"failure to ride single file" summons in Piermont, NY (I got pulled over on my bike)

[Blue Order]

And jeez, can you guys stop with the 'cyclists have the same right to the road' drivel? It's not your road, it's not my road, it's the state's road. They can legislate access to it any damn way they please, at least in this respect. THERE IS NO CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO THE ROAD. For _anyone_. And the legislative right to the road only extends as far as the legislature sees fit. There's no 'right to the road' for an ATV for example, vehicle or not. Hell, there's basically no unlimited right to the road at all. And within those legislative limits, priority has been given to cars. Don't like it? Run for office. Lobby.I'm assuming this ticket was issued in NY state. The Vehcle Code specifies that cyclists have all of the rights and all of the responsibilities that operators of motor vehicles have. Is that a constitiutional right? No. But it is a "right" in the same sense that motorists have a "right" to use the road.

[Blue Order]

First, for everybody who asked, sometimes the state vehicle code has a provision that grants municipalities the right to make their own ordinances within their jurisdiction.

Now, the below seems generally like good advice, however, would alter a few points.

I think that you have a reasonable chance to beat this ticket, or at least get the fine reduced. Go to a Borders or other large bookstore, there are books on how to defend yourself in court against traffic tickets.

Here is how I would proceed
1) deny breaking the law, claiming that an overlapping wheel does not meet the definition of two abreast
2) get your friends who were riding with you testify that you were not riding alongside
3) take a picture of the road, showing that traffic being held upwa because the road is narrow, not because youwere riding in a way that blocks traffic
4) cross examine the police officer, challenging whether, from his vantage point, he could accurately determine your position relative to your friends'. Also challenge his interpretation of what two abreast means legally.
5) say that, even if you were riding two abreast, which you do not admit, you had no way of knowing the unique law of this town and had no reasonable way of knowing the law existed. In contradiction to a previous poster, ignorance of an arcane law that contradicts state law seems like a very reasonable excuse.
6) say that , even if you were riding two abreast, which you do not admit, challenge where the authority of the town exceeds the authority of the state. If state law allocates authority to the municipality to legislate traffic ordinances, it would be more productive, in my opinion, to argue on these last two points that state law does not prohibit riding two abreast, and that, as far as you knew, you were riding within the requirements of the law (the fact that the town ordinance was not posted would be germane to this argument).

[Karst]

"persons riding bicycles or skating or gliding on in-line skates upon any public street within the Village of Piermont shall not ride more than one abreast"
(from post 48)

I would argue that "one abreast" means the first rider plus one abreast, i.e., next to. How else can abreast even fit the ordinary dictionary definitions? One abreast should mean two people total, one abreast of the other.

If you take this to court, you should bring copies of the definition of abreast from various standard dictionaries (remember to have copies for the judge, the policeman, and yourself).

The law may well be "unconstitutionally vague" or "contrary to state law" or may literally mean "no more than two next to one another." This would actually fit with New York state law, wouldn't it?

Unless "abreast" is explicitly defined elsewhere in the laws of the city, the judge is going to have to choose to (1) rule based on the intention of the law as passed by the city council [an iffy legal option] or (2) rule based on state law or (3) rule based on the plain, ordinary meaning of "abreast". If "one abreast" is a self-contradictory phrase, a real oxymoron, then the city law may not pass legal muster, I would think.

So, how about submitting this to Bob Mionske at the Velo News website? For example, see his column on an issue related to yours at

http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/5496.0.html



From:

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/abreast


Main Entry: abreast
Pronunciation: &-'brest
Function: adverb or adjective
1 : beside one another with bodies in line <columns of men five abreast>
2 : up to a particular standard or level especially of knowledge of recent developments <keeps abreast of the latest trends>