Park police disturbs me

[withm]

Well we are only getting one side of the story with out the benefit of the laws and or rules in effect in the referenced park.

Sounds to me like it's time for the leader of the peloton and perhaps one eloquent accomplice to sit down for a meeting with the police chief and work out what will, and what will not be tolerated, and to educate the police on the dangers of the methods used to try to stop them. It would be good to get a crash course on the law in that jurisdiction, and may do well to consult a bicycling attorney.

There was a recent blog entry "When the Cop Says Stop" by Bob Mionske posted at Bicycling.com on this very subject, this time in Ohio. It was a peloton of two, but similar situation. It is very long, but just goes to show what happens when things escalate:

http://bicycling.com/blogs/roadright...-disobey-cops/

Now there is a equally interesting response in a "A “Cop” Responds" by Mark Wheeler, a Florida cyclist, and cop.

http://bicycling.com/blogs/roadright...-cop-responds/

The lesson is to pick your battles; there is a very fine line between being right, and being dead right.

Let us know how this turns out.

[Cataboo]

The FAQ for stone mountain park says that biking is allowed and bikes must ride single file on the road. And that there is a bike lane on one side of the mountain.

I only brought up whether or not there were complaints before in response to people asking was it really necessary for the police officers to step out into the road or pull the car out to stop the peleton... If there have been multiple complaints before to the bike groups whether it's when they're pulling into the park or out of it by the rangers (I have no idea how this park looks), or comments yelled at them... And if these complaints have been steadily ignored, I can see why a police officer would think that stepping out into the middle of the road is reasonable...

And if nothing else, the fact that there were crashes means that the peleton really isn't riding in a controlled fashion that they can respond to obstacles or pedestrians.

Btw, thanks for teaching me the word peleton, which I find very cool.

[ZenSojourner]

I called this afternoon and spoke with the assistant Police chief at Stone Mountain.

They have a different version of the incident in question.

Apparently there have been ongoing problems just in the last 5 years or so with large, fast moving pelotons in the park. They estimate there were 70 riders in the peloton involved in last week's incident. The officer with whom I spoke is a 34 year veteran of the park police force and apparently they had only isolated incidents of problems involving cyclists until just the last 5 years or so, when apparently some local racing clubs decided the multi-use paths (not bike paths) in the park would make excellent training routes.

The officer in question was not trying to flag the peloton down, he got caught in the crosswalk and if he was waving his arms around it was probably to wave them off because he was afraid of getting hit. He saw the group at the top of the hill as he started to cross the street but had no idea they were traveling as fast as they were and they caught him crossing the road IN THE CROSSWALK. Regardless of maximum speed limits posted, any pedestrian in a crosswalk means STOP. If you are going too fast to stop for a pedestrian in the crosswalk, you are going too fast.

The peloton was taking up the entire width of both lanes in that direction. According to both Georgia state law and park regulations, cyclists are to ride in one lane only and not more than 2 abreast, with the additional rule that they ride single file on weekends because of the increased traffic from all park users (pedestrians, cyclists, and motor vehicles). The officer involved reported that the peloton leaders shouted "PEDESTRIAN" as they whizzed past, but did not stop or slow down, with the result being that those following them did not stop or slow down, but rather split around the man in the crosswalk. Georgia law states that all vehicles - whether a car or a bicycle - are to STOP when there is a pedestrian in the crosswalk.

Four cyclists ran into each other. Two were driven by friends to the hospital, one for a shoulder injury and one for some stitches in his finger. No ambulances were involved. While there have been incidents where the police have stopped riders and issued tickets and warnings, the assistant chief was not aware of any recent incidents where an entire peloton had been flagged down and stopped. He was not aware of any officer having pulled a cruiser into the middle of the road to create a road block either. The policy is that the same methods are used to stop cyclists as are used to stop motor vehicles, when that is necessary.

Police reports are a matter of public record. If anyone is that interested in the situation out there, just get copies of the police reports for the past couple of months, but there has not been a concerted effort to chase down these pelotons, only a case-by-case handling of individual situations.

Even the people posting about this incident have as much as admitted that they were taking up both lanes, that they were traveling at a high rate of speed, and that this is not unusual for that particular group of cyclists.

This incident occurred at a crosswalk. Crosswalks mean slow down and prepare to stop. Pedestrians have the right of way at crosswalks, even if they're wearing a uniform. This park is not set up to be a racing training route for large groups of fast moving packs of cyclists. The bicycle path is not actually a bicycle path, it's a multi-use path split between pedestrians, RECREATIONAL cyclists (not racers), and motor vehicles. There is nowhere on the road where these cyclists are riding where there is NOT pedestrian access, crosswalks, and at one point there is access to a playground.

According to the assistant chief, the vast majority of cyclists utilizing the grounds obey the rules, other than the occasional probably inadvertent infraction. It's just these large groups of racers who are consistently causing problems.

[Cataboo]

ZS, you should be a reporter... Have you interviewed the cyclists involved yet?

And I thought that investigative journalism was dead in the US.