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07-15-09, 10:59 PM
Commuting home from work tonight I got stopped and ticketed by one of Renton's finest, Officer S. Tierney. He cited me for failure to ride on the right hand side of the roadway and failure to use hand signals.
I had turned left from Airport onto Rainer, heading south. I had stopped at the intersection of Rainer and 2nd and was proceeding down to the right turn at SW Sunset. Officer Tierney pulled up behind me while I was on Rainer and turned on his lights when I turned onto Sunset.
After pulling me over, the officer asked if I had identification. I told him that I did, but knew that I didn't have to actually provide it. This is actually true, as I was not operating a motor vehicle. I am required to truthfully and completely answer any questions put to me by the officer, but that's it. This answer apparently didn't set well with Officer Tierney, however, as he summarily informed me that I was, in fact, absolutely required to provide identification and that if I didn't immediately comply we would "see where my attitude got me." Rather than fight this, I rummaged through my trunk bag and came up with my ID.
Officer Tierney then went back to his vehicle and wrote me up. During this time, another officer came up and parked. Apparently it takes two Renton cops to insure the compliance of a single bicycle commuter.
When Officer Tierney returned, he informed me that, since I was so conversant with the law, I must have been aware that I was required to ride as close to the right side of the street as possible so as to not impede traffic, make people go around me, or make them honk at me. This last one kind of confused me until I remembered that there was, in fact, a car honking further up Rainer as I was coming down. However, this car was driving parallel to me in the far left hand lane and, rather than honking at me, was honking at a car partially in their lane trying to make a left turn (across three lanes of traffic) into a parking lot. I, in fact, had to slow to allow that car to get into their parking lot. That aside, the RCW (RCW 46.61.770) does not, in fact, require that I ride as close to the right side as possible, but rather that I ride as close to the right side as is safe. Given that this part of Rainer has no shoulder, that the roadway is not in good condition, and that, in my experience, riding in anything but the left half of the lane leads to cars passing unsafely (buzzing me), I choose, for my safety, to take the lane.
Now, the failure to use hand signals is actually true. However, my failure to use those hand signals is because the road conditions there are poor and I don't want to remove my hands from the handlebars. In order to not impede traffic unduly, I travel at a speed of 13-15 MPH on this section of the road. The road is bumpy and has lots of ruts in it, so removing my hands from the bars at this speed isn't a very good idea. Further, I am in a dedicated right-turn lane for the turn onto Sunset and move immediately to the dedicated left turn lane for the turn onto Renton center Way. Officer Tierney contended that I failed to properly yield while making this turn (although he did not cite me for this), but that's not true. The only potential traffic coming at me is from northbound Rainer, turning left onto Sunset. I know these lights since I ride it every day and I know that when I made this turn, there was no possibility of any oncoming traffic as the light was green for cars going south on Rainer. Nevertheless, I did, as I always do, looked left to make sure that the lanes were clear before I crossed. The car in front of me did exactly the same thing, but the way. No, I did not signal my turns, but I felt that removing my hands from the bars was unsafe, given the road conditions, and that there was no danger of my lane movement being misinterpreted by other drivers, as they were doing exactly the same thing.
When we were finished, I asked Officer Tierney if he had a dash camera in his car. He again became very offensive, even abusive, and asked me if I saw any dash camera. He asked that three or four times, in fact, every time becoming more aggressive in his demeanor. Given that I had not approached his vehicle in any way, and that I could not reasonably know what a dash camera might look like, I felt his attitude to be excessively offensive. I again decided to let the matter drop without further comment. My final question to him was if his name and ID information were on the ticket. He replied, again in a rather offensive tone, that it was all there and he'd be happy to see me in court.
I think I'm going to fight this one. I know for certain that he's wrong about my taking the lane, and I feel I have a strong argument for not using hand signals. Officer Tierney seems to have a serious dislike for cyclists and is deficient in his knowledge of the RCW as it applies to bicycles. I've commuted this route through Renton almost every day since I started working in Redmond last October and I've never had any issues. The people in Renton, including the officers I've encountered, have always been if not completely supportive at least tolerant and understanding.
I had turned left from Airport onto Rainer, heading south. I had stopped at the intersection of Rainer and 2nd and was proceeding down to the right turn at SW Sunset. Officer Tierney pulled up behind me while I was on Rainer and turned on his lights when I turned onto Sunset.
After pulling me over, the officer asked if I had identification. I told him that I did, but knew that I didn't have to actually provide it. This is actually true, as I was not operating a motor vehicle. I am required to truthfully and completely answer any questions put to me by the officer, but that's it. This answer apparently didn't set well with Officer Tierney, however, as he summarily informed me that I was, in fact, absolutely required to provide identification and that if I didn't immediately comply we would "see where my attitude got me." Rather than fight this, I rummaged through my trunk bag and came up with my ID.
Officer Tierney then went back to his vehicle and wrote me up. During this time, another officer came up and parked. Apparently it takes two Renton cops to insure the compliance of a single bicycle commuter.
When Officer Tierney returned, he informed me that, since I was so conversant with the law, I must have been aware that I was required to ride as close to the right side of the street as possible so as to not impede traffic, make people go around me, or make them honk at me. This last one kind of confused me until I remembered that there was, in fact, a car honking further up Rainer as I was coming down. However, this car was driving parallel to me in the far left hand lane and, rather than honking at me, was honking at a car partially in their lane trying to make a left turn (across three lanes of traffic) into a parking lot. I, in fact, had to slow to allow that car to get into their parking lot. That aside, the RCW (RCW 46.61.770) does not, in fact, require that I ride as close to the right side as possible, but rather that I ride as close to the right side as is safe. Given that this part of Rainer has no shoulder, that the roadway is not in good condition, and that, in my experience, riding in anything but the left half of the lane leads to cars passing unsafely (buzzing me), I choose, for my safety, to take the lane.
Now, the failure to use hand signals is actually true. However, my failure to use those hand signals is because the road conditions there are poor and I don't want to remove my hands from the handlebars. In order to not impede traffic unduly, I travel at a speed of 13-15 MPH on this section of the road. The road is bumpy and has lots of ruts in it, so removing my hands from the bars at this speed isn't a very good idea. Further, I am in a dedicated right-turn lane for the turn onto Sunset and move immediately to the dedicated left turn lane for the turn onto Renton center Way. Officer Tierney contended that I failed to properly yield while making this turn (although he did not cite me for this), but that's not true. The only potential traffic coming at me is from northbound Rainer, turning left onto Sunset. I know these lights since I ride it every day and I know that when I made this turn, there was no possibility of any oncoming traffic as the light was green for cars going south on Rainer. Nevertheless, I did, as I always do, looked left to make sure that the lanes were clear before I crossed. The car in front of me did exactly the same thing, but the way. No, I did not signal my turns, but I felt that removing my hands from the bars was unsafe, given the road conditions, and that there was no danger of my lane movement being misinterpreted by other drivers, as they were doing exactly the same thing.
When we were finished, I asked Officer Tierney if he had a dash camera in his car. He again became very offensive, even abusive, and asked me if I saw any dash camera. He asked that three or four times, in fact, every time becoming more aggressive in his demeanor. Given that I had not approached his vehicle in any way, and that I could not reasonably know what a dash camera might look like, I felt his attitude to be excessively offensive. I again decided to let the matter drop without further comment. My final question to him was if his name and ID information were on the ticket. He replied, again in a rather offensive tone, that it was all there and he'd be happy to see me in court.
I think I'm going to fight this one. I know for certain that he's wrong about my taking the lane, and I feel I have a strong argument for not using hand signals. Officer Tierney seems to have a serious dislike for cyclists and is deficient in his knowledge of the RCW as it applies to bicycles. I've commuted this route through Renton almost every day since I started working in Redmond last October and I've never had any issues. The people in Renton, including the officers I've encountered, have always been if not completely supportive at least tolerant and understanding.