Dave Davis, co-owner of Alamitos Antiques, has been hit twice by bicyclists using the sidewalk in front of his store during the past two years. Davis, 67, wasn’t seriously injured. He wasn’t knocked down. But he was hit.
To protect merchants like Davis, residents and tourists, the Seal Beach Police Department is distributing the booklet “Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety” in the Hill and Old Town areas of Seal Beach in this week’s print edition of the Sun.
Police officials announced in mid-May that they were stepping-up enforcement of bicycle laws in response to complaints from pedestrians and drivers. The safety issue has become more important now that summer is here, bringing with it tourists and increased traffic to Seal Beach—particularly in the Old Town area.
So far, the public’s response, according to District One Councilwoman Ellery Deaton, has been positive. “Chief Joe (Stilinovich) has been to two of my coffee chats and we have held a community outreach together and he has said consistently that the goal is first to educate our bicyclists, motorists and pedestrians,” Deaton said. “If that doesn’t work, then we enforce.”
The safety booklet is part of that education process. Perhaps the shortest, simplest way to summarize the booklet is: follow the rules and pay attention to your surroundings.
Davis said that the two times he was hit by bicyclists on the sidewalk, he was blindsided because he wasn’t looking. He was hit by a bicyclist for the first time about two years ago and the second time about six months ago.
Both times, he was entering Alamitos Antiques and was knocked back, but not down, by 1 or 2 feet.
And there was a near miss he experienced one day as he was using a push broom to sweep the sidewalk in front of the Main Street antique store. People were walking down the street, going in the direction of Central Avenue. A “kid” on a bicycle as Davis describes him, cut in front of Davis and knocked the broom out of his hands.
“I’m a little gun shy now,” Davis said. “Now I look both ways.”
“I see a lot of kids on bikes going down the sidewalk, hitting people,” Davis said.
Davis said he’d never been hit by a skateboarder. He said they make a lot of noise when they roll down the sidewalk.
Officers Chris Hendrix and Nick Nicholas, who will spend the summer patrolling the downtown area on bicycles, have seen bicyclists running stop signs during the past two of weeks they’ve been on patrol.
The two officers’ patrol area includes the Seal Beach Pier. As recently as Friday, June 28, they had to warn skateboarders against skating on the apron of the pier.
Hendrix said if they see someone violating the rules, they will definitely want to talk to that person. That person won’t necessarily get a ticket, but the police want to speak with them.
Hendrix said the rules exist for a reason. He also said each of Southern California’s beach communities has slightly different rules.
Hendrix said people are more open to officers patrolling on bicycles.
He and Nicholas have more interactions with the public on bike than they might while patrolling in a car.
As police officers go about their work on bicycles, so do some civilian cyclists.
Zpizza on Main Street, for example, delivers pizza by both car and electronic bike. Concern for safety is part of the business.
According to Alan Grant, owner of the Main Street franchise, his shop has been delivering pizzas by bike for about two years.
Grant said he worries about his employees every time they go out on the bike.
“I tell them to wear the helmet all the time,” Grant said.
An employee who doesn’t wear the helmet could be fired, but usually an employee gets a warning. Grant hasn’t had to fire anyone yet.
“If I see them without the helmet, they lose their bike privileges,” Grant said.
“That’s big, because they really like it,” Grant said.
Grant tells his employees to observe the laws that bicyclists must follow at all times. His employees are in a hurry to deliver and when you are rushing, the chance of an injury increases. He said bicycles are harder to see than cars.
He is aware of the possibility of a collision between his delivery people and either pedestrians or cars.
“There’s a lot of foot traffic around here,” Grant said.
But he’s mostly concerned about his people being hit by cars.
So far, that hasn’t happened.
The bikes are constantly maintained because they get used so much. They are fitted with disc brakes.
The braking system is important because the delivery bikes are heavier than the average bikes, which Grant said makes it harder for them to stop in time.
While Grant’s bike riders are looking out for pedestrians and cars, motorists are looking out for pedestrians—or should be looking out.
In March, a traffic collision between a pedestrian and a car on Main Street, in front of the Sun Newspaper office, prompted Seal Beach officials to order tall, yellow traffic calming signs for the business district’s mid-block crosswalks.
A sign was already in place at the 300 block of Main, near the Pacific Coast Highway intersection.
That sign had apparently become necessary because of cars rushing on and off PCH.
According to Deaton, the signs make people feel safe.
“Trying to measure things that don’t happen is obviously difficult, but this I know: people feel safer and I feel better knowing I’ve done what I can to help keep our residents and visitors safe,” she said. But being safe and feeling safe are two different things.
“Residents and visitors feel so safe that at times they don’t think about the possible dangers of vehicle and bicycle/pedestrian interactions,” Deaton said.
