on the sidewalk
Cell phones, head phones and people paying too much attention to them, and not their surroundings are a major cause (but not the only cause) of a lot of this.
In regards to Taking the Lane, I would like to note that we have written an article for this blog with our tips for taking the lane, and generally using lane positioning to stay safe: http://bikePHL.bicyclecoalition.org/2009/09/use-lane-positioning-to-keep-safe-be.html
In the 'Commuting Tips' Section of the right sidebar we have many other tips for people to help them stay safe and follow the rules of the road.
...I understand the desire to be equitable, but generally these sorts of enforcement pushes with cars start with warning, not tickets. Remember the red light cameras? At the most dangerous intersections in Philly? Tickets were not issued for months, only warnings.
In a study in a similar North American city found that 90% of car/bike collisons were the fault of the car, not the bike. The majority of pedestrian/vehicle fatalities are with cars, not bikes. When you have limited resources, start where you can have the biggest effect. The cars.
22 Nov 2009: 20+ cars *parked* in the bicycle lane on Spruce west of Broad. It's like this every weekend (Pine too). Someone please put some enforcement moves on them?
BISOUBISOU: If I'm remembering correctly, it's because patrons of religious services near/on those streets are exempt from the No Parking rules. I've never seen actual documentation on it, nor do I agree with it, but that's the explanation that's been offered before.
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