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Bike Lane Hazard
updated: Dec 10, 2012, 11:38 AM

By Edhat Subscriber

Much appreciation goes to the people in the 100 block of San Ysidro Road. Yesterday they blew a WHOLE lot of leaves out onto the bike lane. Today someone finally removed them. They not only looked awful, but also caused a very hazardous situation for pedestrians and/or anyone else wanting to use the bike lane.

I hope people will think of the welfare of others before providing a repeat performance. Who can County residents call if they see a hazard on a road?

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 352259P	2012-12-10 11:51 AM
You are County residents, call the County........
COMMENT 352273	2012-12-10 12:06 PM
Leaves are really a hazard?? Cmon
COMMENT 352277	2012-12-10 12:07 PM
Road bikes have relatively low traction, so organic matter on the roadway can cause them to wreck. (I ride a mountain bike instead)
COMMENT 352280P	2012-12-10 12:09 PM
Leaves can also hide other, actually dangerous objects that would dump even the most skilled road OR mountain bike rider!
COMMENT 352285	2012-12-10 12:14 PM
If leaves are a "hazard" then just about evey little bit of debris in the road would be hazardous. Is the County really expected to keep all bike lines spotless? I hope not....
COMMENT 352286	2012-12-10 12:14 PM
Starting your thread with a snark doesn't help your cause, and do leaves on a road really cause a "very hazardous situation for pedestrians"?
COMMENT 352292	2012-12-10 12:20 PM
What 273 said......
COMMENT 352297	2012-12-10 12:25 PM
I've encountered a hazard like this before and in a split-second decsision through my superior cranium I telegraphed my arm muscles that were holding the handlebars to contract slightly so as to cause them to exert pressure on the bars, thus moving them left and allowing me to steer around and avoid the hazard. Whew!! Close One! Immediately thereafter I pedaled homeward as fast as my adrenaline-pumping legs would go so as to calm myself with a self-prepared "refreshment."
COMMENT 352307P	2012-12-10 12:31 PM
When I was 11 years old, I took a nasty tumble off my bike when I rode through some leaves on the sidewalk in my neighborhood. I didn't know there was water and mud under there too. I spun out and I broke my wrist. So, 273, yes, leaves on a bike path can be hazardous. Do I think this thread needed to be posted, probably not. But, without pictures, we don't know how bad a leaf problem this actually was. *shrugs shoulders*
COMMENT 352314	2012-12-10 12:44 PM
I better leave this thread alone.
COMMENT 352318	2012-12-10 12:55 PM
Who ya gonna call, LeafBusters?
COMMENT 352321	2012-12-10 01:03 PM
286 x2
COMMENT 352322	2012-12-10 01:04 PM
i think its time to make like a screen door on a submarine and leaf
COMMENT 352327	2012-12-10 01:14 PM
Why would someone blow their yard debris out into the street? That's kinda lame.
COMMENT 352330P	2012-12-10 01:21 PM
How do you know that someone did that and that it wasn't wind? You should have seen my driveway this weekend after some wind blew through and knocked a bunch of leaves from my neighbor's tree all over my driveway. Guess who got to clean it up? Yup, me... well actually, my teenaged son. Maybe another bike rider cleaned up the leaves...
FIRST DISTRICT	2012-12-10 01:56 PM
This was not just a few leaves. This amounted to a huge amount of leaves resulting in some one cleaning an entire property. They were there for a long period of time and if you've ever driven up San Ysidro Road you would have noticed the hazardous situation in a split second. If you were trying to walk or bike you would have been forced out of the bike lane onto the street for the width of a good sized property. It was a considerable hazard. (Not just some numb skull being lazy and inconsiderate). It was done on a week-end when County offices are closed.
COMMENT 352368P	2012-12-10 02:17 PM
As I interpret this, the problem is that someone is blowing all their yard debris into the road. That is not allowed, and they were wondering who to contact to lodge a complaint. But I have the agree the way the post was written was overly dramatic.
COMMENT 352372	2012-12-10 02:19 PM
So wait, this was just the leaves from ONE, single residence?! The original post made it sound like the street for an entire block was covered in leaves. Really, look over your left shoulder and if it's clear, peddle around it. Jeez.
COMMENT 352383	2012-12-10 02:37 PM
I'm a cyclist and always encounter a few hazards along the way - This one seems to be a little blown out of proportion - Best thing you can do as a rider is look ahead and watch the road and or path as best as possible. I find the fact that cars seem to park in the bike lane a little more hazardous for cyclist - There are always the same two cars parked in the bike lane out on Cathedral Oaks road so what happens is you have no other choice but a swing out into the road - That's dangerous - !
COMMENT 352386	2012-12-10 02:41 PM
I think the roadies are a far greater hazard than leaves. Who do we call to get rid of them??
COMMENT 352427	2012-12-10 03:30 PM
Hazards...? What is more of a hazard is the bicyclists that feel they have to ride 2,3 and 4 abreast so they can talk...Especially on two lane roads with blind corners
ROGER DODGER	2012-12-10 04:11 PM
Leaves?
COMMENT 352473	2012-12-10 04:51 PM
OP, you are a trial lawyers dream.
COMMENT 352474	2012-12-10 04:57 PM
Complaints like this make me embarrassed to label myself a cyclist. Should I complain to the city that there is mud runoff from the rain on Old San Marcos road? Use your eyes, assess the situation, and use some common sense to navigate around the hazard. I, for one, am grateful there is a paved strip of asphalt at all.
COMMENT 352484	2012-12-10 05:18 PM
We should blame the tree.
COMMENT 352505	2012-12-10 06:06 PM
In Soviet Montecito, leaves pickup you!
COMMENT 352509	2012-12-10 06:16 PM
This is Santa Barbara county's worst and most vicious problems - unkempt leaves in Montecito. I heard Oprah is moving because of it.
FIRST DISTRICT	2012-12-10 06:18 PM
If there's a next time I will most assuredly take a photo.
COMMENT 352519	2012-12-10 06:34 PM
Wow you were having a bad day!!! Can't imagine if you were on a trail get this....unpaved rd ahhhhhhhhh loook out DIRT. This issue begs for funny remarks. To ask who to call in the county to clean up leaves and be angry about it is pretty funny. They were there for one day and cleaned up the next. Why didn't you get your rake and help out.
COMMENT 352540	2012-12-10 07:08 PM
"Leaves are really a hazard?? Cmon " " If it bothers you that much, you could grab a broom." etc. Wouldn't be nice if, in honor of Peter Sklar, commenters refrained from being assholes for a week?
COMMENT 352573	2012-12-10 08:25 PM
As a cyclist, I can see how they could be a hazard and would hope drivers might recognize this as a reason riders would have to swerve into the street. 1" slick tires on wet leaves could = rider on ground. 277 - road bikes have low traction? In reality they have excellent tires that at the high end are developed from Moto GP and corner like on rails. On a twisty descent, a decent cyclist could leave cars in the dust. But, take away the grippiness of the pavement (wet leaves, wet crosswalk lines, oil) and that very good but tiny contact patch is useless.
COMMENT 352579	2012-12-10 08:44 PM
county workers clean it up,that will be the day, three workers watching and one working
COMMENT 352609P	2012-12-11 03:35 AM
Unbelievable. Even some cyclists got snotty about this one. I agree with you, 540. And I'm willing to bet the "get a broom" contingent would never dream of sweeping up anything, much less someone else's mess of leaves. How puerile these comments are. It's downright shameful.
COMMENT 352652	2012-12-11 07:21 AM
Edda Hatte, is that you?
COMMENT 352671	2012-12-11 07:52 AM
Moneycitans are entitled to dump their yard waste into the public streets for the little people to tend.
FIRST DISTRICT	2012-12-11 09:06 AM
Again. . . This was not an 'ordinary' residue. Surely one of the many, many bike people out there encountered this on Saturday and/or Sunday. It was finally cleaned up by a person who raked and raked wet leaves into huge piles and then much later picked each pile up with a large shovel. It was a massive undertaking. It all was there for two days.
COMMENT 352727	2012-12-11 09:10 AM
Somehow on Edhat it always dissolves into hatin' on the cyclists. There are lots of road hazards that would be inconsequential if not imperceptible to vehicular traffic that are very dangerous to two-wheelers. Please try to be considerate and thank you for not killing me today!
COMMENT 352731	2012-12-11 09:15 AM
could you have possibly gone a different way ?
COMMENT 352829P	2012-12-11 12:35 PM
All this angst and a single person cleaned it up? Did the single raker/shoveler have help from the complainants? Any help at all?
FIRST DISTRICT	2012-12-12 09:23 AM
I just don't 'get' 329P. We have so much yard work to take care of we don't know where to begin. We don't expect others to grapple with our yard work problems. Some brain takes it upon himself to remove leaves and whatever from an entire property. Why I don't know. So the guy blows it all onto the street where there's a bike lane. There is a HUGE amount. It poses a great hazard. It is way beyond the pale. We do not know who this person is. In fact, he could be deranged. He ignores the hazardous situation from the morning on Saturday until almost dark on Sunday. But I'm supposed to go seek him out and tell him I'll H E L P him. That is almost as foolish an idea as the guy doing what he did.

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