why is Florida so high up? I disagree with this list. This list should be based on cities, not states.

There should be three categories of cities: Best, Improving and Way Behind.

-Shek
www.shekscrib.com

Despite California being ranked seventh for bicycle-friendliness, some cities in the state resist bicycling. A city’s police department can be the model for overall bicycle safety and development. An example of not being bicycle-friendly is Newport Beach in Southern California. Newport Beach has a three mile road called Back Bay Drive through a water wildlife preserve that is heavily used by walkers, runners and bicyclists. The Back Bay Drive is a shared pathway for scenic recreation with a 15 mph speed limit on a one-way single lane road. The Newport Beach police cars patrol this roadway hoping to find open alcohol containers. But the police cars apparently are still on-call to respond to other incidents. On one occasion, the police car was surreptitiously driving with no headlights at dusk in the dark fog trying to sneak up on alcohol violations. The police officer had the window rolled down, but he did not notice me cycling by. His intense face was pasted against the windshield like on a perilous mission to see through the fog without headlights. In two other incidents again at dusk, police cars flew by me without using their emergency lights or sirens. I heard the roar of a car engine behind me, and was in disbelief when a police car sped by. Perhaps, emergencies justify the accident risk to others on the preserve’s winding road. Instead of being a model for bicycle-friendliness,the Newport Beach Police Department (NBPD)is putting bicyclists at risk.
The left-turn signal to enter this scenic Back Bay Drive is probably used on weekends by several hundred bicyclists. In past years, the Back Bay Drive left-turn signal had detected bicyclists. But Newport Beach’s Principal Civil Engineer Tony Brine and Traffic Engineering Technician George Bernard sent me an email stating that the left-turn signal had been set back to not detect bicyclists. And California has State Law AB-1581 for detecting bicycles on the first placement or replacement of traffic signals. The motorcycle officers of the Newport Beach Police Department have made the signal into a citation revenue-generating unit from bicycles. It is a sight on a quiet Sunday afternoon with no traffic to watch a police officer hiding in the adjacent condominium driveway suddenly crouch down low on his motorcycle to chase a bicycle entering the state-run wildlife preserve. I made the left turn on a quiet Christmas weekend with no traffic and a green light for through-traffic. Office David Darling did not even tell me what the violation was. His initial question was if I owned a car. Being a middle-aged person, the question seemed inappropriate. He further interrogated me about why I could not remember my car license plate number. He was decisively going for a vehicle citation from a bicycle. Sergeant Mike James said in a telephone call that the Newport Beach Police Department enforces state laws for bicycles regardless of signal detection capability, no traffic, and green-through lights. Lieutenant Steve Shulman sent me a two-page letter describing the police department’s policy of regarding bicyclists as vehicles for citations, but as pedestrians for left-turn lanes. The letter advocated that bicyclists try to trigger the left-turn arrow, and if unsuccessful, dismount to use crosswalks. The letter attempts to circumvent California Law AB-1581 for detecting bicycles on the first placement or replacement of signals. The Lieutenant also pointed out that citations are at the discretion of the officer. What bicyclist on a cold winter sunset has the discretion to test a left-turn arrow on a green light with no traffic in order to appease motorcycle officers trying to show productivity before catching a cup of hot coffee at headquarters just a half mile up the road? The city of Newport Beach is not just being bicycle-unfriendly, but exploiting bicyclists even if the state government initiates a law for traffic-activated signals to detect bicycles.

How in the heck is Hawai'i ranked 14th?