entukay

Good Form or Bad Form?

https://loudounextra.washingtonpost.c...form-cyclists/

Personally I say, bad form, this would have been a perfect opportunity for police to alert the cycling community they will be issuing tickets in the future.

Tulex

Bad form. Warn the cyclist on a charity event, ticket the others.

hammond9705

It seems a bit bad form with them being on an MS ride. Normal ride and it is fair. I got a ticket for running a stop sign a couple of weeks ago, which was fair. I figure that if I got a ticket for every stop sign that I have run, I would have gotten about 500 tickets last year.

Jynx

thats one way to generate a lot of money on tickets.

lotek 

On a Charity ride?
Bad form. Every charity or organized ride I've ever been on has had police presence at the
intersections, they would waive us through most of the intersections.
Now if the Police were signalling the cyclists to stop and they still ran the stop sign well then
thats an entirely different kettle of fish.

marty

n00bL35

Bad form. FTA: "rolling through a stop sign on a bike can have the same consequences as doing so in a car." And what are the consequences of not coming to a complete halt at a stop sign? I'm assuming that none of the cyclists just blasted through the intersection without slowing, they probably crawled up to the line, looked both ways and then kept on rolling. That's what makes this police-asshattery. There are precisely zero consequences for slowly rolling through a stop sign. Failure to yield is another story.

Scorer75

What a joke, on a freaking charity ride.

I wonder if they ticket people for jaywalking during demonstrations???

Ridiculous.

coasting 

since when have police ever given tickets for anything other than to hit quotas, be they parking, stopping, speeding etc. a charity ride is like throwing chum out of the boat on a shark fishing expedition.

ImaPoser

I guess in this case the consequences is a fine.

Pure police BS.

Febs

I recall being in a meeting once at a university, when the question came up of whether speed traps were intended to generate revenue or to promote safety. The chairman of the economics department observed dryly, "It's clear that they are intended to generate revenue. If they were intended to cause people to reduce their speed, they would set up on this side of the hill, not the other side."

This strikes me as the same situation. If Sheriff Simpson were truly interested in the safety of the riders, he would dedicate his resources to providing traffic controls at these allegedly dangerous intersections, not lying in wait to issue tickets.

fauxto nick

Ugh I ran a red light and got a $450 ticket plus a point on my license. I mean it was my bad, the officer didn't show up at court but still... a point on my license?!

JoelS

Both. Cyclists should be following the rules of the road the same as motorized vehicles. Even on a charity ride. So good.

That said, having the cops out there during this particular ride, strictly to nail folks participating is bad form.

HIPCHIP

Only 8 riders out of 700 received tickets, so it's not like it was a bunch. A "STOP" sign is nothing new, so why warn that they will issue tickets in the future? I'm sure the car driver that didn't know the bicyclist were running stop signs would disagree with the officer doing nothing as they plowed into a cyclist that wasn't watching traffic coming and ran the sign directly in front of them! If this was a problem then the parade should have been issued a permit and traffic control should have been set up, but apparently the other 692 riders figured out what to do!

Tulex

700-8=693

Math was tough for me too.

HIPCHIP

I've ridden several charity rides on motorcycles, and you still have to obey the laws. If a parade permit was issued, and officers were hired to control traffic at intersections, then that is a different story, but if this was just a ride, then no traffic control was present. As long as there is a chance that a car could hit a bicyclist who ran a "STOP", then you still have to stop. That only makes good sense! Again, only 8 out of 700 people couldn't figure out how to stop at a posted "STOP" sign, so don't go making it out like the cops were laying in wait to fang everybody.

HIPCHIP

I'm so terribly sorry!! My finger hit the 3 instead of the 2. WOW!

exRunner

I can't imagine only 8 out 700 doing this, so either they got bored quickly, or had something else to do, or it was early when everyone was together and the rest saw the trap and stopped, but even that is hard to imagine.

I am trying to figure out how this is a moving violation. You do not need a driver's license to operate a bicycle on the road, so if they can't ticket those people with moving violations, how could they ticket the ones that do. Plus, I don't carry my driver's license when I cycle. Will I get a ticket for not carrying it if they try to ticket me?

HIPCHIP

In California, a bicycle is a vehicle and must obey all rules of the road. If you are stopped for a violation you must have ID to prove who you are. Now while you can't be cited for driving without a license, you can be taken into custody until you can prove who you are, so while you won't be cited for no license you can be taken into custody and have your bike impounded, transported to the station, etc, and then you still have to figure out a way to get back home or to your vehicle, so it is a good idea to have a drivers license or some form of legal ID on you when you ride (if you get splattered all over the road by a cager how the heck are we supposed to know who you are?).

As to how many actually ran the stop sign and weren't caught? Who knows, but the story reported only 8 were written. Maybe they were the 8 that didn't even bother to slow down and look, or maybe they cut off cars when they ran the sign and that's why the officer wrote them.

It just amazes me that the officer is automatically the bad guy for doing his job and the cyclists are the poor picked on group when all we know about them is that they violated the law. There could be more to the story as to why they were chosen out of the entire group!

Jynx

you must have identification to identify yourself to a police officer. However I DO NOT use my drivers liscense. If you get stopped, the cop will most likely put in your driver liscense number to pull up your info and if you get a ticket your insurance will think it is a car related ticket. I bring a school ID in my saddle bag for this reason as I have heard of this happening pretty often.

MDcatV

what a crock of ****. loudon county va is very cyclist unfriendly

for perspective, it's a rural county outside of WDC with suburban areas around Dulles Airport and major roadways. several clubs have attempted to secure roadways for road races in Loudon county and are always rejected.

I surely hope the asshats at the loudon county police station are getting lots of mail/emails/telephone calls, etc. over this one. county executives too.

Tulex

You do not have to have id. You just are required to provide the info when asked.

fauxto nick

Only road cyclists would be pretentious enough to have to actually discuss wether or not it's ok for them to be punished for breaking the rules.

Tulex

Oh come on Nick, you just want others to feel your $450 of pain.

mattm

I'm all for "stickin it to the man" and all, but since when does being on a charity ride mean you don't need to stop at a stop sign? If you run a stop sign, you have to deal with the consequences.

Everyone knows you can get a ticket for running a stop sign, this isn't news. If it is news to those riders, I hope they learn about the law quickly, or quit cycling for their safety.

If the cop had set up a "speed trap" on a 15 mph MUP, and busted people for doing 18, that would be one thing. But this isn't really anything special. Fwiw the small towns around here often set up stop sign "busts" on charity rides like STP, similar to this.

If nothing else, these small towns are broke and need the money, and your average charity rider can afford to give a little honestly.

fauxto nick

Lol, seriously though I went to court with the intention of just asking them to take the price down or just take the point off my license. I was going to plead guilty and expected to pay something, it was just my luck that the officer didn't show up. Call me crazy but I actually stop at lights now lol. Just seems like this shouldn't be a question. Now if we were discussing wether cyclists should have to just slow to almost a stop vs completely stopping that's different.