1nterceptor

Motorist was upset that a cyclist in the bike lane was in his way.
Cyclist reminds driver that cars shouldn't be using bike lanes. Motorist
flashes what looks like a police badge and everything is ok.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as2PIqIUEhk

dynodonn 

It's been a few years now, but I had something similar with a motorist in a "Truckzilla" pickup. The motorists kept creeping up to the back of my bike, while they were regularly revving their engine.

cannondale125

Because he's a cop it's ok?? Really! Screw him.

FBinNY 

I couldn't follow it exactly because of the language barrier, but it just goes to show that there are jerks everywhere. There really aren't all that many (as a percentage) so it's best to let them go their way. Eventually two jerks will run into each other (literally or figuratively) and with any luck, we'll end up with one less jerk.

Keith99

You should not be lying you bike across the bike lane anyway.

For all any of us know the guy in tha car was a cop and he was telling the guy not to block the lane so other cyclists could use it.

anon06

The Portuguese video subtitles, with the help of google translate, said that the cyclist got off his bike and put it in the bike lane because he was afraid of the honking driver. I guess this means that he was afraid that the driver would try to run him over, so he blocked the bike lane with his bike to prevent that.

It didn't say whether the cop was in the bike lane to bypass traffic in order to get to an emergency; nor whether there wasn't an emergency, and the cop just wanted to abuse his power and bypass traffic.

rumrunn6

shudda climbed in the doods car drove off

italktocats

remove wing mirror, place mirror in sidewalk

dynaryder

I get this regularly in DC. We have a pair of one-way streets that run through the downtown area. Each has a bus/bike lane. They were intended to help tour buses get down to the Mall,but bicycles are allowed to use them. But they're constantly clogged by cars. I've been honked at numerous times,have been yelled at to get out of the way,and twice almost got clipped by someone who passed too close at well above the 25mph speed limit.

Chris516

I have heard a couple drivers', revving their engine at me. I ignore it.
ditto!!
True. In Brazil, and most of South America. Police don't have uniforms, and their police cars don't look anything like those in developed nations. At the same time, he wasn't blocking other cyclists'. They probably have as loose a law about bike lanes down there. As they do in the U.S.
I have been down there many times. Motorists' in DC are really snobbish, regardless of the speed limit and/or, the section of the city.

Edit: I looked up images on Brazilian police vehicles. They are much better than I thought. But, The police vehicles I saw, may just be commonplace in cities like Rio de Janeiro. But the locale in the video didn't seem very advanced and/or, industrialized.

john.b

Not buying it. Brazilian cops use lights and a siren "to bypass traffic in order to get to an emergency" just like cops everywhere else.

KerryAll

It would be interesting if the cyclist had been the one with the badge...

CB HI

I had a guy in a new pickup truck telling me where I had to ride, to get off the road and other BS. At the stop light, his BS goes on, I noticed he had a polo shirt on with an embroidered badge on it. He sees me checking it out and he decides to pull more BS, and says "do you want me to get out of this truck and arrest you". My response was "show me your police ID".

That is when he realized he was busted for impersonating a police officer, so he stomped on the gas and made a right turn through a red light while I and an elderly couple who watched the whole thing laughed at the fool.

Based on the badge, he was just some head of security at some place.

Chris516

Well, The Chief of Security, for his head, must have been drunk on the job.

ragtoplvr

We had a guy where I worked years ago, that it turned out was impersonating a Cop. One day before lunch he had a visitor up front. Said visitor took him off in handcuffs. Seems the real police frown on this. Later the supervisor and HR cleared his office. We knew he had "issues". We did not know how severe. There is very little help for the mentally ill. when his appeals ran out and he was to report he had a high speed traffic accident, alone into a tree. Sad all around.

Rod

dynodonn 

I did too, and my only wish is that if I only had a video cam at the time to record the incident, but then again, after installing my front and rear cams, the number of incidents at stoplights and stop signs dropped dramatically. It seems that motorists are savvy at spotting camera lenses being pointed back at them.

genec

Guess you've never heard of plain clothes cops and detectives... they even exist in the US of A. Not all police wear uniforms and drive "black and whites."

genec

Boy I bet these guys would really confuse you... SDPD beach bike cops wear shirts with embroidered badges, bike helmets and even shorts. And yes, they carry guns. We have other bike cops that patrol other areas of the city that wear the standard metal badges.

San Diego Beach Police Patrol Gets New Gear for Summer | NBC 7 San Diego

See image three. (it is embedded)

Oh here is an image of an officer on patrol... (just found it) (embroidered badge, shorts, bike helmet and bike. Not to mention "perp" in handcuffs... )

CB HI

But they are not allowed to run around breaking traffic laws or confront legal riding cyclist by bullying.

CB HI

I have seen SDPD beach bike cops before. There was no confusion on my part.

Do you mistake mall security for real police?

anon06

In my neighborhood, emergency personnel (ambulance, firetrucks, and police) generally have their sirens on only when travelling on the main street; then, once they turn into smaller streets in subdivisions, they turn off their sirens -especially late at night and in the morning hours- even though they're still heading towards an emergency situation, presumably trying to be discreet so as not to annoy or wake everyone.

genec

Depends on how they dress... yes at times I have mistaken rent a cops for the real thing.

Heck we had a pizza company here that had to modify their vehicles because they looked too much like "the real thing." So the issue of mistaken identity does happen.

(NYPD--New York Pizza Delivery... now how anyone would think NYPD was in SD is beyond me... but hey, it happened)

BTW I was just trying to highlight that the SDPD wears embroidered badges and shorts... so perhaps they could be mistaken for mall cops. Don't know if that has ever happened.

Oh and to go one further... our lifeguards have arrest privileges... they are not just Bay Watch in red shorts.

CB HI

Yeah, I would love to see some Bay Watch buddy in red shorts threaten to arrest me for my legal cycling on the roadway (which is out of their jurisdiction to do anything).

walrus1

Yeah uh your mileage may vary with that. The NYPD is notorious for breaking the traffic laws when they aren't respononding to emergencies. They also have great imaginations when it comes to inventing new laws to bully cyclists with.

CB HI

True, the difference between legally allowed and stepping over the line.