As I was turning to crest the top of the last hill on the way to work, I was pulled over by a motorcycle cop for apparently making a California Stop before turning right at an intersection. It didn’t register at the time because I was having one of those “in the zone” moments, but I’m sure the truck I was following didn’t stop either. (Not that two rights make a… right.)
It was surreal seeing my bike up on the sidewalk while the officer issued a citation for the less expensive, generic RCW 46.61.755: “Traffic laws apply to persons riding bicycles.” Although the ticket says “bicycle” twice and has “motor vehicle” crossed out, I need to figure out how to prevent this from somehow affecting my auto insurance premium.
Okay, clearly you people up there in the NW corner need more crime if your cops pull over *bicycles*…
ha! I’m smelling conspiracy here – a direct result of your faux yeast packages… They have your number. Wonder if you can get Homeland Security Insurance – coverage for when ‘they have your number’– you know, travel money, changing identity money, hide the family money…
I heard they’ve started to crack down on Mercer Island quite a bit. I wonder if there is some spillover into other areas.
Wow. I better be a little more carefull during my evening commutes where I routinely ride up Grady Way in Renton by splitting the lanes of stopped rush hour traffic.
Wow, I have not seen cops pull over cyclists in a while. The last time I did was a few years ago right when the helmet law came into effect.
Bummer. Are bike fines less than the car fines? Can you take Defensive Biking?
The fines are the same as if I was in a car. For example, if I was caught in the HOV lane, it would have been $274.
I hope the faux yeast isn’t the problem because I just mailed out a batch to some friends. I’ll be extra careful tomorrow.
Oh jeesh, that sucks. I would recommend going to court. There’s a good chance to officer won’t appear. Or the judge might even toss out the ticket. If you go, be honest if the judge asks if you did or didn’t. If you don’t recall then you don’t and that should be fine.
Around here (SF bay area) various town’s officers, such as Sausalito’s, have a bad reputation. Part of this arises from the car driving locals that have influence. A few get stuck in traffic (behind other drivers), watch a cyclist happily cruise through without problems, and their panties get all tied up in bundles. Next they are complaining to the chief of police and, well, you know what happens.
But… it probably is a conspiracy caused by your WMD sour dough starter.
Not surprisingly, my insurance agent was stumped by the question and assumed it would show up on my Permanent (driving) Record. She recommended I call the DMV. The lady at the DMV said it doesn’t, but added that “sometimes they have to write 60mph on there to make their quota; if it does show up, let us know.”
It sucks that you got a ticket but I swear I wish they’d start doing this in DC. As a motor vehicle driver I’m happy to treat a bicyclist as a vehicle with the same rights to the street as I have provided said bicyclist obeys the traffic laws, and as a bicyclist, if I’m obeying the traffic laws, damn it, I get to use the whole lane! [grins]
I can see the safety in following the traffic rules, but I think it’s kind of silly to ticket someone using a vehicle without a motor. :)