Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - anyone else get pulled over?

so i'm riding home last night through the burbs...this minivan is behind me, I try to give him space to pass, he just honks, another block or two of him riding my ass and honking, as soon as there's space I try to let him pass. OF COURSE, it turns out to be a very pissed off cop. my mind immedately flashed to the fact that in the last 5 mins, I had cut him off, blownstop signs, red lights, ridden on the double-yellow, etc etc etc. at least I didn't get a citation.

I've been pulled over once.
Was waiting in a line of cars to turn left, got bored and moved to the front of the line and went on the arrow.
Cop pulled me over for not waiting my turn.

I got pulled over while on a skateboard for skitching a car hanging onto the car's open driver window (and so basicly positioning myself right on top of the double yellow)... dont know if that counts tho.

yup,for blowin stop signs.

The cop has no authority to pull you over if he is off duty.
You could have gotten his badge number and made a harassment complaint.
From your post it sounds like he was not following you with an assured clear distance.
Enjoy

the very same night i had my bihawk cut/coloured, a van full of Brooklyn's Finest nailed me running a red in brooklyn at 02.00... no cars or other cyclists were anywhere around. they asked me if i was an art student and if i was spraying graffiti. then they followed me halfway home making sure i stopped at every single red. trackstanding in the man's headlights at a clear intersection waiting for a light in the middle of the night is a strange feeling.

juvi-kyle and i got pulled over in la for running a light or something stupid like that. he did an awesome job of sweet talking the officer...
"yes sir.
no sir.
yes sir.
i know sir.
i'm sorry sir.
no, i won't do it again sir."

it was awesome.

stop sign and taking a lane while entering a tunnel with a blind corner.

I got pulled over 3 nights ago and I'm still not clear on why

Funny thing is the cop was even more of a b*tch to me after I told her we had the same employer.

the very same night i had my bihawk cut/coloured, a van full of Brooklyn's Finest nailed me running a red in brooklyn at 02.00... no cars or other cyclists were anywhere around. they asked me if i was an art student and if i was spraying graffiti. then they followed me halfway home making sure i stopped at every single red. trackstanding in the man's headlights at a clear intersection waiting for a light in the middle of the night is a strange feeling.
oh man, it is so weird to have cops following you. I had a cop yell at me for blowing through red lights and for two miles afterward this cop was always behind me. I mean it sometimes went past me but would do a circle around a city block to position itself behind me again.
so weird.

Kinda unrelated but yesterday twelve apartment units burned down and cops barricaded all the streets leading to the apartments. I was going around a blind curve, about 120degrees to the left in a ten foot length. All of a sudden a cop car was there and a cop was in it. I had to skid to stop and redirect myself to the left of the car. The thought of slamming into a cop car at full speed is kinda scary.

the only time i was pulled over was because i took some bottles to the trash and someone thought it was a burglar. i rode off on my bike and the cops pulled me over a few blocks later, didn't even ask for id though.

besides that, the cops around here (college town of 120,000) don't give a ****. i've ran reds, stop signs, wrong way on a one way all right in front of cops.

oh wait I forgot. I was riding home one day and a cop car pulled in front of me blocking me. He asked "Hey what's going on?" in a very creepy, "holy crap I'm about to get raped or mugged" way except this came from a cop. A big fat cop in a cowboy hat. I said "fine." and tried riding off but he pulled up to block me again.
Turns out he thought I was stealing the bike frame on my back. It really pissed me off that two cop cars were wasted blocking me and interrogating me when I knew some crime had to be going on elsewhere. However looking back I like that cops are protecting cyclist's from theft.
still though...

A cop on a Suzuki dual-purpose motorcycle chased me down after blowing a stop sign. I didn't have any ID on me. I gave him my real name and address. I got a ticket in the mail a few days later for $75 bucks. All that brainwashing about "never tell a lie" and "thou shalt not lie" really paid off...

juvi-kyle and i got pulled over in la for running a light or something stupid like that.

I got a freakin' JAYWALKING ticket in LA.

happy ending: i invoiced my client for it and they paid it.

Never been pulled over/yelled at... yet. I did hit a cop who was crossing the street (read: jaywalking) without looking, but he looked embarassed and apologized.

ive been pulled over for riding the yellow which ended up in an argument over wether or not a fixed gear qualifies as a brake and wether or not spoke cards qualify as reflectors as well as wether me yelling qualifies as a bell it was a jersey cop so i won and rode on my way 5 min later.

running stop signs and speed through a school zone.

I got barricaded one night for riding without lights. I was about 50 feet from my front door (on the way out) and they were heading the opposite direction, just pulled right in front of me to block my passage. Ran my ID to make sure I had no warrants and wished me a good night. I said, "I guess you'd rather I went home rather than riding without lights." Cop shrugged and said, "Well, we're not gonna follow you."

i got pulled over in berkeley for riding at night in the middle of the lane w/o any lights. they were super cool and just wanted to lightly scold me for safety issues. They were all stoked on my bike, i got to explain velodrome racing and fixed gearing to them and everything. then they told me i wasnt supposed to ride it home w/o lights, but blatently hinted at the fact that they would drive away and really didn't care. I loves me some Berkeley PD. :)

luckily my extremely drunk friend had just turned off to go home, or else they might not have been so nice to him.

Oh man, this was great. I'm in my home town in FL to see my folks, and pressed my old schwinn mtb from like 1992 back into service for a run over to my grandfather's house 3 blocks away. End up rolling back just after dark, and of course my suburban town is so devoid of cyclists that anyone out after dark without spandex is clearly an illegal immigrant who can't afford a car out looking for some house to break into, so this cop lights up the lights. I was thinking he was just passing me, but he stays behind and so I roll over into the grass. Gives me the full-on about how I am required to have a light. Sorry sir, I was only going 3 blocks and didn't even think I'd be coming back this late. He heads back to the car to run my ID. Backup (yes, backup, for a calm individual on a bike) shows up, and asks me if I live around here. Yes, your friend over there has my ID, but it lists my address as a block away from where we're standing, and could you please turn your lights off, you're scaring Mrs. Robertson, I can see her looking out the window at us. He gives me a funny look, but doesn't turn off the flashers. This whole mess takes like 20 minutes a and they finally let me go, and so I walk the bike down the street. They yell after me that I can ride it if I want. WTF?

I'm glad they're patrolling the crap out of my affluent white neighborhood, but come on, is just riding a bike really a cause for suspicion? It's not like they actually pulled me over for not having a light, they'd have written me a ticket for it if they cared about that. Total BS, go find some real crime, boys.

wow, I love how the last 3 of us pretty much had the same story...

I got a freakin' JAYWALKING ticket in LA.

happy ending: i invoiced my client for it and they paid it.
My brother and another friend of mine both got jaywalking tickets walking from the burrito place to the echo on sunset. They got the tickets on different days. Both times it was a $75 ticket.

...speed through a school zone.

Thats pretty awesome.

i got a speeding ticket once for doing 47 in a 25. small-town cop with nothing better to do. i was 16 and all "HELL yeah! i got a speeding ticket on my BIKE, i am a bada$$!"

The cop has no authority to pull you over if he is off duty.
You could have gotten his badge number and made a harassment complaint.
From your post it sounds like he was not following you with an assured clear distance.
Enjoy

I don't know about Pennsylvania, but this is not true in Massachusetts and probably other states, FYI. Shoot, in places with citizen's arrest laws, anyone can pull you over (or try to) if they've witnessed you committing a felony. (Not that running a stop sign is a felony; I'm just sayin' . . .)

Has anyone ever gotten a ticket for doing something normal on a bike in Philly?

I got pulled over and searched... i was wearing tights just to be clear... and also searched my bag, and i had to put my hands on the cop car and every thing.. He told me that a kid on a red bike (i ride a red voodoo) yelled vulgar language at another cop and through some thing at the car... he noticed the mistake after running all my info.

___ Also i run XC and i was pulled over for RUNNING at 3 in the morning... they asked for my id... I was only wearing short shorts... they said i looked suspicious and almost arrested me for running for the police!!! They made me call my parents (I was only 17 at the time) so they would confirm they knew where I was.

I was pulled over for running a red light at a 3-way intersection at 12:30am. I was riding in the right-hand lane on the top part of the T, so any cars that were going to hit me were either running the light themselves or going through the store window immediately afterwards. I had lights on the front and back and was wearing a white coat, riding a white bike. He built it up and threatened me with 180$ ticket and 3 demerit points and then dropped it to a 35$ by-law infraction.
The best part was that a week later the same cop almost ran me over. I was getting on my bike on the sidewalk of a very busy street and he was coming out of a parking lot, creeping forward with his head turned to the right. He jerked to a stop two feet from me. I got on the road and he caught up to me two blocks later and yelled at me that if he had hit me, it would have been my fault.

Almost got something an hour ago in the park. I was riding to a bench (I almost always walk my bike in the park like I'm supposed to, but today I didn't) when I hear a woman yelling "HEY!" so I hopped off and walked it to the bench. She was a cop, but she was busy talking on her cell phone.

She hung up and saw someone else riding. She stopped him and made him walk to the "cop booth" thing and wrote him a ticket. Saved by her cell phone! I did leave though, in case she was planning on coming back to ticket me, now that she was done talking on the phone.

a couple of times. once i was riding with a friend and a cop slowed down to my speed to tell me to get lights, but didn't stop or pull me over. later that night, i was waiting at a red and got tired of waiting, and just went through. not much later, i notice my surroundings are kind of flashing blue and red. i keep going, like i don't see, and then the guy pulls up to me and says "pull over". i just told him it's legal for a bicycle to proceed through red lights if there's no cross traffic in idaho, and i was used to that law. that part about if being legal is true, but i ran the red out of impatience, not habit.

then there was the time i was looking for a store on the left one night, so i was riding in the left lane, and not as fast i could. a cop pulled me over for lights. he told me while i was legally in the right to take the lane, since i'm unlit, there was danger to me. he told me he rides, too, and just told me to get some lights and be safe. it was pretty cool...also made me think that maybe every now and then cops really are just looking out for our own good.

I got a helmet ticket today coming out of a building. Only messengers have to wear helmets for some reason here. The cop was on a Segway and wearing a helmet which I thought was funny. What's their top speed, 5 mph?

I think it's like 15-20.

I passed a double parked cop car on Broadway and got hit with a smoke he flicked out the window. I turned and called him a mother****ing *******, like I would anyone hitting me with trash thrown from their window.

He turns on the lights and sirens and guns it beside me, screaming to pull over. I kept saying no and rode for 3 blocks like that. Finally, he cuts me off and I jump on the sidewalk ready to bolt. He yells to wait, and I ask why and he says... "I just wanted to say I am really sorry".

I passed a double parked cop car on Broadway and got hit with a smoke he flicked out the window. I turned and called him a mother****ing *******, like I would anyone hitting me with trash thrown from their window.

He turns on the lights and sirens and guns it beside me, screaming to pull over. I kept saying no and rode for 3 blocks like that. Finally, he cuts me off and I jump on the sidewalk ready to bolt. He yells to wait, and I ask why and he says... "I just wanted to say I am really sorry".


Wow; best story yet. :)

I've never been pulled over on a bike so far. We'll see if that changes now that I'm biking a ton more than I was even a few months ago.

I passed a double parked cop car on Broadway and got hit with a smoke he flicked out the window. I turned and called him a mother****ing *******, like I would anyone hitting me with trash thrown from their window.

He turns on the lights and sirens and guns it beside me, screaming to pull over. I kept saying no and rode for 3 blocks like that. Finally, he cuts me off and I jump on the sidewalk ready to bolt. He yells to wait, and I ask why and he says... "I just wanted to say I am really sorry".

Then he billyclubbed the **** out of you.

I've been stopped twice by the California Highway Patrol. Once I was doing 40 down the Baker Grade on I-15 in a fully faired recumbent. He called. "It is illegal to drive on the shoulder." I replied, " do you see the bike chain going around the pulley by the rear wheel?" "Oh, its a bike, Sorry, have fun." And he drove off. Met him and his partner later by the Mad Greek in Baker and showed him the machine.

A week later I was stopped as I started to get on the 101 in Petaluma. "You can't ride on this road." I showed him the copy of the DOT map that said I could. After some grumbling he let me go.

juvi-kyle and i got pulled over in la for running a light or something stupid like that. he did an awesome job of sweet talking the officer...
"yes sir.
no sir.
yes sir.
i know sir.
i'm sorry sir.
no, i won't do it again sir."

it was awesome.


this has happened multiple times and when I say multiple, I mean 5 since I have been in LA. But the Yes Sir, gets them everytime or maybe it is the fact that I give them what they want.

I was coming down fifth ave. when this car comes right up on my *ss and just lays on the horn. So without even looking to see who it is I raise up my middle finger and shout out a "**** you!" Well then the police lights come on and I realize that what I assumed was a cab is a cop. I'm thinking about running but then I think about how my friends are always telling me that one of these days they are going to catch up and arrest me or worse take my bike. So for the first time ever I decide to stop and take my punishment. And just as I stop, some stupid bus driver on the cross street decides to try to make the light only to get stuck blocking traffic. And the best part is it is one of those long buses that is like two buses put together and he is blocking the whole of fifth ave., every lane. So I shoot around the bus giving the cop a friendly 'sorry not tonight' wave. I head back to the office to share my story with my coworkers, some of whom again chided me for running but none the less congratulated me on my victorious escape.

this has happened multiple times and when I say multiple, I mean 5 since I have been in LA. But the Yes Sir, gets them everytime or maybe it is the fact that I give them what they want.

yeah, there's just something magical about the effects of politeness on somebody who has what basically amounts to the ****tiest customer service job on earth...

yeah, twice. I live in a university town, so the cops here are usually too worried about drunk underage kids to pull over bikes.
I pulled a 90 turn onto a sidewalk that runs between two buildings at about 1am, actually going to one of the bildings to do some work, all lit up front, back, and helmet. Cop was on foot and shouted "hold on there son" and shone his mag-lite on me. I stopped and dismounted and explained myself, and he was cool about it and said "at least you've got all the other stuff to make you legal for the road". but he told me never to ride down there again. Which of course I have, every day since.
I also ran a red and got pulled. I was making a left and actually stopped and waited through 2 cycles, but finally just figured '**** it, I'll just yield on green next time around' and did, but I didn't get 100 yards on the other side before I was pulled. Still don't know where the cop came from, but I didn't have a front light yet because my bike had been stolen the week before and I hadn't gotten all the stuff for the 'new' on yet.
I got a 10 minute lecture, but lots of 'yes sir, no sir' and I got off. I break so many traffic laws that i'm surprised I haven't actually been ticketed, but now I scan before doing anything blatant.

Then he billyclubbed the **** out of you.

did i forget to mention that part? :D

I actually said it without thinking, and I refused to pull over cause I was terrified. oh well.

The "yes sir" routine is where is at.

got a 250$ ticket for proceeding cross a red light

So many "I got pulled over because I had no lights" stories. Why don't you people have lights?

got a 250$ ticket for proceeding cross a red light
ouch. here in austin? I bust about twenty red lights on my work commute every day.

ouch. here in austin? I bust about twenty red lights on my work commute every day.

its about the wrong place at the wrong time...nobody abides traffic rules in NYC (cars included), but if the right cop is around...

i just sent out my f'n ticket/payment yesterday, and even though i know its pointless, i included a letter basically begging for a fine reduction and *****ing about ny-ped...i wasn't gonna but then i saw a cop car with the CPR slogan on the way to work and really just felt like writing "and the ticketing officer lacked Courtesy Professionalism and Respect"...so I ask, who's the big winner now?

i commute through the capitol grounds every day and get stopped and lectured once a month about something or other. my favorite is this one cop, who tells me to ride on the sidewalk if i'm on the road, and to ride on the road if i'm on the sidewalk. he's friendly about it, and this has happened at least five times in a year. honestly, i think he's just lonely in his little booth.

a word of caution: no one yet here has mentioned being intoxicated while getting pulled over (or if they did i've been too drunk to remember) but be careful. in some places the DUI is the same on a bike as it is in a car. a lot of people here don't drive, so losing your license isn't so scary, but it's still a hassle. spending the night in jail's not too fun either.

cheers.

I run 20 reds every day here in columbia, sc. Never been ticketed, and they've seen me at least a few times. Pretty sure they just don't care.

One time I was stopped at a red waiting to turn left with my flashy LED headlight on, and a campus cop yelled something to me that I couldn't hear, I think that I wasn't supposed to be in the street or something. I ignored him, and he didn't say anything.

I got pulled over a couple weeks ago while I riding on the far west side of chicago, around garfield park. When cops see a pale white college kid riding in the middle of that neighborhood they suspect he is there to buy drugs I guess. After getting searched and patted down while explaining that the only drugs I had were cigarettes and malt liquor and that I was headed to downer's grove (~20 miles from there) they let me go.

this has happened multiple times and when I say multiple, I mean 5 since I have been in LA. But the Yes Sir, gets them everytime or maybe it is the fact that I give them what they want.

Or maybe it's the fact that you're one of 4 white people in your neighborhood.

They can smell the aryan on you.

stop sign and taking a lane while entering a tunnel with a blind corner.


are you serious? :p I've been riding in this city for over 10 years and have NEVER gotten pulled over by a cop.

now driving....that's a different story.