By Matt Agorist
As if threatening government force to extort money from drivers who exceed an arbitrary limit of speed on the highway is not bad enough, police in California will begin issuing tickets to speeding bicyclists as well.
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. “It’s 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 “don’t 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 cycling groups are embracing it.
Tom Boss, offroad director of the Marin County Bicycle Coalition, said he welcomed the county’s 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 they included 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 county’s park lands,” Undersheriff Mike Ridgway said.
Instead of people being held responsible for hurting others through irresponsible acts, such as wrecking into hikers or bikes, all cyclists will now be punished for simply riding over 15 mph.
This move by city officials should come as no surprise as the state’s 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.
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, it’s 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 people’s safety, but this is just one more regulation being shoved down everyone’s 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 they’ll only focus on the biking regulation? HA! Also, just because you feel inconvenienced by someone, that doesn’t 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!
I’m certainly no fan of government regulation but my point is, they’re extremely dangerous where I live. They don’t have enough rubber on the road to safely stop when traveling 40-50 mph.
They ride in huge groups and block traffic simply because most have an arrogant anti-car attitude.
Come to Boulder Colorado this summer and you will see what I mean.
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…’
I live in a very steep canyon in the mountains of Colorado.
Ever honestly seen a cyclist do that?
I routinely clock these speeds. As I said, I get in excess of 1,000 bicycles per week in front of my house during the peak of the season.
‘…start competing internationally.’
This is exactly where world-class bicyclists come to train. I have been told some of these people are riding $9,000 bikes. Of course, not everyone rides bikes of that quality but I guess $5,000 is more common.
‘…what would you bet any modern bike can stop faster than any car…’
Absolutely nothing. When a bicycle locks its brakes, it doesn’t take very long for a blow-out to occur and then they’re sliding down the pavement as soon as the metal rim hits the asphalt. Story from a couple of years ago, some guy slid under an on-coming car.
‘What are you smoking…’
This is Colorado. Only the best.
Well, you’re right. On a steep enough grade, anything that doesn’t crash can go 50 mph while it’s falling with gravity’s assistance. Skateboard, car-with-no-engine, wheelchair, bowling-ball, railway flatcar, etc.
But that doesn’t satisfy the definition of “sustain”. If you average the speed getting up the hill, assuming they didn’t 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 you’ve got a potentially dead cyclist.
But ordinary seat-and-two-wheels bicycles under human power don’t 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.
There’s 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 bikeys are ultra-liberal so their goal is, ‘no cars.’ They form big groups and deliberately block traffic. Hit-and-runs are on the increase.
It’s a mess. Some bicycle magazine wrote that my road out front is one of the top 10 bike rides in the nation. People come from around the world to stand out in front of my house. Begging for food and water.
They’re like ants. A few is no big deal but thousands become a problem.
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 don’t know it.
The Females of this new crop are the worst!
Perfect. He’s 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
Couldn’t 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. They’re crashing into both people and cars regularly as they have little control.
I’m a native of the area and a regular hiker, I haven’t 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 don’t deserve any consideration at all, and cannot ever have paid for any infrastructure. Why, they’re lucky not to be in jail with their usurpations, elitism, and unreasonable expectations!
Why aren’t you doing more to stop filthy freeloading bicyclists in your community? Complaining here doesn’t really help.
The article focused on parks and trails that serve bikes and hikers. It’s matter of common sense, bikes should always yield to pedestrians, just as cars need to yield to pedestrians – courtesy and the golden rule doesn’t 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 80’s (in Marin County, no less) changed all that. Now we have an invasion of thousands of an entirely new type of park user who couldn’t 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 won’t slow them down a bit, just make them more cagey.
It’s 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 you’re 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!
ITS ALL FRAUD!
…………
Wow… picking on firefighters is really reaching for the lowest fruit on the tree. Good thing you don’t 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 nation’s safest jobs
The nation’s astoundingly well-paid public firefighters insist that
they receive their unsustainable salaries and pensions with age-50 retirements and
work schedules that allow them to sleep on the job and work only a few days
every two weeks because of the heroics they face on the job. but
according to a new Report, such over hyped dangers are actually well
below those dangers actually faced by most of America’s workers.
Lawyer Checking Why Firefighters Routinely Cash In On Charity Work
LVRJ
The probe into why firefighters profited from fundraising for the Firefighters of Southern Nevada Burn Foundation, .
Some firefighters collected cash, banked it, then wrote a personal check for
that amount and then took a charitable deduction on their federal
income taxes. Planck, a Clark County firefighter, took cash from various boot
drives meant for Hurricane Katrina victims,
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
putting
boot drive charity donations into their own account, then writing a
personal check for the sum to benefit from the a tax deduction.
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
this point, Cynthia Dustin, the defense attorney for the firefighter ,
said she is gathering evidence to prove that the behavior Planck has
been accused of is “an accepted behavior.”
Planck was caught March 17 stealing thousands of
dollars from the various foundations, for which he served on the burn fund board as a
vice president for the past five years.
Members include firefighters from departments all over Nevada.
The D/A refused to comment about the foundation’s expenses or where money was used for personal expenses.
the tax deduction is not the DA’s jurisdiction; it would be the job of the
Internal Revenue Service to examine.
A
call to the Burn Foundation on Friday was referred to the Preferred
Public Relations P.R. firm , which had a statement ready saying the
foundation could not comment .
The foundations, have raised over $400,000 .
Raising money is one thing, getting it to the intended victims is another.
A check of the group’s tax returns showed that in that year, the only year
readily available, the Burn Foundation provided services totaling $6,911.
Perhaps
in other years they helped more, but the tax forms showed they raised
$57,140 from the public and spent $48,000, yet provided only $6,900 to
seven families. And the IRS forms don’t list the identities of the
families.
Doesn’t seem like a real cost-effective operation . The next fundraiser is set for
April 14, the seventh annual Hottest Heroes Firefighters Bachelor
Auction. The Web site shows various shirtless and muscular firefighters
and invites women to “meet them at 6, and buy them at 8.”
Another
popular charity with firefighters, the Muscular Dystrophy Association,
received $173 million in public donations and provided $134 million in
services. The
organizations that received that money are identified precisely in tax records.
Dustin said tax fraud by local firefighters collecting for the Burn Foundation also
have been raised in connection with firefighters who collect cash in
their annual boot drive for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
There is a paper trail to pursue. , firefighters were collecting cash and writing personal
checks and making tax deductions, the IRS should be able to spot it.
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
charity go to the charity: Don’t give cash to firefighters , write a check.
Hero syndrome – The hero syndrome is a phenomenon affecting
firefighters who constantly crave heroism or recognition, by
manufacturing desperate situation stories which they claim only they
can resolve.
Pension Tsunami
www . pensiontsunami . comNew ‘Retirement Security’ Plan Will Give Cover to California’s Bloated Public …. REPORT: What’s Driving Illinois’ $111 Billion Pension Crisis
New Ideas to Fund CALPERS’ Pensions darken for California taxpayers
ORANGE COUNTY EDITORIAL
Despite fairly steady economic growth and state budget surpluses,
California’s unfunded public employee pension liabilities are spiking.
As detailed by Stanford University research scholar David Crane on the
Fox & Hounds website, year-end reports pegged the increase in
unfunded pension promises for the California Public Employees Retirement
System at $15 billion and for the California State Teachers Retirement
System at $9 billion.
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
Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2016-17, were $72.7
billion for CalSTRS and $43.3 billion for CalPERS. Adding up everything,
the new total unfunded liability for both giant pension funds is $140
billion.
Mr. Crane noted that, because these unfunded liabilities accrue at a
relatively high interest rate of 7.5 percent, a $24 billion increase
“will translate into well over $50 billion of service cuts and/or tax
increases over the next three decades.”
Additional perspective was provided by Richard Rider, chairman of San
Diego Tax Fighters. He told us that, by his estimates, CalPERS and
CalSTRS’ funds could have fallen in value another 9 percent since last
July 1. We won’t know the exact numbers for another year, when the
systems file their official analyses for the full fiscal year of
2015-16, which ends June 30.
And Mr. Rider pointed out that, according to the current
interpretation of the California Constitution, “California taxpayers are
100 percent liable for paying making up any fund shortfalls.”
This fact gives added emphasis to the need for state and local
pension reforms. However, the last week in December, the California
Public Employment Relations Board nullified Measure B, a pension reform
San Diego voters passed in 2012. The city is appealing.
Statewide, two pension reform initiatives are being advanced by
former San Diego Councilman Carl DeMaio, who advanced Measure B, and
former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, who got a similar measure passed by
voters in 2012. The initiatives would limit pension and health care
benefits for new public employees and mandate voter approval of pension
increases.
If 585,407 valid petition signatures are gathered by June 6, the
initiatives could be on the November ballot. Although public employee
unions will fight any reform, delays only will worsen the pension
crisis.
That’s 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 don’t want anything except maybe for you to quit whining and do something productive about whatever’s bothering you. I don’t think it’s bicycles. I can see how you’d 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.