Dear Readers,
In my lastcolumn, I promised a report on the “WeAre All Traffic” rally in Portland. To recap a bit, in Bicycling& the Law, I wrote that "gaining the right to the road was thecycling cause of the late nineteenth century; securing that right willbe the cause of the early twenty-first century." To that end, I arguedthat "the time has come for a second civil rights movement for cyclists."Following a recent spate of collisions between drivers and cyclists inPortland (see “AFatal Bias?”), Joe “MetalCowboy” Kurmaskie called for a cyclist’s civil rights movement, andthe “WeAre All Traffic” rally was the initial response from a groundswellof grassroots Portland cyclists.It being the Pacific Northwest, rain would be expected, and the skiesdid not disappoint. The rally kicked off with a pressconference at City Hall on Friday, the day before the actual rally,where several speakers, including Joe “Metal Cowboy” Kurmaskie, cyclingadvocate and bicycle law expert RayThomas, and me, called for “change and action by all parties to makea true commitment to share the roads and make our streets safer for everyone.”The real action, however, began on Saturday, as hundreds of cyclists gatheredin the pouring rain at various spots throughout the city where cyclistsand pedestrians had been killed by a driver. From these gathering spots,cyclists rode through the rain, converging at the “We Are All Traffic”in Waterfront Park, along the Willamette River.The speaker roster was somewhat different from the roster at the pressconference, but Metal Cowboy, who was emceeing the rally, did speak, addressingthe issue of anti-cyclist bias in the Portland Police Bureau’s handlingof the TraceySparling, BrettJarolimek, and SiobhanDoyle crash investigations.Following Joe’s powerful opening, I took the crowd back to the ‘80s—the1880’s—when I spoke of our cycling forbears of 120 years ago, and the movementthey waged to gain the right to the road. That was the first civil rightsmovement for cyclists, and as I have observed in Bicycling& the Law, the second civil rights movement for cyclists will beto secure the right to the road—and that movement to secure the right tothe road began when Portland cyclists said “enough—we are all traffic.”As I noted in conclusion, because Portland is the epicenter of cyclingin America, “the solutions we come up with in Portland will be the solutionsthat will be tried elsewhere—if they work.”Also among the speakers appearing was Siobhan Doyle, who was right-hookedat the same intersection where Brett Jarolimek had been right-hooked andkilled two weeks before. Barely out of the hospital, and her arm stillin a sling, Siobhan had the crowd’s rapt attention when she spoke of our“obligation to look out for not only ourselves, but for other humans.”Following Siobhan was the day’s most eloquent speaker, Tracey Sparling’saunt, Susie Kubota. Speaking with quiet outrage at the police and mediahandling of Tracey’s fatal collision, Susie observed:

“She was just a girl on her bike, trying to get to school.In the wake of her death, and inconceivably to us, the police spokesmanand the media sent a message to the public:That message was “CYCLISTS BEWARE.” If you are on a bike, or a pedestrianon the road, it is risky behavior. You are putting your life at unnecessaryrisk because you should be traveling in a car. Forget the laws, forgetfailure to yield, automobiles own the road. We are told that it’s not reasonable to expect safety or protection.”

Many in the crowd were moved to tears by Susie’s eloquence. JonathanMaus of Bikeportland.org reports that among those in attendance when Susiespoke was Portland Police Chief Rosie Sizer. Was she also moved by SusieKubota’s eloquence?As the rains stopped and the skies opened up, the rally ended. Portland’scyclists rode off under increasingly sunny skies, with steely determinationto create lasting change in the way they are treated on the road. The secondcivil rights movement for cyclists had begun. I’ve received numerous emails in response to these recent columns oncyclist deaths. Everybody seems to know of an incident in which a cyclistwas injured or killed by a motorist—and often, my readers not only knowof the incident, but knew the cyclist.This week, I’d like to share two letters from readers who also happento be law enforcement officers. One of the officers agrees with my columnstaking the police to task for anti-cyclist bias in accident investigation,and one of the officers disagrees. In fact, I have met the officer whodisagrees, and have agreed to speak before his club next year; althoughhe wrote to the Editor of VeloNews.com, I thought it only fair to reprinthis letter here.
Bob
 
Dear Bob,
I have been a police officer for over 14 years, eight of them as apolice cyclist.  I am a Cat 3 road racer in NJ, and a former StateCat 5 champion.  I agree with you and your readers.  Thereis certainly an unfriendly bias toward cyclists.  Here's an idea: USA Cycling should be educating athletes on advocacy issues when they receivelicenses.  "Racer-types" use the road more than many other cyclists,yet this group often does little when it comes to advocacy issues.
 
As a police officer, I present an annual bicycle safety course (bothclassroom and a coned safety course)  to each and every elementaryschool student in my community from K-6th Grade.  I also speak monthlyat all of my community's civic groups, where I make it a point at leastonce a year to remind our citizens of cyclists rights and how to preventcar vs. cyclist accidents.
 
Rest assured, not all law enforcement is biased.  I'm doing mypart, and there are many other officers from this region of the UnitedStates doing similar pro-cycling education in their communities. This is, for the most part, as a result of the Police Unity Tour, whichbegan in New Jersey and is now a nation-wide bike tour to honor fallenofficers.
 
Your work is greatly appreciated.  Keep it up!
C. F.,
New JerseyEditor:
Bob's Mionske's October 25 column begins by listing a long string oftragic deaths of cyclists. My sympathy goes out to the friends and familiesof all of those killed.All of these cyclists were killed between September 12 and October 22,2007, and the article was published on October 25. In many cases, he writesthat no charges have been filed in association with the deaths. I feelthis is misleading and tends to inflame cyclists into thinking that theyare treated as disposable. In reality, there may be detectives furiouslyworking to put together cases in some of these deaths.As somebody who has investigated many traffic fatalities I can tellyou that many investigations are very time-consuming, requiring a lengthyand rigorous process to build up enough evidence so that a case can befiled. In cases that are not clear cut, this process can take weeks oreven months. In some unfortunate instances, there is not enough evidenceto file charges even when we believe we know what happened. Also, in Californiaa misdemeanor case has a one-year filing window; felony cases have variousmultiple-year or unlimited filing windows.Rushing a case can lead to sloppy investigations and either dismissals,mistrials, or acquittals of parties who might otherwise have been foundguilty. A thorough investigation can lead to the filing of a strong caseand a guilty plea because the defendant knows that he or she will loseat trial.Again, I have the utmost sympathy for those killed but I think it wouldbe better not to inflame issues that don't need to be inflamed. I appreciatethe service Bob provides in his columns and look forward to reading manymore.
Matt Gunnell
Glendale, CaliforniaI think it’s important to keep in mind that different departments, andeven different officers, will have different approaches to handling investigations.Ideally, law enforcement officers responding to the scene of a collisionbetween a motorist and a cyclist will investigate with the professionalismand concern exhibited by both C.F. and Matt Gunnell. In fact, had law enforcementofficers in the Incline Village crash and the Portland crashes exhibitedthis degree of professionalism, rather than rushing to blame the cyclist,and failing to issue citations—and in some instances, refusing to investigate—cyclistswould not have responded with the outrage that we’ve all felt.I have many more emails on this subject than can fit into this week’scolumn, so we will return to these emails in another column. On a finalnote, I'd like to thank all of my readers who have contacted me to requestmy appearance at their event on my upcoming speaking tour. I will be speakingextensively in 2008, and will make plans to appear before any club, bikeshop, or other engagement that is interested in hosting me. If you wouldlike me to appear to speak at your event or shop, or to your club or group,please drop me a line at bookbob2speak@gmail.com.I'm looking forward to meeting as many of my readers as possible.
Bob
(Research and drafting provided by Rick Bernardi, J.D.)

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Now read the fine print:
Bob Mionske is a former competitive cyclist who representedthe U.S. at the 1988 Olympic games (where he finished fourth in the roadrace), the 1992 Olympics, as well as winning the 1990 national championshiproad race.
After retiring from racing in 1993, he coached the Saturn Professional Cycling team for one year before heading off to law school. Mionske's practice is now split between personal-injury work, representing professional athletes as an agent and other legal issues facing endurance athletes (traffic violations, contract, criminal charges, intellectual property, etc).Mionske is also the author of Bicyclingand the Law, designed to be the primary resource for cycliststo consult when faced with a legal question. It provides readers with theknowledge to avoid many legal problems in the first place, and informsthem of their rights, their responsibilities, and what steps they can takeif they do encounter a legal problem.If you have a cycling-related legal question, please send it to mionskelaw@hotmail.comBob will answer as many of these questions privately as he can. He willalso select a few questions each week to answer in this column. Generalbicycle-accident advice can be found at www.bicyclelaw.com.Important notice:
The information provided in the "Legally speaking"column is not legal advice. The information provided on this publicweb site is provided solely for the general interest of the visitors tothis web site. The information contained in the column applies to generalprinciples of American jurisprudence and may not reflect current legaldevelopments or statutory changes in the various jurisdictions and thereforeshould not be relied upon or interpreted as legal advice. Understand thatreading the information contained in this column does not mean youhave established an attorney-client relationship with attorney Bob Mionske.Readers of this column should not act upon any information contained inthe web site without first seeking the advice of legal counsel.