Commuting - I got a traffic citation tonight!!

Hello fellow bikers.

I had a most interesting experience tonight. I was commuting home from work. It is approximately 3.6 miles from work to home. I was about a mile into my commute home at 9:30PM riding in the right half of the right hand land of a 5 lane road. I usually average about 15 mph on my commutes. Speedlimit in this area is 40mph I believe. I have reflectors on both front and back of my bike, I have a cateye headlight on and a blinking tail light. I am wearing a helment. I hear this PA come on behind me saying, "get off the road, that's what sidewalks are for." Well my first reaction is that this must be some kid who has a PA hooked up in their car. Well I look back over my shoulder and notice it is a police car. Well at this point I'm thinking what the hell? I go ahead and pull over to the sidewalk and stop thinking he is going to stop too so I can ask him what the hell. Well he takes off and goes on. Well I have read these boards enough to know that the sidewalk is not the safest place to be. I also know the laws here in arksnas enough to know that I have a right to the road. Well I go ahead and pull back out into the road and try to catch up to the officer to ask him what the hell he is talking about. Well at this point he has gotten so far ahead I can't see him. About a mile farther down the road I see the blue lights behind me. I go ahead and pull over into the parking lot of a restaurant. He get's out of his car and I can tell right away he has a serious attitude. Hell he was just a kid. I wouldn't be suprised if he wasn't young enough to be my son. Well he certainly didn't show me any respect. He get's out of his car and tells me "I warned you once to get out of the road, now I should just throw you in the car and haul you down to jail." I'm like whoa, what is this guys problem. Anyway, I maintain my cool, and in a very sensible way try to explain to him that my understanding was that a bicycle had as much right to the road as any other vehicle. He proceeded to tell me that this was absolutely not the case, and if you were going to be on a bike you had to either be on the sidewalk, or over in the grass if there wasn't a sidewalk. I tried to tell him that my understanding of the law was that you had to have a reflector front and back and a headlight on the front. And ride on the right side of the road. He tells me I am wrong. I ask him if he could provide me with the particular law that backs him up. He tells me he doesn't have to do that and out there on the road he IS the law. I ask him if there is any one to appeal HIS decisions to he says NO. At this point he says he is just going to let me go with a warning. I guess I should have just let it go at that. Well I wanted to know what his name was so I asked him very nicely what his name was. Well this was apparantly the wrong thing to do. He's like "That's IT!" He get's his little cell phone out and calls up the station and starts asking them what he can cite me for. Well after talking to one person and not coming up with anything, she passes him to someone else and they finally come up with "Failure to obey a Police officer." Which just reinforces what I said all along, there was no law which said I couldn't ride in the road

I'm sorry for my monoparagraph there but I am still somewhat upset about this whole thing. I never did smart off to him. I maintained my cool the whole time. The road was 2 lanes each direction with a turning lane in the middle typical of a business district.

So is it true that the cops make up the laws while they are on the road??

Should I fight the ticket?

Thanks in advance for your advice

Dan

I think that its a gimme that you should fight the ticket!

I think that its a gimme that you should fight the ticket!


Ditto - Hell yeah you fight the ticket! When you are found not guilty you ask the Judge to order this idiot to take a remedial class in cop 101 or go back to the chick-filet fryer. If he gets away with it he will continue to make your community a hole. Please come back and let us know how it goes. Good luck and good job keeping your cool.

You have to fight this one. Even if you lose you make him show up in court
and the judge gets to here both sides of the story. He will have to explain
How he lost his cool and cited you because you didn't blindly obey and you
stuck up for your rights.

I think that its a gimme that you should fight the ticket!
FIGHT IT Bring a copy of the law with you as evidence and go to town on the dips*** No matter what lamajo25 will say you are right on this one

People like this need not be allowed to remain in a position of authority. Possibilities:
1) He does not know the law
2) He wants to swing his hips around and abuse his position.

Either way it is YOUR responsibility as a GOOD CITIZEN to ensure that these people are not allowed to abuse the authority that is GIVEN TO THEM BY THE CITIZENRY. If people like this are allowed to remain in control, before long it will be time for another revolution. Additionally if he is just a DUMMASS (OH the irony of intentionally misspelling dumbass) anyway as I was saying if he doesn't know the law he should not be enforcing it.

I'm in the majority on this one, it is your right to be in the road, and your ridght to fight this one. I've been cited for speed, but not for riding in the road. I know a couple who have been cited for riding on the sidewalks.

27-49-111. Use of bicycles or animals.
Every person riding a bicycle or an animal, or driving any animal drawing a vehicle upon a highway, shall have all the rights and all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle, except those provisions of this act which by their nature can have no applicability.

History. Acts 1937, No. 300, § 24; Pope's Dig., § 6682; Acts 1981, No. 699, § 1; A.S.A. 1947, § 75-424.


http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/NXT/gateway.dll?f=templates&fn=default.htm&vid=blr:code

the above are sites on the Web for the State of Arkansas Laws. Have some fun type in bicycle for the search and see what fun you can have. Then you can show ole Johnny Law he was a ... wrong.

You may want to even get a Drivers Testing handbook! In Tennessee there is a section in there to tell new drivers about what rights a bike rider has, and how they are to be treated just like other traffic. Surley you should fight this one!

Presumably you can't be charged with failing to obey a Police Officer if he or she asks you to do something illegal?

I would contact the local newspaper and see if they are interested in such an abuse of power story. You might also try a local TV station if they have one of those "Call for help" segments.

I would also contact this kid's superior officer, all the way up to the chief of police, and then the city council, to let them know they have a problem, that potentially can get a lot bigger. Idiots like this are power drunk and it may be only a matter of time before he explodes and beats or kills someone.

I say it is your duty to yourself and to the biking community; of which you choose to be a part- to fight this. Heah, fighting this is fun..Getting the better of some smuck and proving to a judge that a person in authority needs help in executing his responsibilities. More than just help in executing his duties, but probably physhiological help as well. Police officiers must know the law they are to charge you with..
You know what is in the Arkansas drivers manual, when you go out on the road. How can you loose.( Well, judges can be a** *ol*s also.) With evidence you will win.. This cop more than likely just hates cyclists. Please, don't let him get away with this.
Congratulations for keeping your cool. As the cop knows, when he called into the station, he is wrong. He must be educated and taught to overcome his prejudices.
I have at times carried zeroxed copies of the drivers manual as related to cyclists rights, for when I need evidence to fight the crazies.

Fight it. It is illegal to disobey a police officer--but not when his order is an illegal order.

Sounds like a case of young "Billy Bad Ass Syndome" you know, a young snot-nosed, bad attitude type that's just been issued a gun.

dave

Lousy cops! You have to fight it! I think everything else has already been said. However, I think it is past time for revolution.

There should be a recording of the telephone exchange between the officer and the station, I would think.

A visit to the patrolman's commander, armed with a written account of the incident, citations of relevant law, and the exact date and time of the incident so that the recordings can be tracked down, might be productive. You could end up with the citation tossed out, an apology from the commander, and a promise to set the patrolman (and the rest of the unit) straight about the law regarding cyclists.

That might be more worthwhile than a trip to court, especially since I'll lay you 10-1 odds that if you choose to fight the citation your hearing will be dalayed (at the officer's request) multiple times, in hopes that you'll give up and go away.

RichC

Fight it. It's legally impossible to be found guilty of violating an order to do an illegal act.

If sure I am in the right, I would not be content unless this robo cop got humiliated under the eyes of a judge. So what,if he applies delaying tactics..I would be determined to fight it all the way...Won't cure his dislike of cyclists.He must understand the law. Slap on the wrist by a segreant won't be enough to stop him next time, he wants to hassle a cyclist. That is me.

By the way, you did not disobey the officer's instructions. He instructed you to leave the road. You did that immediately. You did not know what emergency condition might require the officer to make an instruction directly contrary to the law, but you immediately obeyed. Then, after waiting a reasonable time for any emergency situation to clear, you continued on your way in conformance with all applicable laws.

By the way, you did not disobey the officer's instructions. He instructed you to leave the road. You did that immediately. You did not know what emergency condition might require the officer to make an instruction directly contrary to the law, but you immediately obeyed. Then, after waiting a reasonable time for any emergency situation to clear, you continued on your way in conformance with all applicable laws.


Ok, we were cycling on our way home. Can't use the sidewalk in most cities, can't use the road. Can't ride on homeowners lawns.. How was this citizen to use his god given right to choose his means of mobility to get home.
This jerko cop could just have well stalked him a third time.A third time on the road and he would have probably arrested him for sure.... Guess, he could pretend he is training for cyclocross and carried his bike home on his shoulder. In that case, Hope the distance was less than 5 miles.

Gotta fight it! Boy, I am sure glad its not like that here!

I did a look-up on the citation I received. It is as follows.


27-49-107. Obedience to police officers required.
No person shall willfully fail or refuse to comply with any lawful order or direction of any police officer invested by law with authority to direct, control, or regulate traffic.

History. Acts 1937, No. 300, § 22; Pope's Dig., § 6680; A.S.A. 1947, § 75-422.

27-49-107. Obedience to police officers required.
No person shall willfully fail or refuse to comply with any lawful order or direction of any police officer invested by law with authority to direct, control, or regulate traffic.

History. Acts 1937, No. 300, § 22; Pope's Dig., § 6680; A.S.A. 1947, § 75-422.

But as others have already stated, you did comply with his direction to get off the road. The charge is based on something that didn't even happen. I think this guy just has an inflated opinion of himself. As others have said, in this situation you have a right, nay, a duty to take this to a higher level. I would have no hesitation in contacting a superior officer to this guy here.

Fellow Bikers:

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for the great responses so far. I will be honest, this is not the only place I have posted my story. I have posted on several different discussion boards, newsgroups, ect. Of all the responses I have gotten probably in the low hundreds, all of the responses have been very positive, and insistent that I fight the ticket.

I did want to give a little more additional information on exactly the kind of town I am from. This incident happened in my hometown, the town I was born and raised in, Jonesboro, Arkansas, a small city with a population of over 50,000. I will be absolutely honest and say I have never had any problem whatsoever with the police force in this town. As you can see we are not talking about a major metropolitan area here, but it’s also not Mayberry.

The steps I have taken since this incident, in addition to posting to the forums. I have talked to the owner of my local bike shop. He was rather incensed at what had happened to me. He insisted on taking the ticket number, and all relevant information from the ticket, he said he had some contacts downtown and he was going to see what he could do about it. We will just have to see about that.

Also, I emailed the head of the local bike club, which I belong to. I have not heard back from him yet. I also emailed my cousin, who also belongs to the same bike club as me. My cousin also happens to be a lawyer here in town. Unfortunately he is a Probate lawyer, instead of a criminal or traffic lawyer. I haven’t heard back from him yet either.

I am pretty much resolved to fighting the ticket at this point. After all, what do I have to loose? At the worst I will end up having to pay the ticket, which as it stands right now I will have to pay anyway if I don’t fight it.

The first step I intend to actively take is to try to talk to the chief of Police here in Jonesboro. Hopefully he will be more understanding than his rookie officer. Like I said I have never had any other kind of problems with the local police officers here. I can’t help but believe this was a case of a single rookie cop trying to prove how big of a man he was. I really believe what really got him pissed off at me in the first place was that he had to drive along behind me for a few feet waiting on traffic to clear in the left lane before he could go around me.

If I didn’t say it in my original post, I guess I should make it clear now. He was intending to let me go with just a verbal warning, until I had the audacity and the balls to ask him for his name. That really was the straw that broke the camels back. That was when he said he was going to go ahead and give me a ticket. Actually this was after he had threatened to haul me into jail for disorderly conduct.

I sit here now thinking about what happened out there on the road, and it really pisses me off. Fortunately I didn’t have that much time to think about it at the time, and I certainly didn’t desire to be hauled off to jail, so I kept my cool.
The idea of threatening to sue the city does deserve some merit, and the idea of bringing in the ACLU brings a smile to my face also. If this issue is not resolved in a quick and expeditious manner, those two things are certainly options I will keep in mind.

Please keep the ideas coming.


Thanks again for your input.


Dan

You might also contact a local, state or national bike organization, such as the League of National Bicyclist:

http://www.bikeleague.org/index.cfm

They want take up your cause for you.

If I didn’t say it in my original post, I guess I should make it clear now. He was intending to let me go with just a verbal warning, until I had the audacity and the balls to ask him for his name. That really was the straw that broke the camels back. That was when he said he was going to go ahead and give me a ticket.

At least you got his name. :)

I hope this isnt keeping you from riding. Maybe you should document this somehow with the police dept. since it is an ongoing issue. this might help if you have another run in with officer bubba.

good luck and stay safe,
CD

I had a hard time finding anything useful at the state site -- they really need a new webmaster (or maybe, they don't want you to learn too much in the first place...), but here's what I found:

From the Arkansas State Code:

27-49-111. Use of bicycles or animals.
Every person riding a bicycle or an animal, or driving any animal drawing a vehicle upon a highway, shall have all the rights and all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle, except those provisions of this act which by their nature can have no applicability.

History. Acts 1937, No. 300, § 24; Pope's Dig., § 6682; Acts 1981, No. 699, § 1; A.S.A. 1947, § 75-424.

It sounds to me like you are legally allowed to use the roadway, and even take the lane in Arkansas, just like in the other 49 states...but they certainly haven't adopted the uniform traffic code language that most other states have...

Here's what it sounds like you were cited for:

27-49-107. Obedience to police officers required.
No person shall willfully fail or refuse to comply with any lawful order or direction of any police officer invested by law with authority to direct, control, or regulate traffic.

History. Acts 1937, No. 300, § 22; Pope's Dig., § 6680; A.S.A. 1947, § 75-422

This whole incident is a crock--fight it!

Just thought I would give everyone an update on what I have found out since my initial post. First of all many thanks to everyone who has helped by pointing out the appropriate Arkansas law concerning my case, and all the positive reinforcements I have received.

As far as information I have received so far, I have talked to my cousin, who is a Probate lawyer here in town, and just so happens to belong to the same bike club as me. He pretty much tells me I have two different directions to go with this case. He said he can more than likely get the ticket taken care of on the QT if I want to, but he would kind of like to play it out to the end just to make a point. But then he also advised like many others have, that I have to live in this town and I probably don’t want to be making too many enemies in high places.

I also emailed a district judge who is in our riding club at the advice of the head of our bike club. I did receive a reply from him that was somewhat restrained, but could be interpreted as very positive. It seems that if this case were to go on appeal, it would most likely come before HIM. I didn’t realize this when I sent the email. Therefore he said he couldn’t really give any advice on how to handle my particular case, but he did advise me to look up the law concerning bicycles in Arkansas, and to plead not guilty when I come to court and present my case. Then he sent me a second email, which quoted the same law 27-49-111, which everyone else has cited. It certainly couldn’t hurt to have a case like this to go before a bicycling judge on appeal LOL.

I have also been in contact via email with the Arkansas Bicycle club. The president of that club replied and told me he was going to forward me email to a couple of lawyers they have in their club and get their take on things. I have not heard back from him since then.

I also emailed the head of our local parks and recreation department here in town that is also in our bike club. He expressed a lot of interest and wanted all the pertinent information on the ticket. He implied he was going to make some contacts of his own downtown.

My court date is currently set for 10 December 2003 so I have some time to do some wiggling before things have to come to a head. As things stand now, I believe my approach is going to be something like this. I am going to approach the Chief of Police here in Jonesboro, probably with my cousin, or some other legal representation at my side. Present him with my story, and ask him to clean this entire mess up. Part of the agreement to clean it up would have to be the young officer properly educated on what Arkansas Law has to say about bicycle rights and responsibilities.

If the Chief is unwilling to make things right, then I suppose we are going to go to court and rock and roll. The main point being, if humanly possible I don’t intend to have to pay any kind of fine related to this citation.

Really the only question would be the actual citation itself. Disobeyed a police officer.

“27-49-107. Obedience to police officers required.
No person shall willfully fail or refuse to comply with any lawful order or direction of any police officer invested by law with authority to direct, control, or regulate traffic.”

Now in reality this is also a false charge in and of itself. I did not willfully fail or refuse to comply with his order or direction. As a matter of fact as soon as he ordered me only the sidewalk, and I realized he was an officer ordering me there I got on the sidewalk. And when he was speaking over the PA, he never did say how long he expected me to stay there. Then you are going to have a great big question about whether or not it was a lawful order. And I am going to argue to the best of my ability that it was not a lawful order.

You know, here I am on the eve of being Forty years old, and all of my life I have done my best to be a law abiding citizen, who gave the utmost of respect to those charged with enforcing the law. In my life of driving, in at least half of the states in the Union, I have received only ONE traffic citation in my life and that was for speeding, and that was honestly caused by a malfunction of my speedometer which I had repaired after I received the ticket. Really not a bad record for someone driving over twenty years, but I digress. Incidents like this cause a law-abiding citizen like myself really question where they put their trust. Would I really want to have to trust that little pimply pip-squeak cop with my life? As someone who served six years in the US Navy, I found it was usually the Johnny Bad Asses who were the first to turn tail and run when the **** hit the FAN. I just really have to ask myself, how my of “our boys in blue” are like the young officer I ran into that night? I honestly don’t know, but I sure do hope It isn’t many.

Dan

He said he can more than likely get the ticket taken care of on the QT if I want to, but he would kind of like to play it out to the end just to make a point. But then he also advised like many others have, that I have to live in this town and I probably don’t want to be making too many enemies in high places.

I agree with your cousin on this one. The fact is, you do have to live in that town, and if someone doesn't cut this cop down to size, what's to stop him doing it again. I've never encountered a situation such as this myself, but if I had, I would be straight on the phone to the office of the Queensland Chief Commissioner of Police.

Question authority...ALWAYS.

Dlakey, I am very impressed with your perseverence in this matter. It looks like it's going to pay off. This is important not only for your wallet, it's important because it prevents a bad precedent from being set in which police officers in your town think they can order cyclists onto the sidewalk.

The citation issued you states you disobeyed a police officer, but the law specifically says that the officer's order must be lawful. If his ordering you off the road was lawful, why did he have to search for another reason to cite you?
I would think "failure to obey a police officer" would be a charge added to initial violations in the event of a difficult arrest, but how could it be issued alone?

But most importantly, police officers are public servants, not public bosses. This particular officer's attitude was so far out of bounds that he needs serious correction concerning not only traffic law, but how to respect the rights and dignity of the citizens he is serving.

Most disconcerting to me of all was your description of how he responded to your request for his name. His response showed an attitude of intimidation in which he placed himself above the law, and more importantly, above the citizens served by the law.

I think you're right, he was young, and his immaturity was showing.

RichC has the right approach. If that doesn't work go to court, but post the court date so we can all show up. Arkansas was it, that's ony a couple of states away from me in Illinois, right?

You know looking back on this whole situation, I believe I have come to one general rule which all law enforcement personel should use when they are making decisions out in the real world.

If an officer has to call headquarters, or ask one of his buddies what he should be citing someone for, or arresting someone for, then more than likely he shouldn't be citing them or arresting them for anything.

To me, this only means that either they shouldn't be in their law enforcement position because they don't know the law, or two, they really don't have any grounds for taking ANY action.

just my idle thoughts on the matter.

Dan

AMEN! Brother.


The only reason this hot shot wanted to give you a ticket in the first place is that you DARED to question HIS reasons! This is the kind of thing that makes all law enforcement look BAD! :eek:

You know, here I am on the eve of being Forty years old, and all of my life I have done my best to be a law abiding citizen...

Well, you couldn't have picked a better way to run afoul of the law. Perhaps your pimply police officer, upon gaining maturity and wisdom, will understand the difference between enforcing the law and enforcing his desire. You seem to be approaching this situation with wisdom of your own; your insistence to have the officer educated is much wiser than an anger-fueled wish to have him fired. Good luck in this.

I hear this PA come on behind me saying, "get off the road, that's what sidewalks are for."
I just want to have fun with this, somehow.

"That's what sidewalks are for?"

I thought sidewalks were for walking.

:confused:

Of course, it is hard to tell the difference between some "bike paths" and "sidewalks" these days. Then again, almost any sidewalk is so deserted now that a cyclist would never have to worry about hitting anyone. The only thing to be concerned about might be getting in an accident with a car, but that would be the cyclist's fault too. What else did we think would happen, playing with toys outside of the playground?

What's the end of the story?

BTW, the REAL offense you were charge with is "Insulting the Ego of an Officer of the Law." It has many different legal names, but it exists everywhere in the world.

That said, I've found it's usually best just to treat cops with respect even when they don't deserve it. They have a tough job. They are human. They have cranky days. And they have a lot of power to make your life miserable.

It's almost always better to be on your way than to have grounds for a complaint.

Yeah, what was the outcome??? I just read 3 pages waiting for the juicy end of justice - wha happun? :)

Although I do believe you should fight this citation for the principle, there is a "special" circumstance, privelege really, given to law enforcement:it's called "in the spirit of the law." This special condition allows any law enforcement representative to create and impose anything they see fit, under certain self-deemed situations. The officer could say that the traffic was too congested for cyclists at that particular time, or he was concerned for your safety. The law, similar for politicians, in this respect, provide teflon shields and validation--this is how it works, at least in California. We all know that he was an a**hole in his approach and only wanted to prove his power or lack thereof, therefore fight it!

Urbanmonk

"Failure to obey a Police officer."

You will not get out of this ticket unless you get a judge that will like you plea.

"But I wasn't disobeying him. It's against the law to ride on the sidewalk."

It's not going to work.

What happened? Concerned citizen in Little Rock wants to know.

If you were on the sidewalk- jack would have prob cited you for that! good you were on the road, fight the good fight. luck

I thought it was illegal to ride on the sidewalk? @ least in my town it is I think.

ARhhhh damnit whats going on? :)

Update please!

I, too, would like to know the outcome of this saga. I have worked in the court systems of Wisconsin and Minnesota for 28 years and have never heard of anything so ridiculous. Let us know what you ended up doing and the result.

I would go to the ACLU. Almost all police cars have a recording device, which records everthing that goes on inside and outside the police car. I am sure the ACLU would like something like this!!!

All you needed was his badge number but i would not only fight the ticket but file a complaint about the dude,dont wait.

And another point... women (speaking as one) are encouraged to ask for names and badge numbers for officers. This came to light here in NH after a man posing as an officer pulled over several women on the highway and raped them. If you have the legal right to ask for name, ID number, and even to not pull over until you feel you are in a safe place (like a gas station parking lot), this guy is way out of line.

Additionally, in my mind "cos I'm the cop" doesn't cut it. This is not a police state. Police are employed byyou to protect you, not to harrass you.

God this makes me so mad. Please give us an update.

My apologies to everyone who has been waiting on the edge of their seats for the end of this story. I guess I didn't anxiously get back and respond to the forum because the outcome was somewhat anti-climatic.

After I posted on here I went and talked to my cousin who is an attorney here in town and also a biker. He told me to just chill and he would talk to the city attorney.

Well I didn't hear anything for a while, so the week of my original court date I asked my cousin what was going on. He told me he hadn't heard anything but he would check. Well he finally got ahold of the city attorney and was told the matter had be delayed until the 29th of December. So another wait, well a few days before the 29th my cousin sent me an email with the following message.

"Dan,

I received the word yesterday. The matter is dropped; nolle prosequi.

I will mail to you a copy of the note I received from the City Attorney, Name Removed.

You can forget about this now. Merry Christmas.

Name Removed "

So it would appear that after some investigation the city attorney determined that there was no grounds for the ticket and the officer was a dumb ass.

So all the people that told me not to sweat it were dead on. When summer time rolls back around I intend to start riding my bike back and forth to work again.

Thanks to everyone on this board for you great support. You were all a great help in keeping my spirits up during this.

Dan

Congratulations. You did the right thing. The most effective way to "fight" in the court system is usually to get an attorney who has mastered the art of the polite phone call.

You got justice. And the prosecutor's opinion of that cop just went down a notch. My guess is that the prosecutor also had a talk with the cop about bicyclist rights and duties.

Congratulations. You did the right thing. The most effective way to "fight" in the court system is usually to get an attorney who has mastered the art of the polite phone call.

You got justice. And the prosecutor's opinion of that cop just went down a notch. My guess is that the prosecutor also had a talk with the cop about bicyclist rights and duties.
I would bet he did not because i would think u dont talk to him,u talk to the union.I would still go to the station and ask,heres where i ride,am i ok or not.

Dan - I agree with "Daily Commute". I deal with city attorneys on a daily basis. They don't want to waste their time on this kind of nonsense. I'm sure he had a talk with the cop and/or the chief to let them know this is inappropriate. I suspect you've done a service for all bike riders in your city.