HAWTHORNE —In California, bicyclists have been pushing for more room on the road, exclusive lanes and harsher sentencing against motorists who violate bicyclists’ safety, but some bicyclists are refusing to be as responsible for their own safety.
Rodrigo M. Valdez, 31, was arrested by Hawthorne police officers on Friday, January 9 along the 4200 block of El Segundo Boulevard. He was apprehended just three short blocks from Hawthorne Police Department headquarters.
The unemployed Inglewood resident was charged with eight violations, nearly all of which were related to the bicycle he was apparently operating. Along with a failure to present identification (40302(A)VC), he was hit with having no brakes on his bicycle (21201(A)VC), having no required lighting (21201(D)1VC), not having reflectors on each side forward of the center of the bicycle (21201(D)4VC), failure to drive on the right side of the road (21650VC), failing to have reflectors on his pedals while operating a bicycle at night (21201(D)3VC and failing to have rear reflectors while operating a bicycle at night(21201(D)(2)VC). He was also charged with operating a vehicle on the sidewalk (HAMC 10.60.01), a Hawthorne municipal code which states that “The driver of a vehicle shall not drive within any sidewalk area or any parkway except at a permanent or temporary driveway. For purposes of this section, ‘vehicle’ includes, but is not limited to, bicycles, electric carts, and motorcycles.”
The total bail for the violations was $495.
