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Thursday, October 22, 2009

sacramento at it again

w ahile back i posted up about how sac town is pulling a berlin. well guess what? our own hometown hero john cardiel got ticketed. thats right, the legendary skateboarder and well know fixed gear fixture of nor cal got a ticket:

"Cardiel explains that he “skidded to an immediate stop.” Then, he describes that the cops applied their hand brakes and slid past him. “One guy almost fell over. I had more control than they did,” Cardiel remembers."

okay, this should mean something. for a guy who can rip super fast on a skateboard, cardiel had expert coordination:

see? now what ticks me off is the interpretation of the law. califoria vehicle code 21201 states that a bicycles should have one brake (i feel like a broken record), however that law  refrains to state whether the brake is mechanical or human powered. therefore, there should be no problem. in fact, being brakeless teaches some discipline and endangeres no one but the rider.  note that sacramento cops never go after brakeless bmx (no offence, i give it up to brakeless bmx), and cant even get a grip of their own bikes.

the dude on the case is sgt. valdez, the same cop that was on the case the last time i posted up about the "illegal fixed gear" notion.

" Valdez argues that fixed-gear bicyclists riding without hand brakes are breaking this law.

“It seems to be a trend, not only here but across the nation,” says Valdez. “These bicycles are a danger and present a clear hazard not only for the cyclist but also pedestrians and people in vehicles.”

The city says it has actively been enforcing this law for the past six months.

Cardiel calls the rule “terrible.”"

there are alot of crazy stories in this article. one kid's car get set on fire in the morning and his bike get confiscated later on. he was left without transportation for weeks. the bike biz' (you know the bike biz!) mechanic sage bauers talks too. in the end, i beleive cardiel says it proper:

I think it’s really hypocritical, because [the city] wants people to be more conscientious, more eco-friendly and support bike riding,” he says. “But in turn, they’re taking kids’ bikes and trying to make money off of it.”

im behind cardiel on this, i want to look into throwing an event for sac- protesting against fixed gear targeting. i dont know how to plan it, but i'll look into it.

read the article here.

jmik




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