Uninformed Officer

I had an interesting encounter with an Edina police officer today. I was riding with my son and daughter east on Vernon and west of the Eden/Vernon intersection, a motorist came very close to my daughter's handlebars, less than 3 feet, and honked at us. It's not the honking so much that disturbed me, it was the choice of the motorist to "teach us a lesson" by coming to close and being positionally and audibly agressive toward us.

I immediately memorized the license plate and called the Edina police department. An officer was dispatched and met us nearby. He did not know about the 3-foot passing rule. I helped him look it up in his statutes book. He also made a comment about bikes needing to keep up with traffic, but I wasn't sure where that comment was going. A big part of the conversation was the officer lecturing my daughter to ride as "close to the curb as possible." Statute 169.222 does not include that kind of language, instead it is "...as close as practictable," which is an important distinction: It goes on to list exceptions, one of them being riding 2-abreast, which is what we were doing. Inside the fog lane, dangit.

My request was that he would contact the driver and educate the driver that bicyclists belong on the road and that passing needs to be at least 3 feet. The officer said he would do that, and he was saying that this is a learning experience for him, too.

The whole incident has left me wondering what education, if any, our Edina police officers have about bicycling on roads. And I also feel bad about it...bad that the officer was much, much more focused on restricting where the bikes ride instead of being informed and concerned about the traffic violation of the motorist. Heck, Vernon is a wide roadway where motorists speed at 50 mph or more and it is the worst road to bike on in my daily rides.

I feel 10x more safe in the downtown street grid in Minneapolis than Vernon Avenue.

The territorial and agressive attitudes of the drivers, which the officer didn't not seem initially concerned about until we uncovered the three foot passing law in his book, is what keeps some people from biking in Edina. It is what terrifies parents about their kids riding to soccer games and to school. And it is why some adults themselves don't ride, combined with a lack of education and infrastructure support in Edina.

I contacted the officer a week or so later to ask about the outcome and to suggest a few ways that the police department could get involved with education. I was being open-ended about that...both from a perspective of police getting bicycle education and also being involved with it in the community.

He returned my message and ignored the question about contacting the malicious and errant driver. He chose to respond only to my idea about bicycle education with officers and give me an internal contact.

I'd like to see the Edina police more involved in community biking. I'd suggest having them involved at the next community or kids event like the 2008 rodeo or something sooner. I also think it would be good to put together and offer a session for police officers on biking in Edina. I would like to do this with some support from some community leaders such as you and/or the BETF. T.J. suggested bringing in some of the bicycle cops from other communities to exchange info as part of the training.

I'm guessing that the offcer (I have his name) is not alone in a gap in bicycle education. WIth more people biking, officers need to be informed.