A View From Both Sides
From the Editor
A few months ago I wrote an editorial about how the city of Santa Monica was going to be conducting a motorcycle crackdown over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. In that editorial I mentioned that I was upset that the police in Santa Monica would be patrolling areas frequented by motorcyclists, and cracking down on traffic violations made by motorcyclists as well as other drivers that could lead to motorcycle collisions, injuries, and deaths. They were doing it in the name of motorcycle safety, but my gripe was, in many instances when it comes to trying to improve motorcycle safety around the country, I feel that they often go about it the wrong way and end up treating motorcyclists differently than other motorists.
I got quite a few responses from that editorial with some people offering their own personal experiences in dealing with “motorcycle crackdowns” or “profiling,” and others offering their thoughts and ideas as to how to improve motorcycle safety. But one of the more interesting comments I got was from a law-enforcement officer who is also a motorcyclist. Here is his comment.
As a police officer for almost 16 years and a traffic officer for almost nine years, I can see how “enforcement” can easily be viewed as a “crackdown.” I applaud you for mentioning the difference between the two and that you made a notation of the wording in the press release by Santa Monica.
Being a motorcyclist myself, I usually give riders a bit more wiggle room than other motorists. I am an avid motorcyclist and Harley rider and have been to numerous motorcycle events (including the Laughlin River Run, Las Vegas Bikefest, and Sturgis) over the past 10-12 years. Therefore, I have certain biases myself.
On the flip side, one of my pet peeves is people who lack the skill to safely ride and we have all seen them at some point in time. But, since I learned how to ride in 1995 by taking the Motorcycle Safety Foundation beginning rider class to get my first exposure to riding and later my license, I guess you could say I took the “safe” way to learn. Later, I was trained at work in 1998 by going through our 80-hour (two week) motorcycle operator’s course. And since 2007, I have taken on the job as motorcycle riding instructor for the department. This includes orchestrating quarterly training days for all of the riders at our department, as well as the riders for the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department. Therefore, I find it frustrating when I see riders whose skill level matches that of a three-year-old because all I see is a hazard to not only themselves but to everyone else on the road. Our department did a similar enforcement detail last September with funds granted to us by the California Office of Traffic Safety. We enforced violations made not only by motorcyclists but by the drivers of other vehicles as well. Often times car and/or truck drivers cause accidents with motorcyclists by failing to yield to the motorcyclists (such as when pulling into traffic from a driveway/parking lot or by making a left turn in front of an oncoming motorcyclist). Other factors such as speeding, stop light/stop sign violations, and inattention (cell phones) are also contributors to accidents with motorcyclists. While motorcyclists were cited during the enforcement detail, so were the drivers of other vehicles.
As a full-time motor officer, a rough estimate off of the top of my head would be that I write one cite for a motorcyclist for every 75 cites I write to the drivers of other vehicles. No one gets singled out any more than anyone else. In fact most of my traffic stops for motorcyclists are just to check for a motorcycle license/endorsement. And we both know that motorcyclists, in general, give law enforcement plenty of reasons to make a lawful traffic stop—I am sure you can think of five equipment violations faster than you can read this sentence.
The bottom line is this: traffic enforcement is done with the goal to reduce traffic collisions. I have been to my share of fatal collisions to attest to that. In most cities we all know one guy that always seems to be getting pulled over and cited for something. So let me see…Santa Barbara has five traffic officers on motorcycles and a population of more than 100,000; if you are being stopped on a regular basis you really must be doing something wrong all the time! I can only imagine the motorist-to-officer ratio in the Los Angeles area favors the motorists to a much greater degree than in Santa Barbara.
Officer Carl Kamin,
Santa Barbara Police Dept/Traffic
I am always open to comments, questions, and suggestions in regards to my editorials. Thank you Officer Kamin for your response and letting us get a view from both sides.
Until next time,
Eric
“On the flip side, one of my pet peeves is people who lack the skill tsafely ride and we have all seen them at some point in time.”
