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San Mateo County has now achieved the rare distinction of being both deeply alarmed and completely unchanged.
FIFA awarded its coveted Traffic Safety Oscar to San Mateo County.
Few politicians really do town halls anymore; they avoid scrutiny, oppose transparency, and fear the ‘Wrath of Voters‘. When you have little to show for on basic governmental policies – clean air, clean water, affordability, home prices, homelessness, public transportation, equity, and safety – neither Republicans nor Democrats want to expose themselves to that kind of scrutiny anymore. It was therefore surprising to have four local lawmakers running three large town hall meetings about the same topic.
“Nothing says ‘civic engagement’ like three separate meetings about the same panic.” [Zarathustra]
Even more surprising, they ran them independently. Three town halls about the same topic? Who are these lawmakers? What is this urgent topic, you might ask? Are these lawmakers colluding or competing?
We have been down this road before. Is there justifiable public outcry, or is it political theater? And if it is just political theater, who gets nominated, and who deserves to win FIFA’s coveted Oscar trophy?
California drivers are hitting random things
There is currently a real concern in the traffic safety realm; these are just a few examples, but try to spot the pattern:
- Los Gatos – 90-year-old drunk driver crashes into coffee business at about 100 mph.
- San Francisco – Older SUV driver is killing a family of four waiting at a bus stop.
- Los Angeles – Older driver accelerates into an LA grocery store, killing three people.
- Santa Rosa – Older SUV driver plows into Oliver’s Market, hurting seven customers.
- Truckee – Driver injures two adults and four children at a Grocery Store.
- Stockton – Stockton City Manager kills resident in a wheelchair.
- Sacramento – Driver sends his speeding sedan into a church.
- Redwood City – Older driver plows her SUV into a hardware store.
- Redwood City – White pickup truck ends up in a grocery store.
- San Mateo – Older driver flies over a pool, ending up in a house.
- San Jose – Older SUV driver plows into restaurant, killing one, injuring seven.
- Burlingame – Younger SUV driver plows into restaurant, killing one child, injuring three more.
- San Mateo County DA keeps refusing to do his job.
- Paddington Bear is riding a bicycle, and Mr. Reginald Curry is complaining on Social Media.
Q: Which of these problems do you think Josh Becker, Marc Berman, Diane Papan, Jackie Speier, and Ray Mueller are most concerned with?
A: Correct answer: “Paddington Bear on a bicycle.” (500 points)
An acceptable answer would also be: “certainly NOT monster trucks, hardening restaurants, speeding, geofencing, distracted driving, drunk drivers, cognitive impairment, or dementia.” (499 points)
“I’m an old guy, almost run over several times by e-bikes.” [Josh Becker town hall]
What do our Lawmakers say
“Lives are at stake!” [Jackie Speier]
“Kids and teens go full throttle for e-bikes as federal oversight stalls.” [Diane Papan]
“Our dog walker got run over by an e-bike and stopped walking dogs.” [Josh Becker]
“E-bike crashes have become a Public Health crisis!” [Jackie Speier]
“Geezers jump, when geezers complain.” [Zarathustra]
Jackie Speier and Ray Mueller even introduced a new category, “Electric Conveyance Devices,” to make micro-mobility sound more dangerous. Finally, Ray Mueller is blaming parents and children for the Democrats’ failure to regulate the industry.
What do the Researchers really say?
Josh Becker and Diane Papan brought on researchers from the Mineta Transportation Institute (SJSU) in their town halls. During those meetings, the researcher concluded that all this fear of e-bikes might be a ‘tempest in a teapot‘ and tried to be more diplomatic about it.
She basically pointed out that as e-bike sales rise, more e-bike crashes can be expected. But she also noted that, in hospital visits – and despite the huge number of e-bike sales – the number of e-bike-related incidents is still dwarfed by the number of people hurt in automobiles and other motor vehicles. She also said the majority of e-bike collisions actually involve adults, not children.
Is this a ‘coming to Jesus’ moment?
Are San Mateo Democrats finally having their coming-to-Jesus moment on traffic safety for vulnerable road users? Ten years after adopting it, are they coming to understand Vision Zero?
We should be able to find some pudding with proof:
- Josh Becker, Marc Berman, and Ray Mueller protected speeding along I-92.
- Marc Berman wants to raise the speed limit around Menlo Park schools from 15 to 20 mph.
- Ray Mueller distanced himself from a Livable Neighborhood project in West Menlo Park after minor criticism.
- Diane Papan opposed bike lanes in San Mateo’s main Equity Focus Area.
- Jackie Speier’s long record of civil service shows little interest in general transportation safety.
“Lots of Pudding, yet little Proof to be found.” [Zarathustra]
Looking at their – often long – records of public service, there should be plenty of votes, bills, and co-sponsored bills to make streets safer for our children. The FIFA selection committee must not have found any real evidence either. That’s why it nominated our county in the first place. FIFA probably looked at our ratio of bicycle to car infrastructure. They must have consulted UC Berkeley’s Transportation Injury Mapping System (TIMS) and found no ‘e-bike public health crisis’. They must have seen all the crashes caused by cars and trucks and started smiling at the many reported ‘e-bike-almost-crashes’ from ‘I’m an old guy‘.
The award seems well deserved.
Game Recognizes Game
The county has finally solved traffic safety by inventing a new sport: Concern Olympics.
Naysayers will point out that FIFA has no experience with traffic safety or e-bikes. Of course, they are missing the point that the same is true for all the nominees. Just like the real Oscars, this whole ceremony is all about ‘game recognizing game‘.
FIFA is showing us that political theater is still part of the arts and entertainment world.
FIFA does know that the e-bike laws were already greatly covered by Republican leaders of the past, and that Democrats are out to bully these children. FIFA also knows that none of the regulations are really enforceable, since e-bikes are ADA-relevant devices. But the real art form is in showing that concern can be rehearsed, scheduled, and performed on demand; the skill is in making the ‘concerned face‘;
And apparently, many Democrats are very skilled in making that face. FIFA’s list of nominees was quite extensive. There was Marin County and its Assemblymember Damon Connolly, himself widely unknown in the field of traffic safety. There was the City of Palo Alto and the Board of MidPeninsula Regional Open Space District (MidPen). There were a few more nominees in blue Southern California, New York, and New Jersey.
But in the end, San Mateo County winning FIFA’s Traffic Safety Award was a long time coming. County politicians have never shown much concern for children, or for traffic safety, for that matter; acting as if they do now takes skill. At a time when no one likes doing townhalls anymore, four county lawmakers took time out of their busy schedules to practice those skills and show off their concerned acting chops.
More Information
- Where Did All the Town Halls Go?
- CalMatters: California was a model for transparency.
- SMDJ: Buyers beware
- Josh Becker’s town hall meeting
- Diane Papan’s town hall meeting
- SMC: Ordinance on “Electric Conveyance Devices”
- AB1778: Pilot on Bullying Children on Class 2 e-Bikes
Editor’s Note: The views and opinions expressed in this blog post are those of one author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Redwood City Pulse or its staff.
