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Old 06-06-06, 09:20 PM
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mechBgon
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I'd file a complaint with the police department right away, citing the RCW and why it's not applicable there in the first place, and ask that the officers be brought up-to-speed on traffic code.

Here is the Revised Code Of Washington that the officer must've been referring to. It's completely obvious why it's not relevant on a 5-lane street with just two cars behind the cyclist, stopped at a stoplight for good measure:

On a two-lane highway where passing is unsafe because of traffic in the opposite direction or other conditions, a slow moving vehicle, behind which five or more vehicles are formed in a line, shall turn off the roadway wherever sufficient area for a safe turn-out exists, in order to permit the vehicles following to proceed. As used in this section a slow moving vehicle is one which is proceeding at a rate of speed less than the normal flow of traffic at the particular time and place.
emphasis mine. from the official Washington State RCW site

You weren't on a two-lane highway. It was safe to pass using another lane. You were going the same speed as all the other traffic (zero, since you're all sitting at a stoplight). There wouldn't have been any room to pull off even if the other critera were met. There were only two cars behind you, so no obligation to do so, either. Case closed.

Contact infos:

edit: oops, I read "Lynnwood." Off to find Lakewood now. My apologies to the fine folks of the Lynnwood PD... never mind, keep up the good work in Lynnwood


Ok, here's Lakewood, WA: http://www.ci.lakewood.wa.us/index.p...=82&Itemid=119 Let 'em have it.

Last edited by mechBgon; 06-06-06 at 10:45 PM.
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