sbhikes

They give tickets to cyclists in Santa Barbara and the surrounding area. I believe it is as serious as any other ticket. They also give tickets for DUI if you are intoxicated while riding a bike.

bike2math

What if your bike has a purple dot?

Out of those of you who have said you've been ticketed. Has it affected your car insurance? Points on the drivers lisence?

james_swift

$70 ticket for blowing a stopsign (ah, the follies of youth...) in Woodside, CA.

GradualStudent

Cambridge MA also tickets, but only if you violate the traffic rules. I got one for running a red light ($20). I paid the ticket, but framed it for my office.

gpsblake

Hancock, Maryland.

They actually had police traps set up to catch bikes who didn't stop at the stop sign along the Western Maryland rail trail and were writing tickets right and left that day. I was sitting at the bike shop watching them do it.

jmbranum

I never got popped, but Westlake, Texas (a yuppie suburb of Austin) is notorious for writing tickets to cyclists.

Austin itself is pretty laid back (particularly since they got ride of the helmet laws for adults) but if you run a red light in front of cop you'll get pulled over.

As far as OKC goes, I can't tell that they ever write tickets to cyclists. There's lots of new folks riding in my neighborhood (mostly poor folks who are riding because of financial necessity due to the higher gas prices ... I would say the number of adult cyclists on the road has doubled in the last 9 months) but about half of them have no idea how to ride... i.e. riding on the left side of the street, etc. Thus far I haven't seen any cops pulling andbody over.

FKWrldTrd482

Actually, NYPD and Boston PD hand out tickets for sure. I know this first hand. You ride on a side walk or up the wrong side of a street, boom, 60 buck ticket.

greenbreezer

Here in the Bay Area, there's a swanky area called Palo Alto where the worst crimes involve neighbors who let their dogs bark all night or someone getting a window busted out on their SUV. So the cops really don't have much to do but ticket kids on their bikes. A local paper recently had an article about this. California has a helmet law for kids age 17 and under so lots of kids get ticketed for not wearing a helmet. Some get tickets for talking on a cellphone and riding at the same time. The parents become angry and blame the schools for not teaching their children about bike safety. Ironically, their school district has bike safety classes for the 3rd and 5th graders. Where were their kids when they had these classes? And why would the parents think that it's up to the schools to teach THEIR kids about bike safety? Isn't that something the parents should discuss with their kids instead? Oh I forgot..... they're too busy talking on the cellphones while driving their SUV's. No wonder their kids think it's okay to ride and talk on the phone.

KeatonR

Here in Boulder, CO, I've heard that people have received tickets for riding while intoxicated, and apparently that can count against your driving record. What I find distressing about that is that I wouldn't want to discourage drinkers from biking home instead of driving. Most likely, they're only going to hurt themselves.

DIVA

Really? In NYC, haven't seen that.

A3rd.Zero

It was in Shady Side on Walnut street. And your friend is an idiot.

Milo

slagjumper

So it seems that the city transportation planner is ill informed. He used the idea that cops would not ticket cyclists to kinda justify not allowing bikes to use the little used bus lanes. He said that if they allowed bikes to use the bus lanes, that they would go into oncomming traffic to go around the bus when it stopped. THis is soo stupid. It's like saying we should not allow cars to use the streets because they will run red lights. Some bus lanes in pittsburgh have a 15 mps limit!

Can any pittburgher post a copy of the ticket with the name blacked out?

Thanks,
M

bennyk

I think they should let cyclists use the busways to get around town


bk

A3rd.Zero

I dont have the ticket any more. I dont think I would want to ride on the busway but riding in a bus lane might be nice. Come to think of it I did that while i was there too.

Milo
I can just see a horror movie about a biker getting stoned from above while riding on the busway.

becnal

Well, in Switzerland, the bikes do have licenses. Guess they can even get parking tickets.

In Germany, one is required to always have an ID, so therefore one is always able to be ticketed. You can get points on your license too. If you have a license.

FullSpectrum

I don't get this driver's licence, points off a driver's license? What's a driver's license? I don't have a driver's licence. Why would I need a "driver's licence"? I never drove anywhere.

slagjumper

Pittsburgh has a great busway. But it is very illegal and easy to get busted if you use it on a bike. A friend did get a ticket years ago for riding on the busway, before it was offically opened. For a while police routinely had high speed crashes on the BW, also there was a hanus accident involving 2 buses in a head on. Originally it was planned to have a bike facility. However that was cancelled with a city offical explaining, "people out there are too poor to afford bikes". Now the BW has been extended and bikes will likely never be allowed.

There are also buslanes in the city and those I use much. To get from town to oakland, where CMU and PITT are the best way is to use a buslane up 5th ave. Since they extended the BW less buses are using the bus lanes, so I can usually make the 10 minute ride up without encountering a single bus! The bus lanes speed limit here is 15 mph! Also downtown there are some bus-only lanes. When I lived in Madison WI, I recall that in the (much smaller) downtown area buses and bikes where the only allowed traffic.

A3rd.Zero

You're kinda screwed here.

1. If you have a license on you and you say you don't and they find it you are screwed. (they will find it)
2. If you don't have a license on you and you give them false info they will run the number over the radio and then you are screwed.
3. If you genuinely don't have any form of ID on you or in existence then they will take you to jail for operating a vehicle in an illegal manner without ID.

Um well there you have it. Not quite six ways from sunday but you get the picture.

Milo

bennyk

You really think they would have searched you for your DL? I didn't think you needed one for a bike in PA.
or are you talking about Cali now?

bk

pleaseassist

San Fransisco doles out the tickets. A good many bike messenger has been cited for speeding down hills. I suppose it has been problematic to sweep a biker up, but I don't know about collecting from us not in cars. I just received a ticket in northern Michigan. So place Petoskey on your list if you wish. The license call seems off. I wouldn't say it makes for an easy write-up if no identification is present. Pesonally, I was threatened with jail if I didn't provide proof of my identification-even then I wasn't assured freedom. Cops, you can't win with them. Protect and serve my ass.

Dchiefransom

If the police don't believe you'll show up in court they usually take you in. Many times you must pay the ticket on the spot. It's not just bikes, they've been doing this for decades across the U.S. with out of state drivers on vacation. Some Highway Patrols even have envelopes you put the payment in with the ticket, then the officer follows you to the nearest mailbox.