Originally Posted by
rocdoc
I just thought this was funny/interesting enough to share. The other day, on a busy bike path in the DC area (the Capital Crescent trail), a portly, important- and competent-looking police officer, was busy aiming a radar gun at cyclists coming down the path. There is a 15mph limit. On empty stretches, it is easy to ride faster safely. I understand the need to keep some hot headed pretend racers from endangering other path users, but this just seemed a little funny. The Bethesda area in Montgomery County is, in fact, one of the lowest crime areas anywhere in the US, so I guess we need to keep our police force busy somehow... I squeezed my brake levers when I saw him in the distance and escaped the long arm of the law. For now...
We had a similar situation in Hopkins, Minneapolis suburb. A few years ago a cop was speed-trapping a bike route that has no speed limit. Nobody got ticketed, that I know, but many saw the police doing this... and based on the position, the cop wasn't speed-trapping a road.
Minneapolis, on the other hand, just voted to continue a 10 mph limit on some recreational trails; however, they made it clear in the press release that they have no interest in enforcing the speed limit. What the What ?!?
This all reminds me of the SF story about enforcing a complete stop at all stop signs. IMO it boils down to people in decision-making positions in government that are totally clueless about bikes.