The weather outside may have been cold and stormy, but the reception from the cycling community to Austin Police Department Chief Art Acevedo was warm at last night’s forum at One Texas Center. The forum was a follow-up on last year’s meeting with the Chief, the first of its kind in Austin, and was sponsored by the Austin Cycling Association, Bicycle Advisory Council, Bike Texas, League of Bicycling Voters, and Austin Yellow Bike Project. The forum began with pre-selected questions from a panel chosen by the sponsors and then opened up to questions from the general audience.

In the past, the cycling community has had many issues with APD including a belief that cyclists are not treated fairly and that officers are ignorant of the law as it applies to cyclists. Chief Acevedo took these criticisms to heart and the department developed a training specifically on bicycle law that the entire department took and was tested on this last year. An updated training was done when the safe passing law went into effect. He also helped quantify how much cyclists are being ticketed for traffic offenses. In 2009, out of the 257,000 traffic citations generated by APD officers, 671 citations or .3% were written to cyclists. In addition, it was mentioned that 1 citation has been made so far on the new safe passing ordinance.

The department is also looking at more transparency with the public on traffic enforcement. Beginning in late spring or early summer, data on crashes and citations will become available online through the APD website for analysis and reports. APD is also working on a frequency asked questions section on bicycle law to help clarify to all road users what bicycles are legally allowed and expected to do. Finally on the online front, a bicycle serial number registration system will go live in the next month as an anti-bike theft program for the city.

A few questions about bike law and its enforcement did come up during the meeting as well. Several questions involved a cyclist’s right to the road and avoiding tickets for impeding traffic. Essentially, if cyclists cannot ride at the pace of traffic they should remain in the right lane on a multi-lane road or as far right as is safe on a single lane road. It was mentioned that you are not required by Texas law to ride in a bike lane if present. It was recommended, but if conditions meant the bike lane was not safe, riding in a regular lane of traffic is acceptable. Also covered were the legality of a track stand versus putting a foot down (no foot required if the bike comes to a complete stop) and drinking and riding (riding a bike drunk is a Public Intoxication offense which does not require a blood alcohol test and can result in arrest and vehicle impoundment.)

Dealing with aggressive drivers came up, and Acevedo encouraged cyclists to call into 311 or 911 with reports of such activity. While an officer cannot issue a ticket strictly on your call, this information is recorded and relayed to officers in the area to be on the lookout for the offending driver.

In addition to Chief Acevedo, Annick Beaudet from the City of Austin Bicycle and Pedestrian Program was there to provide an update from the city staff side. Included in the report was the announcement that in the near future current bicycle lane parking enforcement volunteers will be deputized to issue parking tickets for cars parked illegally in bike lanes. These volunteers to date have only been able to issue warnings to offending vehicles. The City goal is to have all bike lanes free of parked cars by 2020, and the volunteer enforcement crew is a vital part of this.

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