Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - $253 Bike Citation?! WTF

I cruised through an intersection with no cross traffic on a side street and got pulled over by a cop. The sneaky motorcycle cop was stalking behind a building. There were stop signs so yes I did break the law. When I got the ticket in the mail though, it was $253!!!! WTF?

Tomorrow I have my court date and I am going to ask for leniency and argue to have my fine reduced. Right now I am looking for other citations that incur penalties of less than $250. The punishment is way our of wack with the crime.

Has anyone been in this position? What did you say in front of the judge? I know a bicycle is considered a vehicle by the state but $250. . . come on. Love your feedback.

PS: I live in Santa Monica, CA. Our state is broke so who knows if i can wiggle out of this one.

All the rights and priveleges of a motor vehicle includes the same structure of penalties and fines. To the officer who wrote the ticket, rolling a stop sign is no different on a bike than a station wagon doing the same thing.

I know a bicycle is considered a vehicle by the state but $250. . . come on.

lrn2rulesoftheroad

You broke the law; he gave you a fine.

Now, you will be more conscious of hidden cops. If there were side streets, you should have darted down those. Also, I cannot offer you any insight, as I have never been pulled over on my bicycle. I always check my surroundings before breaking the law.

I'd say you have a good chance at getting the fine reduced if you are mature about it and take responsibility in front of the judge. Focus on the fact that you made very sure there was no traffic before proceeding, but that you understand you should have come to a full stop.

Judges are people, and there's a reason the system allows for leniency. Unless you're being a jackass I don't see any reason they'd make you pay the full amount.

I hear you on CA traffic fines. Last year I got a ticket in Glendale for having a headlight bulb out. It was around Christmas and I forgot about it/missed the court date. That made my fine go from something like $25 straight to something like $500. I scheduled another court date, got dressed up, and talked to the judge. He knocked it down to around $150 and I'm still a bit sore from paying that much from what started as a "fix-it" ticket.

PS: I live in Santa Monica, CA. Our state is broke so who knows if i can wiggle out of this one.

You should know better. Don't go blowing stops in the beach communities. That includes Redondo, Manhattan Beach, and Santa Monica. Go try and get it reduced and stop at stop signs in the future.

Rob

Good luck fella.
You should hire this guy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwWAsNZTnug) just in case.

i blow them all the time in sf. anything to worry about?

stop signs aim to help cars from hitting each other and protect both drivers.

if you blazed through a stop sign and got hit by a car, you'd be dead and the car'd be scratched.

as a lesser vehicle on the road, i'd think a stop sign would be your biggest friend.

yes it sucks, but would a tiered stop sign/red light/speeding ticket system be fair?

$300 - car
$200 - motorcycle
$50 - moped
$5 - bike

i don't think so. because dead people can result out of disobeying them all the same.

not saying your a bad cyclist at all, but this is just a generalized statement:

how come cyclists want the same road status and rights, but don't want to follow the same rules?

lights, signs, even flow of traffic.

I hear you on CA traffic fines. Last year I got a ticket in Glendale for having a headlight bulb out. It was around Christmas and I forgot about it/missed the court date. That made my fine go from something like $25 straight to something like $500. I scheduled another court date, got dressed up, and talked to the judge. He knocked it down to around $150 and I'm still a bit sore from paying that much from what started as a "fix-it" ticket.

If you would have paid the fine and "fixed it" you wouldn't be sore. ;)

PS ... i made an illegal right turn on red in a car and the cop and judge didn't give a care that i made sure no cars were coming.

I cruised through an intersection with no cross traffic on a side street and got pulled over by a cop. The sneaky motorcycle cop was stalking behind a building. There were stop signs so yes I did break the law. When I got the ticket in the mail though, it was $253!!!! WTF?

Tomorrow I have my court date and I am going to ask for leniency and argue to have my fine reduced. Right now I am looking for other citations that incur penalties of less than $250. The punishment is way our of wack with the crime.

Has anyone been in this position? What did you say in front of the judge? I know a bicycle is considered a vehicle by the state but $250. . . come on. Love your feedback.

PS: I live in Santa Monica, CA. Our state is broke so who knows if i can wiggle out of this one.

Yeah dude, I've been bent over by the city before, it's no fun, I'll bet if a car went though the stop sign and wacked into you the cop prob would have blamed you for that too.

PS ... i made an illegal right turn on red in a car and the cop and judge didn't give a care that i made sure no cars were coming.
The judge probably hears that 50 times a day from people in cars. The cyclist should at least have novelty on his side.

The judge probably hears that 50 times a day from people in cars. The cyclist should at least have novelty on his side.

LOL, yeah you got a point there! I bet a beach cruiser would stand a better chance than a tarck bike. whatcha think?

If you would have paid the fine and "fixed it" you wouldn't be sore. ;)

I was at my mom's in Arizona for a few weeks around December for the holidays and for a friend who was in the hospital with pancreatitis, so I just forgot about it. Sh*t happens, but $25 to $500 is still pretty steep.

To the OP: just get dressed up, be respectful of the judge ("yes, sir"), admit your fault and don't come up with some elaborate story because he hears those all day long.

LOL, yeah you got a point there! I bet a beach cruiser would stand a better chance than a tarck bike. whatcha think?
If he was on a unicycle I bet he'd get off scot free.

from my experience, i probably wouldn't even say you checked to ensure no one was coming.

to them that means you double checked before purposefully breaking a law.

good luck, let us know what happens when you get to it.

from my experience, i probably wouldn't even say you checked to ensure no one was coming.

to them that means you double checked before purposefully breaking a law.

good luck, let us know what happens when you get to it.

I agree, keeping my mouth shut as much as possible has kept me out of even more trouble in quite a few situations.

I just got laughed out of court last week from some lady-cop with a serious attitude (don't you hate those) who pulled me over for "running a red light." It was clearly yellow, and she knew it and knew that I knew it because I told her. She pulled me over just because she wanted to (I didn't break any law). So instead she wrote me a ticket for riding on the right through a yellow light. I show up at court and the clerk looks at it and starts chuckling and calls the other clerks over to look at it. I was irritated being there that early in the morning for bull****, and had to walk a mile through a pretty serious rain. I was really lucky to not make a stink about how the lady-cop needed to be held accountable for her actions, as it was apparent that she pulled me over purely for no reason other than power tripping. Instead I just tucked my tail between my legs and walked out when they told me I could go. They were literally laughing as I walked out the door. ****ers.

you were taught a lesson for running the stop sign, now you have to prove you can learn from your mistake.

btw, I look in all directions, including behind, before rolling a stop sign so I don't have to deal with sneaky police.

There is a law in Idaho that treats stop as yield for bicycles... may want to see if you can use their arguments to get off or more consideration at least.

http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/idstat/Title49/T49CH7SECT49-720.htm

http://www.bicyclelaw.com/blog/index.cfm/The-Idaho-stop-signred-light-law
http://www.bicyclelaw.com/articles/a.cfm/road-rights-more-on-stop-as-yield
http://www.bta4bikes.org/btablog/2009/01/15/frequently-asked-questions-about-idaho-stop-law/
http://www.velonews.com/article/86786
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=stop+as+yield

They tried to pass the Idaho Stop Law here in Oregon, but they deemed it a joke for the most part, shuffled it in with other laws trying to be passed which did not really pertain to anything relevant.

wouldn't fly if you couldn't spot the cop around the corner.
it means either
a: blind corner
b: didn't look left or right.

Im just going to man up, admit what I did was wrong and hope for the best on this one.

Even though it seems excessive to be hit with a $250 fine for crusing on a bike, I doubt Im going to get any sympathy if I play that card. To the city a bike is no different than a car.

Wish me luck tomorrow, folks.

how come cyclists want the same road status and rights, but don't want to follow the same rules?

lights, signs, even flow of traffic.
Because the laws were not written for us cyclists, they were written for cars.
I hardly ever come to a complete stop anywhere, it's a massive loss of momentum. If I don't have to, I wont stop, but I always at least yield and look.

wait, i thought cyclists can just YIELD at stop signs, not stop. we're technically above pedestrians so we have right away compared to automobiles.

wait, i thought cyclists can just YIELD at stop signs, not stop. we're technically above pedestrians so we have right away compared to automobiles.

where do you live?

most of america and canada has it listed like so:
pedestrian > vehicle (bike falls under vehicle category)

owned, heres a tip, next time bust a right turn at stop signs and then do a U turn around and head right again.

owned, heres a tip, next time bust a right turn at stop signs and then do a U turn around and head right again.
But you're still required by law to stop at stop signs, even if you're turning right...

This would just get him like 3 tickets instead of one.

I received a $271 ticket for making a rolling right turn from bike lane to bike lane.

I had seen the police officer before arriving at the intersection and I even made eye contact with him and nodded to him.

I figured I spent as much time in the stop zone as a car, and that unclipping and putting a foot down required a lot more energy and time from me than it would for a car.

I pleaded guilty and sent a check and a letter to the judge.

I said I respected the law and did not realize that the police would enforce that specific stop law as stringently as they did, but now I knew and I would make sure it never happened again.

The judge returned my $271 to me with the instruction that it had better not happen again.

so does this ticket apply to bikers making left turns in the car lane?

wait, i thought cyclists can just YIELD at stop signs, not stop. we're technically above pedestrians so we have right away compared to automobiles.


Negative, pedestrians = movement by foot. It's ridiculous to say bicycles get the right of way in every situation, if that's the case then you should have to ride on the sidewalks.

so does this ticket apply to bikers making left turns in the car lane?
The ticket applies to the OP. The reason is cruising through a stop sign. Lanes and turns make no difference.

I figured I spent as much time in the stop zone as a car, and that unclipping and putting a foot down required a lot more energy and time from me than it would for a car.
I've always found it ridiculous that rolling for a full 3 seconds at 2mph is illegal, while flying up to the stop sign, slamming on the brakes, and then roaring off immediately satisfies the law.

don't run stop signs

not as bull**** as a story i heard of here in Davis, CA. someone got a ticket for running a stop sign when they were trackstanding. apparently it didn't count as a stop because a foot never touched the ground. at their court date the judge was basically "i don't have time for this ****" and they had to pay somewhere around 270 iirc.

Good luck fella.
You should hire this guy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwWAsNZTnug) just in case.

More like this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzBzdPkd58g

Anyways, I understand that if cyclists want privileges of motor vehicles (riding on the road, etc), it's only fair to receive the same punishments, but I guess since we're slower and smaller it doesn't seem right to get charged just as much as a 1500-lb chunk of metal w/ at least 100 hp

Ok but what about my truck which is a 1500 lbs chunk of metal with LESS than 100 hp?

I know a bicycle is considered a vehicle by the state but $250. . . come on. Love your feedback.

Actually, a bicycle is not considered a "vehicle" by the state of California. It's considered a human powered "device". Not all "vehicle" laws apply to bicycles. Stops signs do though!

CVC 231. A bicycle is a device upon which any person may ride, propelled
exclusively by human power through a belt, chain, or gears, and having
one or more wheels. Persons riding bicycles are subject to the provisions
of this code specified in Sections 21200 and 21200.5.

don't run stop signs

not as bull**** as a story i heard of here in Davis, CA. someone got a ticket for running a stop sign when they were trackstanding. apparently it didn't count as a stop because a foot never touched the ground. at their court date the judge was basically "i don't have time for this ****" and they had to pay somewhere around 270 iirc.

For real? I would think he could have argued out of that one. I regularly trackstand at stop signs, and have even done so in front of police (in Santa Cruz, CA). It seems silly that you'd need to have a foot on the ground to consider it a full stop. Lame.

yeah, apparently

i usually have to put a foot down anyways. I was standing for a while waiting for a car to go, but they were freaking out since I was on the pedals but not really going anywhere. I stumbled and almost fell, then they floored it across the interection. wtf

I've always found it ridiculous that rolling for a full 3 seconds at 2mph is illegal, while flying up to the stop sign, slamming on the brakes, and then roaring off immediately satisfies the law.
Me too. I live in a residential block and stupid me, I thought I wouldn't be woken by cars at night. But sure enough, every stop sign has some blasty-ass truck/ricer "Vrrrrrrrroooomm, SCREECH!!!!!! Vrrrrrrrrrrrrooooooooomm."

I remember the last time this forum was talking about a "footdown" ticket, and someone said something along the lines of motorists don't have to open their car doors and put their foot on the ground, why should we? There is no ****ing way I would let some judge say that he didn't have time to deal with this **** and make me pay a fine. **** that. I would eat that judge's babies.

I got a ticket in Gainesville,FL for flying through a stop sign. Potentially a $128 ticket. However, because so many people ride bikes at UF without an understanding of the bicycle laws, there is a class for first offenders that waives the cost of the ticket. I think it was about 2 hours or so, the clerk gave me some guff because they were about to change the rule, so you couldn't waive the cost of the ticket, but it all worked out in the end. It was open to anyone, but had I not been a student, I wouldn't have known. If there is a large bicycling population of college students near you, something similar may exist.

Actually, a bicycle is not considered a "vehicle" by the state of California. It's considered a human powered "device". Not all "vehicle" laws apply to bicycles. Stops signs do though!

CVC 231. A bicycle is a device upon which any person may ride, propelled
exclusively by human power through a belt, chain, or gears, and having
one or more wheels. Persons riding bicycles are subject to the provisions
of this code specified in Sections 21200 and 21200.5.

Emphasis on one... I fail to see how a single wheeled (or any number > 2 wheeled) device is a bicycle. Maybe I'm just being pedantic.

Im not too sure where you live, but I got a $107 ticket for not having a rear light and have never paid it. I don't have a DL so they can't "come after me for it". However if I were to apply for a DL I would have to pay it but I don;t plan on doing that.

In Denton, TX, one night our entire group ride got pulled over for running a stop sign on a deserted street on campus at 10:00 at night. The first 20 riders all got written warnings. The same cop gave my girlfriend a $250 citation for running the same stop sign another time. The prosecutor at the courthouse laughed and threw it out as soon as it was noted that she was on a bicycle.

University cops may well be the worst of all. They've got so little to do and want to feel like big, powerful men they've got to flex their muscles with stupid **** like ****ing with cyclists.

Because the laws were not written for us cyclists, they were written for cars.
I hardly ever come to a complete stop anywhere, it's a massive loss of momentum. If I don't have to, I wont stop, but I always at least yield and look.

i figured the laws were written to keep the users of the roadways acting in a uniformly accepted manner thereby ensuring safety for all users.

problems are caused by vehicles (or devices or pedestrians) not following the rules.

why would it be and should it be any different for a cyclist? I do not come from a cyclist friendly city. In fact I often see why people do not respect the cyclists here. Most of the ones i see do not follow the traffic laws. they don't stop, they run out in front of cars nearly causing wrecks because the car has to slam to stop, at their own green light. they ride in on coming traffic. they dick around in the busy neighborhoods with no care or bit of attention paid.

yet, cycists begs for the same rights to space and road usage and respect. you can't pray with one hand and flip someone off with the other.

i think the OP has it right. man up and follow through. best case is he gets a break cut, but ultimately he does his traffic obedience like he should.

i sure as hell haven't made an illegal right turn on red since my ticket.

University cops may well be the worst of all. They've got so little to do and want to feel like big, powerful men they've got to flex their muscles with stupid **** like ****ing with cyclists.

i do agree with this ... campus cops are the worst, getting your skateboards "impounded", cycling through the grass, locking your bike up to anything but the approved bike locks. they are the regular police force rejects and need to take it out on someone.

don't run stop signs

not as bull**** as a story i heard of here in Davis, CA. someone got a ticket for running a stop sign when they were trackstanding. apparently it didn't count as a stop because a foot never touched the ground. at their court date the judge was basically "i don't have time for this ****" and they had to pay somewhere around 270 iirc.

Is this written into law anywhere? There is no way if the law doesn't explicitly say this that you could be forced to pay that fine.