Lee says he’ll veto legislation OKing rolling stops for cyclists

A cyclists rides down Market Street in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Sept. 25, 2015. Mayor Ed Lee said he will veto legislation that would require police to make cyclists who don't stop at stop signs a low priority. less A cyclists rides down Market Street in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Sept. 25, 2015. Mayor Ed Lee said he will veto legislation that would require police to make cyclists who don't stop at stop signs a low ... more Photo: James Tensuan, Special To The Chronicle Photo: James Tensuan, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Lee says he’ll veto legislation OKing rolling stops for cyclists 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

Legislation that would make ticketing bicyclists who roll through stop signs the lowest priority for San Francisco police has inflamed controversy at City Hall.

Mayor Ed Lee has pledged to veto any such legislation, a preemptive strike against an ordinance Supervisor John Avalos introduced at the Board of Supervisors last week. It would permit bicyclists to treat a stop sign as a yield sign and ride through without stopping if they decide it is safe.

“I’m not willing to trade away safety for convenience, and any new law that reaches my desk has to enhance public safety, not create potential conflicts that can harm our residents,” Lee told The Chronicle.

Avalos was unavailable for comment, but he has said cyclists should follow the Golden Rule and argued that the proposed ordinance would not discourage officers from citing bicyclists who don’t slow down at stop signs.

It is mirrored after a long-standing Idaho law that allows bike riders to treat stop signs as yield signs, in effect allowing rolling stops when there’s no cross traffic. The state has had the law since 1982, resulting in a decrease in bicycle collisions with cars, causing injuries or deaths, according to some studi es.

Co-sponsoring the legislation are Supervisors London Breed, Jane Kim, Eric Mar, Scott Wiener and David Campos — leaving the legislation two votes shy of the eight votes it would need to override a veto.

“When you have a cyclist that is approaching an intersection at a slow speed, cautiously and not violating anyone’s right of way, it doesn’t make sense to be ticketing them,” Wiener said. “That’s not creating any kind of danger. That’s not hurting anyone. That should not be the focus of law enforcement.”

Bicyclists protest

The uniquely San Franciscan drama began in July when the new Park Station captain, John Stanford, pledged to crack down on bike riders ignoring stop signs or traffic signals, particularly along the popular Wiggle route between Market Street and the Panhandle.

That prompted scores of bike riders to participate in a “stop-in” protest, during which they dutifully came to a full and complete stop — bike stopped, at least one foot on the pavement — at every stop sign and red light. The ride backed up traffic in some locations.

An online petition urging San Francisco police to end the purported crackdown on cyclists gathered more than 15,000 signatures on the Care2 website. And bike advocates posted a video that appears to show Stanford himself running a stop sign: www.facebook.com/wiggparty/posts/10156137637980038.

Practically speaking, police rarely cite bicyclists for traffic violations. Bicyclists account for just 1 percent of traffic tickets in San Francisco, Police Chief Greg Suhr said. About 96 percent of tickets go to drivers and 3 percent to pedestrians.

Even so, Suhr said the Board of Supervisors should not pass legislation that would hamstring officers’ discretion to ticket bicyclists. “The California vehicle code states that all vehicles should stop. We enforce the California vehicle code.”

The backdrop to the dispute is an ambitious campaign by city officials to eliminate all traffic deaths by 2024, an initiative that began when 21 pedestrians were killed in 2013. This year, 12 people have died in traffic collisions through June, according to the city — seven while walking, two on bikes and three on motorcycles.

Bob Planthold, a pedestrian safety and disabled rights advocate, said Avalos’ legislation is “antisafety.”

“It essentially says it is the bicyclists who decide whether and when it’s safe for anyone to cross an intersection,” Planthold said. “The bicyclists live in a two-mode universe — that of bicyclists and motorists. And the pedestrians are extraneous, irrelevant, outside of the interests in bicyclists.”

The legislation “tells the police to stay away,” he added.

3 measures vetoed

But Wiener contends the legislation would not make the streets more dangerous or allow cyclists riding irrationally to avoid getting ticketed.

“If the cyclist is blowing through the intersection and not entering slowly and cautiously, they absolutely should get a ticket,” he said. “But when you look at what is causing injury and death on our streets, it’s not a cyclist entering an intersection at a few miles an hour.”

Lee has vetoed three pieces of legislation in his 4½ years in office. He threatened a veto one other time, in 2013, over the city’s Due Process Ordinance limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities, before the parties came to a compromise.

Emily Green and Lizzie Johnson are San Francisco Chronicle reporters. E-mail: egreen@sfchronicle.com, ljohnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @emilytgreen, @lizziejohnsonnn