Los Angeles bans harassment of cyclists

[ianrauk]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A new Los Angeles law makes it a crime for motorists to harass bicyclists, verbally or physically.

The City Council approved the ordinance on Wednesday. It also allows victims of harassment to filecivil lawsuits without waiting for the city to press criminal charges.

League of American Bicyclists president Andy Clarke calls the law groundbreaking, saying no other city in the nation offers bicyclists an equivalent civil recourse.

Bicycle advocates have complained that motorists throw objects, shout insults and try to run them off the road.

The Los Angeles Times says census figures showed in 2008 that about 13,000 people commute to work on bicycles in Los Angeles.

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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com

 

[Seigi]

Starting to sound like political immunity. While this sounds like a good law, I'd like to know the conditions of it, all that tells me is that under no circumstance can a motorist 'bother' a cyclist, even if the cyclist had antagonised the motorist. (I'm trying my hardest to make this point from a neutral stance!)

 

[ianrauk]

it does seem a rather unworkable law doesn't it?

 

[Zoiders]

Sounds like a duplicate of existing legislation in LA that gives pedestrians priority at all times.

 

[gaz]

It's like passing distance laws, not easy to enforce and doesn't stop people from doing it.

 

[snailracer]

Their legal system might be quite different from ours.
In the UK, we can file a civil case without the police having first prosecuted a criminal case, anyway. The problem is then proving damages - verbals, threats and horn-tooting don't cause any monetary damage, so what exactly would we sue an antagonistic motorist for?

 

[snailracer]

Mental distress.

I could sue every motorist that overtakes me for that

 

[_aD]

Just another example of unhelpful segregation. Why not shore up existing laws, or start applying them, to prevent road users abusing each other?

We're all road users first, cyclists second.

 

[Fiona N]

Seems rather unworkable but on the other hand, maybe sending the message is the point as the drivers' attitudes in California (and coastal Oregon - I believe inland Oregon is better) need some changing. I was shocked at the level of shear malicious dangerous driving when I cycled from LA to Seattle. It's no wonder mountain biking got going in the hills around SF as no one in their right mind would want to ride on the roads.