Advocacy & Safety - Advocacy Takes Many Forms

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Doohickie
08-02-09, 04:43 PM
A friend of mine got a stern talking to from a policeman recently. The cop informed him that cyclists have no place on the roads and threatened to ticket him for riding on the roads. After a few minutes of this, the cop decided to let my friend go with a warning. He never did get my friend's name. Maybe he should have, before he started making up new laws to threaten my friend with.

As it turns out, my friend is a fairly high public official in the city where this event occurred and had a little chat the chief of police. They went over the pertinent laws and agreed that said officer is due for a little refresher course on bicycle traffic law.

:roflmao2:

twinquad
08-02-09, 05:02 PM
While this officer sounds like the particularly confrontational type, he's probably not the only one on the force who could use a refresher on the bike laws. If your friend has had a constructive interaction with the chief thus far, he might be able to expand the bike education beyond just this one officer, particularly if he volunteers to conduct it, or to coordinate things with the local advocacy group. This seems like an excellent opportunity to advance bike-cop relations there.
John E
08-02-09, 07:10 PM
Spot-on, twinquad!

hairnet
08-02-09, 07:12 PM
step 1) convert high city officials into cyclists :D or elect cyclists
Doohickie
08-02-09, 08:53 PM
he might be able to expand the bike education beyond just this one officer, particularly if he volunteers to conduct it, or to coordinate things with the local advocacy group. This seems like an excellent opportunity to advance bike-cop relations there.

As I was writing the original post, the same idea occurred to me. I will mention it to him.


step 1) convert high city officials into cyclists :D or elect cyclists

The latter was the case here. He was just elected this year. He was pretty well known because he was already active on local planning boards, etc., as a bicycle advocate.