Busted in Chicago for running red light
 

Well, I did the crime, so I'm going to have to...well not do any actual time, but pay the $25. Not complaining, but I am surprised as this is the first time I have ever seen, or have anyone I know personally get pulled over by cops on a bike in Chicago. I blatantly ran a red right in front of them so maybe I gave them no choice. Oh well, it was stupid of me to not make sure the coast was clear before I did it. About half a block away as I was passing someone standing outside of their SUV in front of the United Center on the opposite side, he yelled over, "hey did they give you a ticket?" I said, "yeah, they did", to which he said "Unbelievable!" and shook his head. What is Chicago coming to? I like my winters cold and my cops crooked and apathetic. :)

Hard to read, but the offense was "bicycle obey traffic control" and the detail is "subject disregard the solid red signal at 1800 W Madison"

http://i.imgur.com/Thhkiid.png

Good.

I appreciate your good attitude about it. I don't like scofflaw bikers, because it affects drivers' opinions of me and my riding. That's not to say I don't like you; I do like you because you're not scoffing the law, you're respecting the law.

$25! That's basically free! I scrupulously stop for red lights (and scrupulously slow to a roll for most stop signs that are not in dead residential areas -- and I scrupulously ride right through red lights at T intersections where it's just straight and left -- I am willing to accept the chance of a ticket there).

You seriously just signed up to post that? :rolleyes:

Your new goal, to level up, is to be photographed and somehow successfully ticketed by a speed camera.

Yeah, but I went back in time to July first to cover my tracks. Couldn't fool you though, clearly.

It's only $25? That's a bargain. Costs a couple hundred bucks here in NYC.

How would they find me? Facial recognition?

Yeah, I was pretty relieved when I looked at the fine. I was sure I was in it for $100-200. If the cops start enforcing this more often, no doubt city will suddenly realize how much revenue they are losing and jack the fine up.

The millimeter-wave radar can read the secret RFID chip they put in your brain with the MMR vaccine

Or, alternate punchline - if it were easy it wouldn't be a level up

So you signed up a month ago even though you didn't have anything to say at that point, just so you could be ready to drop a comment like that when the opportunity arose?

It's funny, I've noticed a lot over the last couple months new subscribers making their first comments unusual places/contexts. I guess what I mean is I find it unusual for a first comment to be an answer rather than a question. I spent a lot of time asking questions around here before I ran into a question that I knew an answer to!

Well, I would imagine that there's probably a correlation between getting into cycling more seriously as a hobby and joining forums, and there's a lot to learn for a curious mind right at the onset. That's probably why you'd see more people starting threads, asking questions, etc. after having just signed up.

In my case I just associate this forum more with road cycling and my area of focus has been mountain biking, so I've been on MTBR for a little while and spent my formative days there. I'm only new to this forum, really, not cycling.

That is surprising considering Chicago's use of red light cameras for revenue generating.

I have noticed that BF has a big hole in the area of mountain biking. When I google for mtb-related stuff, I almost always find better coverage at mtbr than bf. Haven't taken the trouble to sign up for mtbr yet though. I guess someday when I finally do, my first post will look to them like yours looked to me!

Possibly, but you don't seem like an ******* so probably not.

that would be my guess. i've never heard of CPD pulling over and ticketing cyclists before, but most cyclists probably have the common sense to at least slow down and make it look like they're making an attempt at safety when directly in view of law enforcement personnel.

you didn't get a ticket for running a light, you got a ticket for brazenly ignoring the presence of a police officer. ;)




agreed.

late & alive > early & dead.

Yeah, that's the conclusion I came to also.

How could you arrive early if you are dead?

hearse.

What are they going to do, prop you up at your desk?:)

but of course.

think "weekend at bernie's".

My ticket for "failure to obey traffic signal" was for $120. Thanks, Sgt Nugent. I had been track standing and entered an intersection ~1.5 seconds ahead of the green. All cars were stopped and it was [nearly] my turn to go. Sgt Nugent would not entertain any discussion on the matter. I didn't have any ID, but willfully gave my full and complete information so that he could write the citation. My wife still complains about the unjustice of it all. I think that he had a choice whether to ticket. I respect that choice.

That's a tough call on a marginal situation. It's like I try to teach my boys in basketball, you respect the ref and his authority even when he makes the wrong call.

:roflmao::beer:

I hate to say it but some bicycle riders think they are above the rules and regulation of the City, County, or State where they ride. As judges in courts of law have said for years, ignorance of the law is not an excuse or defense.

Oh, I'm pretty sure we know that running lights&stop signs is illegal.:roflmao2:

That's so true. Yet it's also true that the laws designed to protect our legal rights to ride on the roadways we help pay for aren't enforced either, and sometimes that's because the people paid to enforce the laws are ignorant of these laws.

No kidding.

I live and commute in Chicago too, and am personally very happy that some cops are actually enforcing the law (though I'm sorry it did happen to you). Standard biker mentality here in the city is that traffic laws do not apply to them, which gives all bikers a bad name and make the streets more dangerous for everybody. I hope this becomes the norm, and they can put all that extra revenue into road improvements.

BTW, I feel the same way about traffic violations. I see at least one car breaking the law every day and can count on one hand the number of times I've seen someone pulled over in over 2 years.

UPDATE: The cop told me it was just a $25 fine, and I could just send it in. However, after looking into how I have to deal with this and calling the city department that handles these citations, that's not the case at all, and the fine could be anywhere from $50-200. I have to actually show up for a hearing next month and then I'll find out. The kicker is that the fine used to be $25 but Mayor Rahmbo of course fixed that:

http://i.imgur.com/BoRVUHu.png