Letter to the editor
Controversy hits high gear
A few days ago I was biking from my home on Ellendale Place to class. As a student that is well aware of — but has not received — the infamous $300 tickets the Los Angeles Police Department gives out on the corner of Jefferson and McClintock Avenue for riding bicycles against traffic or through the crosswalk during red lights when pedestrians are crossing, I generally try to do things the right way.
As such, I was offended and appalled at the baseless and harassing “traffic stop” made by Department of Public Safety Officer Johnathan Clayton as I crossed Jefferson Boulevard onto campus earlier in the week.
When crossing Jefferson on my approach from Hoover Street, I specifically waited for a green light to the traffic on Hoover before riding my bicycle across the street with traffic, rather than risking an outrageous ticket by riding my bike through the crosswalk with the pedestrian signals.
As I was riding my bicycle across the street with traffic, a DPS vehicle pulled up next to me, and to my surprise, an officer yelled something to the effect of, “What do you think you’re doing? Meet me at the stop sign in front of the Lyon Center.”
When I met the officer at this stop sign he proceeded to tell me that, pursuant to California Vehicle Code, what I did was illegal because I biked across the street while the “red hand” pedestrian signal was displayed. At this intersection, a “red hand” pedestrian signal is always displayed when there is a green light to traffic on Hoover.
I respectfully attempted to explain to the officer that under California Vehicle Code a bicycle is considered a vehicle, has all the rights of a vehicle, and that I was biking with traffic and following the green light — a vehicle signal (California Vehicle Code 21200).
To this the officer said that, because the bicycle lane ends at that intersection, a bicyclist could no longer cross the street along with traffic.
Not only is this completely contrary to Code 21200, but the statement also is in direct opposition to 21208, which states that when a bicycle lane has been established, a bicycle is explicitly permitted to move out of the bicycle lane when approaching a place where a right turn is authorized.
Thus, in my situation, I was not only not prohibited from, but explicitly authorized by California Vehicle Code to ride my bicycle in the lane with automobile traffic.
After being harassed by Clayton for approximately 10 minutes into finally stating that I agreed with his skewed understanding of California Vehicle Code. I wanted to get on with my life and avoid having to spend time and energy defending myself against the $300 ticket he threatened to write (even though I was confident I would win) the final part of this interaction was the icing on the cake.
He actually encouraged me to break the law by telling me to next time wait for the pedestrian signal and bike through the crosswalk with it — but just to be careful, because LAPD will hand out a $300 ticket, even though DPS will not.
DPS and Officer Clayton, I realize you might have the best intentions, but good intentions are no excuse for the continued harassment and unfounded stops of bicyclists by DPS officers on and around campus.
With the sheer volume of bicycles at USC, it seems well past due for DPS to thoroughly train its officers on California Vehicle Code as it relates to bicycles.
Aaron Perman
Senior, business administration
There is no right hand curb in the middle of an intersection and code 21208 clearly exempts one from the requirement to ride to the right next to the curb when cars are making a right turn (which they were at the intersection).
I did a hand signal that I was moving lanes when I got to the intersection. I do not recall if the Officer was at the intersection yet when I gave the signal.
Saying I almost struck the DPS vehicle is ridiculous. When he called out to me I moved toward the DPS vehicle so I could hear Officer Clayton, but at no point was I within “striking distance” of the vehicle and at no point did the officer say anything related to almost striking his vehicle or this being a safety hazard. If it looked like there was almost an accident, from what I remember (and this was last week) the officer came up behind me – so if anyone almost hit anyone, it was Officer Clayton almost hitting me where there was not room to safely pass.
Officer Clayton’s entire speech to me did not say one word about an accident almost being caused or a safety issue but rather centered on California Vehicle Code and his “fact” that a bicycle was not a vehicle and was not allowed to cross the street with traffic at a green light because there wasn’t specifically a bike lane in the intersection. He clarified this as “the law” multiple times and it is factually incorrect.
And I do apologize for the error on the streets – like I said, I didn’t have time to fight the ticket and barely had time to write this, it was Jefferson and McClintock.
You have a great point Aaron however, you should read the sub-section also which clearly you did not. Reading the response to your article shows that DPS is thoroughly trained on the California Vehicle Code as it relates to bicycles.
I saw this and this article what you’re saying this officer said is not what took place at all. First off, the intersection was Jefferson and McClintock and not Jefferson and Hoover. When you biked across the intersection you almost struck the DPS vehicle which is what he was trying to explain to you. Per CVC section 21202 (a) it states, Any person operating a bicycle upon a roadway at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic moving in the same direction at that time shall ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway. What you need to understand is you were biking at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic and per this section you are REQUIRED to ride as practicable to the right-hand curb as possible. If you would have done that you would have not come close to the DPS vehicle.
In addition, CVC section 21208 (b) states “No person operating a bicycle shall leave a bicycle lane until the movement can be made with reasonable safety and then only after giving an appropriate signal in the manner provided in Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 22100) in the event that any vehicle may be affected by the movement”. It was evident that it was not safe to leave the bicycle lane at that point nor did you give the appropriate signal to leave the bicycle lane, which ends at the intersection of Jefferson and McClintock.
I assumed that the DPS officer would stop you because your careless bicycling almost cause an accident between you and him and I myself stopped to listen to the education of the California Vehicle Code he tried to provide you with. He tried over and over to explain to you what the difference was between your version of the CVC and what the actual version is. Not only did you continue to interrupt him, you then wrote this article which is entirely untrue of what occurred that afternoon.
Officer Clayton did not encourage you to break any laws. His words were, “Do you see the people biking in the intersection now?, that’s a huge ticket. When we see the students breaking vehicle code violations DPS would rather educate the students than to write tickets unlike LAPD”. Furthermore, from a outside person looking in, it looked as if he wanted to move on with his life more so than you with yours!
I am writing this article because I was applaud about what I read and it was entirely untrue. DPS always takes the bad wrap but in actuality we as students can be the problem. Imagine if they did give us tickets instead of educate us, imagine if they did take us to jail for being drunk in public instead of getting us medical aid or giving us rides home. Before you write a article that is an direct attack at DPS or one of their officers, first let it be factual and then think of all the crap 90% of our student population put them through on top of the everyday law enforcement problems they have to deal with.