CritEastwood

The comments are funny. There are those in this county who seem to feel that bicycles don't belong anywhere, except on the sidewalk.

https://www.ocregister.com/news/speed...ail-limit.html

One of the most contradictory things about it all is that the OCTA (Orange County Transportation Authority) has that MUP classified as a Class I "bicycle commuter" route, yet at the same time suggests "they should not be used as high speed bikeways".

https://www.octa.net/bikeways.aspx

SBRDude

Jeez. I used to ride on that path all the time when I lived in Riverside. Why do people have to be such idiots?

billdsd

I grew up in Fountain Valley and used to ride the trail some in the 70's and a lot in the 80's. I don't remember having trouble getting around pedestrians safely. I don't remember there being a lot of pedestrians. Sure there were always some, but not many. They were few and far between and usually easy to avoid. Call out when they have their back to you. It's not tough.

The speed limit is ridiculous.

gcottay

So, what's the penalty for doing 15 MPH? 25 MPH? How vigorous is the enforcement?

I am extremely cautious of all pedestrians but would still find the 10 MPH limit tough unless the trail were packed with people. Unless fines were steep and the enforcement heavy I'd ignore the limit without walkers present.

genec

LOL somehow I just can't imagine some bike cop on the trail, sitting there with a speed trap, just waiting for all the offenders. But just in case, be careful if you "fly past" some billboard... Barnie might be a'waitin'.

cyclezealot

It's a terrible newspaper , not a surprise. The odd fact. The City of Irvine is one of America's friendliest , cycling cities.

billdsd

The thing about the Santa Ana river trail is that it's around 30 miles of what amounts to a bike "freeway", due to the fact that it mostly crosses streets by going under bridges (or at least it did 20+ years ago when I last rode it). It's relatively straight and cuts across Orange County. It's a great commuting route if you both live and work/go to school not too far from the trail. Again, I don't remember there being a particularly large amount of pedestrians on it when I rode it, and I mostly rode on weekends back in those days.

You could avoid cars, and traffic controls and get where you were going pretty fast with minimal fatigue. I wish I had something like that for my current commute. It could easily drop 20% off my commute time.

CritEastwood

I've been using the SARTP since the 80's off and on, nowdays all hours. There is no enforcement, except for cops rousting bums or gangbangers on occasion. In fact the LE authority in the area of it I frequent (OCSD) does not make a habit of harassing legitimate users. I had a deputy see me jump on it at 3AM the other morning and not give me a second look. I can't imagine them ever resorting to shooting radar on it. It would appear the RAGister needed another chance to villify bicycles, otherwise their "article" is pointless.

Chris516

Even though I never lived in California, I certainly agree with your question.

sudo bike

Fast moving objects may endanger slower moving objects, so we should make the faster objects slow to a speed closer to the slower moving objects' speed.

Awesome! What are you guys complaining about?

I mean, we're lowering speed limits on the roads for bicyclists' safety tomorrow, right? I shall expect 25-35 mph speed limits instituted by next week.

CritEastwood

If these county Class I bike paths are not patrolled for "speeding cyclists" after this incident, it's probably not going to happen any time soon.

genec

Happened in 2007... I don't see speed traps yet today.

CritEastwood

The county is going to have to make up its collective mind what is to be done. Either it's going to be a viable transportation alternative, or they are going to enforce the law they have on the books. The county and OCTA are the responsible parties, so it's up to them.