Comments on: Police Have it Wrong: Traffic Flow vs. Safety

By: Dennis

Dennis — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:30:37 +0000

I might add, that because of officer Cimini of OPD and Hearing Officer Gross’ misconducts I lost my drivers license for over a year and a half.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:24:32 +0000

I was driving my car in the far left lane south on Orange Avenue downtown in extremely heavy traffic when officer Cimini of OPD crossed directly in front of me (going from west to east) on his bike going perpendicular to the grain of traffic and dressed like a ninja all in black. His bike riding did not strike me as so odd at the time but the fact that he wore all black did, especially when 95 percent of OPD bike officers wear white shirts. He rode his bike a little further south parallel to Orange on the sidewalk and stopped a few feet south of Wall Street Plaza. I drove very slowly past him behind a large fire truck (I believe). I went through the intersection at Central as did cars to my right rear and then all of a sudden officer Cimini pulls up on my left on his bike yelling and screaming at me to stop. He first asks me if I noticed him and I said yes, because most OPD bike officers wear white shirts and he wore black. All the while he is treating me extremely abusively. He tells me that he stopped me for running a red light and then he changes the charge to following behind a truck too closely. We depart.
Either that day or the next I go to OPD to file a complaint against officer Cimini and they send down a latin officer (I guess because I’m latin) to talk me out of it. He tells me that if the matter is not resolved in court, then I can file a complaint. I go to Hearing Officer Gross’ court the first time and officer Cimini does not show so they make me come back to court again. I go back to court 3 more times (the second and third times Hearing Officer Gross does not show up for court) and each time I pay for parking. On the 4th time in court Hearing Officer Gross has officer Cimini explain his case first and right away he lies about his location from where he says he saw me crossing the intersection at Central. He says that he was located in the southwest corner of Central and Orange Avenue when there was no doubt that he was located next to one of the bars south of Wall Street Plaza. I interrupt and tell Hearing Officer Gross about that lie as well as another and she throws me out of court.
Shortly afterwards I file a complaint at OPD against officer Cimini and they do nothing about it. To this day I have no idea if anyone even looked at my complaint. When I went in to get the complaint paperwork I pulled officer Cimini’s record of complaints and found that he head between 5 and 7 complaints against him in his very short career at OPD and just about all of them were for very abusive treatment.

By: ChipSeal

ChipSeal — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:13:18 +0000

With the danger of being thought of as a crass and shameless self-promoter, I relate my own personal police stop over an imaginary violation of the law here:

http://chipsea.blogspot.com/2009/04/abuse-of-power.html

There could also be a middle way for traffic code enforcement. Perhaps the court could offer a requirement to attend a road I course to both motorists and cyclists in lieu of a fine or damage to their driving record. Lord knows we need to educate both motorists and cyclists.

Is there any bicycle advocacy groups in Florida willing to propose such an effort?

Perhaps a “streamlined” citation process for cyclist infractions such as riding like a salmon or a ninja. In other words, reduce the time and paperwork burden for the cop to make a bicycle related traffic stop. Perhaps it will help make these safety violations easier to be seen.

By: Mighk

Mighk — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:37:19 +0000

We should also appeal to the officer’s sense of service to the community. The motorist who is involved in a crash with a law-breaking cyclist will rarely be physically injured, but will often have to spend time and money on repairs, and may even suffer some emotional impact. I know I’d sure be pissed to have to spend time and money cleaning up after the ignorance or stupidity of a bicyclist.

Give me the option of sitting behind a cyclist for 30 seconds waiting for a gap, or spending hours getting my car repaired…

By: Mighk

Mighk — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:30:38 +0000

You got us curious Dennis. What was the charge?

By: Dennis

Dennis — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 03:36:51 +0000

The tickets for car drivers and bike riders could be used to create a bicycle safety and rights fund to fight for those issues.

Cops that have served as bicycle patrol cops might be more passionate about bicycle traffic issues and thus might be more credible traffic liasons.

I once got ticketed by officer Cimini of OPD and he lied twice in a court of law and right before he ticketed me for a trumped up charge and abused me at the stop he had ridden his bike perpendicular to extremely heavy vehicular traffic on Orange Ave. downtown and he crossed the road in the middle of the road not at a crosswalk/intersection and worst of all Hearing Officer Gross was complicit in the injustices.

By: ChipSeal

ChipSeal — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 02:58:08 +0000

The unsafe cyclist list is great: Wrong way cyclists (salmon), ninjas and stop light scofflaws.

Speed limit enforcement would be helpful too.

Keri makes a great point too, a cyclist ticketed today may reduce a cop’s paperwork tomorrow!

By: Brian in So Cal

Brian in So Cal — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:33:43 +0000

In one city in my area, there has been recent increased enforcement of cyclist “far to the right” laws on early weekend morning group rides on multilane arterials wtih little traffic. This isn’t the first time this has happened in that city – typically the increased enforcement is a result of political pressure from public outcry of cyclists “being in the middle of the road”.

That said, I also believe part of the problem is that many have convinced themselves that “improved traffic flow = improved safety”. There are studies which show that there are fewer crashes on a freeway/expressway when speeds are uniform. But then this mentality is applied to regular streets, which doesn’t apply because of traffic lights, driveways, stopped buses, etc. Furthermore, most of the folks who cite speed differential as a safety issue will pin the blame on the slower driver.

Actually, I believe a cyclist controlling a lane is less disruptive to traffic flow than a gutter bunny, since traffic will change lanes much earlier and in a much more orderly fashion to get around the cyclist.

By: fred_dot_u

fred_dot_u — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:56:11 +0000

Andrew, I hope I can remember your epiphany when I need it next. I’d like to be able to ask the officer, “Is this a traffic flow issue or a safety issue?”

It is funny, though, that in the fifteen traffic stops I’ve had, the alleged safety issue is the last thing brought up, once the statute has been identified and resolved (in all but two, of course) and that the original reason for the stop is imagined traffic flow issues.

I agree very much that law enforcement would do well to focus on wrong way riders, ninja cyclists (night riders without lights (boy, do I miss Yehuda)) and the like. Those are true safety concerns for everyone.

I’ve posted a number of vehicle-related videos to YouTube in the past and the response from the “general public” is most negative. “It could be argued that a cyclist like Fred is endangering himself when riding on the road in the manner that he has chosen (vehicularly), but we can prove statistically that isn’t the case. ” I’ve been told that I should be run over for blocking the road, even though a particular video might be for someone passing me on the right by going off the roadway entirely. I’ve been told that I’ll be run over, that I’ll be killed, that one of the viewers is waiting for the video that shows I’ll be hit.

Rampant ignorance is certainly our biggest “enemy”.

Andrew, I hope you never recover from this particular gunshot to the head.

By: JohnB

JohnB — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:37:07 +0000

The Bicycle Coalition of Maine (bikemaine.org) has had a fairly successful LEO education program in the past, although it’s not very active right now, sad to say. I think it has been cited nationally as an example. It was developed largely by our former Executive Director, Jeff Miller (now of the Alliance for Biking and Walking, formerly the Thunderhead Alliance) and a state police administrator who is now retired. (I think those are the two main reasons it is not active right now.)

FBA may want to contact our education person, Deborah Ladner, or call up Jeff in DC.