CHP: Officers bust illegal car club in Bouquet Canyon

Have you seen this group at supercar sunday? They are quite a large collection of young kids.

 

So you're saying that cops know about YouTube. Interesting.......

 

Stupid is as stupid does...

 

Hopefully the narrative does not get spun into "sports cars in canyons = bad".

I think these youngsters just didn't get the memo that the real bad behavior in the canyons needs to occur between the hours of 12am-6am.

Repeatedly misbehaving in front of restaurant/resort areas (of which there aren't many) is just a sucker move.

I will say this though, the most dangerous, by far, of the canyon dwellers is the indignant group of cyclists. Worse than soccer moms in H2s on the phone, worse than me careening around in a sports car, even worse than the sport bike packs.

Sure they have the "right" to be there, but in a pack on roads with blind corners, no bike lane, no shoulder, and narrow lanes, just because you have the right doesn't mean it is a bright idea...

I've seen more close calls by regular vehicles in the canyons interacting with cyclist packs than even sports cars / sport bikes being used "spiritedly". /RANT

 

Definitely agree about the cyclist. As a former one now mtn biker, cyclist have this notion they can completely take up the entire lane. They are completely neglecting the notion they are on a road with cars. In a canyon with many blind, tight corners, they don't seem to be exercising any common sense.

 

I agree with all of that.....

 

Road cyclist around my area want all the rights of motor vehicles, and they
are entitled to that legally......
But follow absolutely no road rules, use no hand signals, blow through stop signs
and lights, and sit in the far left of the turn lane and slowly pedal through
the left turn lane, so only a few cars can get through the light and as they
get honked at flip off the drivers.......

Did recently see a lone rider getting a ticket from Sherriffs right past a
stop sign that even cars roll through ......so some get nailed here.

 

I had this happen while on vacation up in the bay area, my wife and I were in some canyon roads in Marin County on the way to Tiburon and had a guy coming down hill blow a 3 way stop on his cycle, I almost t-boned him (or really he almost t-boned me), had I not been very much paying attention or had I myself run the stop sign, it would have been really bad as he had to be doing 25-30 mph through the intersection.

The problem is, had he hit me, I would have likely been sued to death even though I would have had zero fault.

I don't want to get on a politics/religion thread-jack but I think the problem is less the current law on cycle use on-road (I actually think they SHOULD be able to ride their bikes on regular public roads, and I am not even a bike guy), and more the attitude / mindset of more than a few of these folks which is emboldened by the legal situation that pretty much means if a cycle and a car collide, the car driver is screwed unless he/she has a dash-cam or a lot of witnesses...

 

Speeding is one thing, but the general public hates burnouts. Fastest way to get negative attention.

 

You're kidding, of course. Go to any cyclist blog to read the incessant torrent of complaints about cops out of control who do little else but ticket them, harass them and "violate their rights".

Check out:

Police repression of cyclist's rights: Police repression of cyclists in Montreal | John S. Allen's Bicycle Blog
The anti-cyclist bias of the police: Bob Mionske's BicycleLaw.com Blog on Bicycle Law and Advocacy: An Exercise In Absurdity
Nonexistent laws and the cops who enforce them: Bob Mionske's BicycleLaw.com Blog on Bicycle Law and Advocacy: Non-Existent Laws, And The Cops Who Enforce Them
NYPD crackdown on scofflaw cyclists: Cop Blocks Bike Lane To Ticket Cyclists For Not Using Lane: Gothamist.

A good number of the comments on their blogs sound much like commentary here for exotic cars. It reminds me of how we view refs and umpires- they always miss calls for the opposing team, and call minor violations for the home team much too closely. The police can write too many tickets or too few (or none at all) but never the "right amount". The cyclists also are vigorously working to create 3-foot laws across the USA, and asking the same cops they snidely dismiss most of the time to be their friends and write all those evil drivers...

 

Well said...

 

I love CA, that's why I moved to AZ.

 

So, let me get this straight. Group of drivers who drive illegally complain about legal road users (cyclists) getting them shut down. You have a Ferrari, I'm sure you can afford the track time. And before you blast me, I have an SCCA license, know how how to drive, and know where to do it. That place is not public roads.

 

Maybe the bikers will say bad things about people in sports cars but I have stopped at the Rock Store (near Mulhoullond drive, Las Virgines exit off 101) many times but be forewarned that you never know what you're gonna find as far as cafe racer bikers coming around the next corner, each one seems to want to outdo the other, coming around the corner on your side of the road! Almost suicidal in their zeal. I think it's the same on Angeles Crest high above La Canada. I remember I was taking a Ford GT for a test drive one weekend and both mountain roads I wanted to take were blocked by police trying to retrieve a biker that lost it on the way down the hill (they seem to forget that coming downhill you can lose your brakes with repeated applications). So while I like to look at the bikes, the macho/showoff level is too high around there for me to feel comfortable (or am I just getting curmudgeonish)

 

Please tell me what I mischaracterized.