Park police disturbs me

[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.