From San Diego Daily Transcript
Marty Block
Assemblymember, 78th District
Summer in San Diego is in full swing and that means long days at the beach, crowded seats in Petco Park and families spending more time outside exploring America's finest city. What this season also brings to our region is bustling tourist activity that is a great boon to our local economy.
Local pedicab companies are one business venture that benefits from this surge in tourism. They play an important role in moving people from one place to the next in an environmentally-friendly way. As such, we need to make sure pedicab drivers are operating in a safe and responsible manner.
Only a year has passed since we experienced a heartbreaking incident when a tourist passenger was killed after she fell out of a recklessly driven pedicab. This fatal accident showed us that pedicab drivers do not always follow the rules of the road when taking passengers to their destination and that more could be done to keep passengers safe.
San Diego officials worked quickly to respond to the tragedy and increase the safety of pedicab travel. The city's pedicab ordinance was enhanced to limit the areas pedicabs can operate, require operators to carry proof of insurance and cap the number of pedicabs allowed to operate at 250.
Yet, despite this progress, the city was unable to require pedicab operators to possess a valid California driver's license because state law does not explicitly provide cities with this authority. Driver's licenses are a standard, state-required metric that each driver must meet in order to operate a vehicle on the road.
Pedicab drivers operate within the flow of traffic, sharing the same road as other vehicles and traditional modes of transportation. It makes perfect sense for them to hold the same credentials required of other drivers. Whether a traditional taxi driver or a pedicab operator, when people pay to use those services they expect the driver to have an understanding of traffic laws.
To address this concern, I have partnered with the city of San Diego in sponsoring legislation to improve pedicab safety by ensuring that drivers understand the rules of the road in order to protect their passengers.
AB 2294 would authorize a city or county to adopt rules and regulations by an ordinance or resolution licensing and regulating the operation of pedicabs for hire, and operators of pedicabs for hire, including requiring a valid California driver's license.
Tourism is the third largest industry in San Diego County, employing more than 160,000 San Diegans. Visitors spend $8 billion annually at thousands of businesses in the county. This equates to $18 billion in economic impact for the region, and thus a very important piece of the economic health of the region.
For this commerce to flourish in San Diego people need to feel safe, especially in a crowded area like the Gaslamp Quarter. In the case of the pedicab companies, it is the duty of the state to protect passengers when they put their lives in the hands of pedicab operators.
San Diego public safety officials have observed pedicab operators running through red lights, traveling against the flow of traffic on one-way streets, shifting lanes erratically and operating in other unsafe ways.
Nobody goes on vacation and expects for their life to be put at risk when they take a pedicab from the Santa Fe train station to Seaport Village and yet that is what can happen when a pedicab driver does not operate their vehicle in a manner that prioritizes rider safety.
A few have expressed concern that this is the first step to requiring all bicyclists to have a California driver's license. That could not be farther from the truth. This bill is about keeping people safe and protecting passengers when utilizing a mode of transportation popular in San Diego. It provides cities and counties with the option to include the driver's license requirement in their pedicabs ordinance, to promote greater safety and allow this business to contribute to the local economy in a responsible manner.
Requiring pedicab operators to have a California driver's license utilizes an existing and cost-efficient tool of testing knowledge of the rules of the road that will protect pedicab passengers and support greater traffic safety.
(This article can also be read at: http://www.sddt.com/Search/article.cfm?SourceCode=20100729tza)
