Originally Posted by
wphamilton
Refusing on Fifth Amendment grounds has been tested a few times and ultimately doesn't hold up. The courts don't believe that simply giving your name is potentially incriminating.
Fair enough. I'm not an attorney and wasn't aware that had been tested in court. I'm not surprised but I hadn't heard of it.
Generally speaking an infraction while cycling does not appear on your driving record, nor impact your auto insurance rates. That potentially depends on the jurisdiction however, and conceivably an insurance company's risk evaluation could be influenced by infractions while cycling if they somehow got wind of it. But my understanding is that, so far, that doesn't happen.
Glad to hear that. Again, I've been talking about quiet residential areas. If a cyclist were to blow a stop sign in heavy traffic and cause an accident (or not), I say throw the book at him. As for me, I'll continue sneaking around neighborhood streets and the awesome trails around my house and let others test their mettle in traffic.
Interesting topic (for me, anyway, since this isn't a re-run to me as someone returning to cycling after a long absence). Thanks for starting it, wph.