Enforce Traffic Laws for Bicyclists

February 6, 2025

Dear Editor,

Following tragic deaths and injuries to bicyclists and pedestrians in Santa Monica, many are justifiably calling for “safer streets” here.

Unfortunately, our city envisions only short sighted, one-sided solutions that miss the problem by more than a few miles, falsely blaming drivers for all these ills.

I read with interest, for example, that two Santa Monica City Council members (Zwick and Hall) introduced a proposal requiring SMPD to crack down on “dangerous” drivers, while police simply “remind” bicyclists to follow traffic laws (“Police to Crack Down on Dangerous Driving,” January 28, 2025).

Yet there is no doubt unchecked bicyclist recklessness causes serious injuries and deaths. Consider that Santa Monica Department of Transportation data show bicyclists are nearly equally at fault in serious crashes as motor vehicle drivers are. But cyclists receive safety violation citations far less often (“Bicyclists Share Fault in Serious Crashes, Data Show,” December 14, 2023).

And as anyone who traverses Santa Monica can attest, bicyclists habitually ignore traffic safety laws, including running through stop signs and red lights, making unsafe turns, traveling against traffic, and even endangering pedestrians on sidewalks.

I have personally observed bicyclists routinely running through new Stop Signs installed (supposedly for bicyclists’ own safety), near the Idaho Avenue location of two serious collisions, one of which apparently occurred when a cyclist proceeded into an intersection despite a stop sign.

(A quick internet search indicates bicyclists refuse to stop at Stop Signs because they find it “inconvenient” to do so. Yet resulting collisions are far worse than merely inconvenient.)

How bizarre that our traffic safety enforcement does not tolerate other vehicles operating unlicensed on city streets, routinely running through stop signs and red lights, making unsafe turns, traveling against traffic, and endangering pedestrians, but tolerates it from bicycles every day.

The fact is that roughly 60 percent of Santa Monicans use cars to commute to work, compared to about 4 percent who commute to work by bicycle. Indeed, the majority of bicycle trips are simply recreational. Perhaps it’s time for the 60 percent to make politicians’ prejudice against drivers a voting issue.

Achieving safer streets in Santa Monica must include much stronger enforcement of traffic safety laws for bicyclists.

On a related note, it seems to me that drivers are also knee-jerk suspects in every car-on-pedestrian collision (“Injury Crashes Involving Pedestrians Rising,” January 16, 2024).

Yet recent pedestrian victims include a homeless individual pushing a cart down Lincoln Boulevard in 1 a.m. darkness and another lying down on Wilshire Boulevard at night (“Second Pedestrian in a Month Killed in Saturday Crash,” January 16, 2024).

Reports of the sadly predictable crashes specify the drivers involved showed no signs of impairment or substance intoxication, but do not indicate whether the erratically behaving homeless pedestrians were even tested.

(Two personal observations: I recently witnessed a grubby individual blathering at the sky while he stopped traffic by stumbling across Wilshire against the light at Euclid Avenue. Previously, I watched an animated homeless man sprint through heavy 23rd Street traffic, dodging moving vehicles while wary motorists barely avoided collisions.)

Does anyone doubt our streets would be safer with fewer unhinged, drug- and alcohol-addled homeless roaming them?

Yet, as with bicyclist behavior, our city’s so-called leaders somehow cannot find a path to any objective, even-handed solutions.

Sincerely,