# Speed trap - Headlands / Conzelman Road



## txzen (Apr 6, 2005)

This Saturday morning, there were park police actively working the one-way descent of Conzelman Road towards Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands. 

Just as you made the first turn from the top turn-around area, I spotted a park police truck several turns up the road pulled over on the side with the lights on. The sight itself made me slow down, but as I got closer I saw the ranger out in front of the car, leaning on the hood with a laser. He was definitely shooting cyclists, as there was not a car to be seen. That section of the road is 10-15%, and the sign says '15mph', which is darn hard to maintain. 

After I passed him, I let it rip a bit to gain some speed for that little climb...only to come around the last turn and see another ranger and his car on the side. Thankfully, he was not shooting laser, but was clearly there to pull offenders over and write the ticket. 

I've been riding there on and off for 8 years and never seen a speedtrap before. Thought everyone should know they are trolling for revenue...


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## slow.climber (Nov 25, 2010)

Thanks for the heads-up. That's a new spot for them to be working. How early in the morning was that?

I've seen them hand out tickets to bikers at the intersection of Conzelman and McCullough, but that was before they put in the traffic circle.

There are enforcement activities they could take that would improve traffic safety but ticketing bikers on that descent isn't one of them.


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## ziscwg (Apr 19, 2010)

There's a huge budget deficit and they are buying lasers to track bikes...LOL.

And they squawk about closing the parks..............but the parks budget is less than 1% of general fund spending. I think they are going to have to find a bigger target to reduce costs, LOL. These guys must have been too hung over in college to attend their Accounting 101 class.


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## slow.climber (Nov 25, 2010)

*The money goes to the General Fund*



ziscwg said:


> There's a huge budget deficit and they are buying lasers to track bikes...LOL.
> 
> And they squawk about closing the parks..............but the parks budget is less than 1% of general fund spending. I think they are going to have to find a bigger target to reduce costs, LOL. These guys must have been too hung over in college to attend their Accounting 101 class.



About the last thing I want is to be grabbing my brakes all the way down that hill. And I sure don't want a ticket from Office Friendly for rolling through there at (at least) twice the posted speed.

But to be fair, they already had the Lidar, they didn't go out and buy it for the bikers.

As you probably know, all traffic enforcement fees go to the General Fund, not (directly) to the Headlands.

They claim that over 80% of the medical emergencies in the park are cyclists crashing. I don't know how accurate that is, but my experience tells me that it may be accurate.

It's easy to forget how difficult that descent can be for novice riders.

In the last 3 or 4 years I've been first responder on 4 accidents on that descent, second on the scene for two others, and I've seen several other riders go out of there on backboards.

The ones who have gone down hard don't seem to come back. I guess they don't think it's so much fun anymore.

I've talked to several people who got bloodied but didn't require medics. They were relatively experienced riders and they've kept riding there.

I've never seen a 4-wheeler (or a motor) crash on that descent. Maybe it happens but right now we're way in the lead in this game


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