Legal Question in Disability Law in California

My friend is a double amputee in a motorized wheel chair. Yesterday on a main street in the county of El Cajon a sherrif car aproched him and told him that he was riding in the bike lane illegally and to move to the sidewalk. My friend told the officers that the sidewalk was too broken up and in large sections non-existant making it an unsutable to balence his chair. The officer's said "whatever... if we catch you again we will ticket you". Now my friend is afraid to go out because neither the sidewalk or the rode is safe and he believes the bike lane to be off limits. PS. The bike lanes are almost always empty. Can they really ticket him?


Asked on 7/30/12, 1:21 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Patricia Meyer Patricia Meyer & Associates

May not be a simple answer.

Assuming he was continuing to move in the correction direction (as compared stopped) If the sidewalk is not adequate he may have an argument: California Vehicle Code Section 21966 says: "No pedestrian shall proceed along a bicycle path or lane where there is an adjacent adequate pedestrian facility.� So his argument would be that the sidewalk is not adequate (where there is no sidewalk it appears to be fine.)

But I would guess that a call to his local City Councilman would get this cleared up pretty quickly.

Good Luck

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Answered on 7/30/12, 2:04 pm


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