So I have a story, and a question for commuters out there.

Yesterday, on my ride in, a woman pulled up behind me wildly honking her horn as I quite legally rode down the street. She accelerated and floored past me. At the next light we meet up and she unrolls her window to treat me with her opinion of where I should be. I inform her that she doesn't know the law. She screams more. Pretty typical.

So today, on my ride in, I'm thinking about this. I think to myself if I can get a start on traffic I'll be up at about 25-28 on this same piece of road and not such a pain in the ass. I wait at the light, after all the cars have gone past, I go through it. Repeat. So, I get pulled over by a motorcycle cop. He asks for ID, I tell him I don't have any. He says that couriers are required to carry ID. I tell him I'm not a courier, but I'm on my way to work. (IT IS BIKE TO WORK WEEK AFTERALL!!) He gives me a $54 dollar ticket for running a red. Merton Ferton Cops.

I'm aware I broke the law, but look at the squeeze that I think we find ourselves in. Risk our hides to ride legally all the time (with plenty of harrassment by uneducated drivers) or tickets that cost half of what my bike cost me.

So, in short, I'm pissed.

What do you guys think? (I'll leave plenty of space for you VCers)

Forget about stupid people and did what you know is right.

Well, I run stop signs and red lights. However, if I am caught I fully expect a fine. Don't do the crime if you can't pay the fine.
I still don't feel there is anything wrong with rolling through stop signs or waiting for a non changing light and then going. Still, the law is the law.

I occasionally encounter motorists who feel the desire to educate me regarding using the road. I could print up Colorado's bike laws but doubt it would do any good for these select few idiots. Anyhow, I am no longer engaging motorists in conversations about my rights to the road. I play deaf or just leave. If they take it further I will leave it up to the CSP to educate them after I file a complaint.

The cop is telling you to ride legally and *slow* everyone down. It's obvious.

How exactly did he do that?

He asked me my name and I gave it to him. It could have been worse. Besides, I had to fingerprint the ticket so that if I lied then later when I commit a master robbery it will all be foiled by my finger print on an old ticket.

Don't worry about slowing everyone down. Would they yell and scream at a tractor or amish horse/buggy? Well, maybe, but the tractor or buggy wouldn't start running red lights just to accomodate the impatient people in cars.

I would double-check the ticket is correct, usually bike fines are way less than car fines... $54 sounds high for a bike ticket. Cops normally write car tickets so it's possible he used the car citation numbers instead of the bike ones. However it sounds low for a car ticket, so it might be right. I don't mean that you can get out of the ticket because it was written for a car instead of a bike, I just mean you might be able to get the fine adjusted to like $15 or something.

Don't argue, just ask them if they've found Jesus. They won't be able to get away from you fast enough.

Az

Or they will pull over and want to talk. In which case, I'll need to run some more red lights.

Tell 'em you're from the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints (Mormons). They ride bikes anyway (at least the ones in my neighborhood do) so it'll be somewhat believable. Maybe not if you're in full kit .

It always surprises me how some cyclists will preach to motorists about the law, break those same laws and then get pissed for getting a ticket.

Quite the hypocrites aren't we? No wonder cagers hate us.

$54 seems about right. a red light ticket for a car here is a minimum of $351. I just don't understand your logic on lettering cars pass you and then going. Seems like you are saying you would rather play Frogger with cross traffic than let cars pass you.

Here's some legal advice: Stop breaking the law!

Don't let 'em pressure you into breaking the law. eh? Don't let 'em pressure you at all!

I think he means he let the cross traffic pass and then took off, running the red light.

You had to put your finger print the ticket? What's next DNA swabs and photographs? Is that on the books in Colorado?

It beats being taken downtown and held until you can get someone to ID you, which is what they do here.

I'm with the others, don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

You will have to have a white shirt, tie, slacks and helmet to make that one believable.

It may not be worth it, Mormon's have seen their fair share of abuse at the hands of the American public.
https://www.nauvoo.net/history/ Things have been quiet lately, but with rabblerouser George, you never know when things could start up again.

I ride the same way you did. If theres a red and I don't interfere at all with traffic, I run the red. As you wrote, its safer to be going 20+ mph when the cars take off than it is to accelerate with them from a dead stop.

I run red lights on a regular basis in front of cops here in Miami Florida and I've never been given a ticket or even stopped.

I guess its a trade off. I live in the state that has the dubious honor of having the worst drivers in the country, but at least the cops are very lenient.

Sorry man, you ran a red. At least, that's what I gathered from your story.

You got caught and you got a ticket. That's how it goes.

What would have happened if you hadn't seen a car coming when you ran the red and gotten hit? I think that would be considerably worse than a simple ticket. Hospital bills and/or funeral costs are quite a bit higher than $54...not to mention the grief that it would cause your friends, family, and this board.

I don't understand the connection between your treatment of red lights and your speed, unless you're totally blowing the light without stopping. Do you mean first you wait for a gap, then you spring through a couple of lights in a row? I don't see how the traffic pattern would cooperate sufficiently with you enough of the time to make this a useful habit. If you're only worried about being in peoples' way and having them yell at you, I would say that's not so much a safety issue as a personal tolerance issue, and you should just live with it. If it becomes a safety issue, that's another matter, but it still probably wouldn't call for regularly breaking the law as a solution.

My opinion on VC is that it's generally the safest choice, so I tend to support it on those practical grounds, apart from any ideological adherence.

I think what was missed here is that I normally do a good job of following the law. The Interaction the day before had me overthinking things, so I was trying to stay ahead of the pack instead of taking my rightful place in the traffic lineup. (because of all her yelling and b1tc4ing)

When I "ran" the reds, I would stop at the red, wait for traffic to pass and then go through after waiting awhile. Entiende?

Not the helmet part, so much.

And don't forget that the slacks generally seem to be black.

It never ceases to amaze me that motorists will scream until they are blue in the face about cyclists commiting traffic infractions that other motorists are also commiting constantly.

Quite the hypocrites, aren't they? No wonder cyclists hate cagers.

In Portland, that ticket would be $242. You can be a human speed bump or you can do what you consider to be the right thing. As for the motorists, if they don't recognize that you're doing them a favor as well, F 'em.

+5 Touche!!