ItsJustMe

You think it's likely that the EMTs will find my cell phone, turned off, in the bottom of my panniers underneath my dirty underwear, after the pannier is thrown into the woods due to the accident, then turn it on and find my ICE number, before they find my dog tags? I certainly HOPE that they're getting my ass to emergency, not rummaging around in the ditch out in the country where I ride seeing if there's a bag there with a phone in it.

JanMM

Yes, I run across a fair number of non-cooperative signals.

ottawa_adam

I got stopped during my first year of real commuting. I got burned for running a red. It was super raining out and I never saw the cop, about 4 cars behind me. I had to stand in the rain on the side of the street while he wrote me up. He showed me the ticket for $180 and proceeded to write "void" on it. I was lucky he gave me a warning. Since then, I've been pretty law-abiding on the bike.

I used to be a downtown bike rat and ride the wrong way, on sidewalks and such. Now, I'm a suburbanite and ride in serious traffic so I tend to follow the rules. It makes things flow better.

Fribley

I had one of the officers at my department stop me in the parking lot at work. He jokingly pointed to a sign that hung saying "no skateboards/rollerblades/bicycles". Somehow I dont think I was what the sign was intended for.

JasonC

I got stopped once when I was 14. I ran a stop sign on a residential street (way off the busy streets). He followed me two blocks, pulled me over, and lectured me.

"Do you know what stop means? That means wheels stop moving."

His words echo in my head whenever I roll a stop..

intrepidbiker

I'm an ER/Trauma Nurse of 8+ years and I have NEVER heard of an emergency crew or ER staff using a patient's cellphone to call family when the patient is unconscious. It is an obvious violation of patient confidentiality.

Always have ID with you.

intrepidbiker

I've been pulled over once.

I was working full-time for a city's parks and recreation department as their "Assistant Outdoor Recreation Coordinator" and was fully aware of the local laws. I was bicycling on a 4 lane road on a Sunday morning with little traffic. My right hand lane was graded (i.e. torn up) for repaving. It was in an unrideable for a roadbike (which I was on). I was riding about 22mph. Because of the road conditions, I was in the left lane. Again, traffic was very low.

This pick-up comes up behind me. Now, I'm thinking that I am riding as far to the right as safely possible (meeting the conditions of the road). The pickup driver must have agreed with me because he didn't go into the right lane to pass me. Instead, he went into oncoming traffic to pass me! The oncoming traffic was a patrol car.

I saw that the pickup couldn't pass me quick enough before the oncoming patrol car so I braked heavily as he swung back into my lane. If I hadn't braked, he would have hit me.

The patrol car passes me, does a u-turn in the middle of the street (again we're talking hardly any traffic) and comes back with lights and siren. I pull over, eagerly waiting to see the cop pull over the pickup driver who couldn't wait a moment to pass a cyclist (and thereby nearly hitting me).

The cop pulled me over.

I was dumbfounded. I was totally shocked. The cop proceeds to berate me for riding on the road.

I politely pointed out to her that the right lane was obviously torn up and unrideable... and that if it was rideable, then the pickup could have driven in that lane instead of going into oncoming traffic.

She proceeds to tell me that bikes are not allowed on the road & that I should be on the sidewalk.

While still attempting to remain polite, I inform the officer that I work for the city in the parks department and am aware of laws governing bicycles and I quote the pertinent laws involved.

The cop then tells me very bluntly that I am in the wrong and that if the pickup driver had hit me, that she would have found me at fault in the accident.

I lost it.

I still get pissed when I think about that episode. She didn't write me a ticket, but she said that she would confiscate my bicycle if she ever caught me on the road again.

MrPhil

I was stopped once. It was 1985 in Huntington Beach. My 3 speed commuter at that time had a crappy front wheel generator with integrated headlight. It was a real drag! So, right after crossing Beach Blvd, I lifted the generator. Within a block a motorcycle cop with a bad rep for bikes stops me. This guy's nickname was Snacks, he really made that Harley ride low. Anyway, I tell him my light has burned out. He says "show me". I reached down to engage the generator, yanking the ground wire. Spinning the the wheel yields no light. He's suspicious and tells me I'm full of ***** but lets me go. Soon after I invested in the first of several rechargeable lights.

Also, I always have ID, medical insurance card, credit card, cash, and cell phone on my person.

pirate

I've never been pulled over, but I've had some stupid interactions with cops before.

Once I was waiting at a red light when a cop car pulled up behind me. He yells "Are you turning left?" I was going straight, so I told him "no I'm going straight, I'd use the left turn lane if I was turning left." The ass then proceeds to tell me to "Get the f*** over there!" and points at the right turn lane, which has a panel truck, 2 cars and a pickup all waiting to make their turn. So I scoot over in front of the panel truck and give an apologetic shrug to the driver. He flips off the cop. The light turns green and in less than a block I had already passed the cop.

CB HI

Really!

Just a small sampling:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...071700879.html

https://jscms.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/20...oneemergencies

https://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireles...ll-phone_x.htm

https://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8744626/

https://www.pep.bc.ca/hazard_prepared..._Emergency.pdf

https://www.ice.illinois.gov/

carkmouch

I got stopped the other week one night coming back from a bar because I didn't have a front light on my bike. He looked at my ID and asked for my address, then wrote something on a little notepad, and just told me to get a light for riding at night, because he didn't want me to get "squished."

CB HI

So you are hurt in the ditch and the driver that hit you took off. Your cell phone is buried in your pannier and you can't get too it. Your dog tags are useless because no one even knows you are hurt and you have made your cell phone just as useless. Smart move.

rmp5s

Werd. I'm tryin to become a cop (gotta wait for the next testing date) and I couldn't imagine ever stopping someone for what he did. Sounds like he was bored. I had some cop downtown (cinci) stop me for j-walking once...lol I HONEST TO GOD didn't know that was an ACTUAL law...until he said he could give me a $170 ticket...

...well...he didn't...he made me wait through one cycle of the stop light I walked through (???) and let me go. I walked by him later on that day and he was yelling at some kid (maybe 8-10) for walking in the gutter...

Dude was a tool. 90% of cops are cool but you still gotta watch out for the FDHCs, man...they'll get you no matter what you're doing or where you are...

Pedaleur

To contact family? What?

Nurse: Gee, doctor, the patient is dying. Shouldn't we notify the next of kin?
Doctor: I'd love to, nurse, but he hasn't signed a consent form.
Nurse: But...he's unconscious!
Doctor: Too bad. Patient confidentiality and all...

rmp5s

MAJOR FDHC, man...that's nuts...

no motor?

I've never been pulled over, but two weeks ago I noticed two police bicycles in the one handicapped parking spot in our small parking lot. There were other parking spots they could have parked in, as well as room to leave them by the front door. I don't know if they parked there, or if someone moved the bicycles there but it sure did make them look bad and really irritated a guy who mentioned how bad it looked to me as I walked in. They weren't there on a call either.

becnal

Two years ago I was stopped by a cop because I was riding at night and had forgotten my headlight. I had lots of reflectors on my bike and my person, but the law here is that a bike must have lights for night use. I told him I had forgotten it, and since we were standing next to a U-bahn station (subway), he told me to let the air out of my front tire and take the U-bahn home. That was pretty nice of him considering he could have given me a ticket.

A good friend of mine here was ticketed last week for the second time for riding through a red light. €60 both times.

nemo

my cell rides in a cell bag on attached to the handle bars so if they find the bike they find the phone. plus my wallet is in the clear map cover pocket on my handle bar bag. no drug allergies so i never thought of dog tags. I have had many close calls but never anything where emergency id was necessary.

chevy42083

The news stations in Houston did a big story on that. I have a few friends who are paramedics and emts... they all said it was BS, they never go through your stuff. At the hospital may be a different story though.

chevy42083

Sounds like something I would do... but not bold enough to flip the bird within officers sight.
Often I just ride the road to avoid the hassles of bike/MUP paths.

As a kid, I had a friend who insisted on this (which I did when cars were around). Anyways, my answer was a bunny hop and a tap of the brakes.

ItsJustMe

The cops around here are knowledgable and pretty nice. If I ever had one tell me something like that, I'd ask for a pen and paper so I could write down a schedule of EXACTLY when she could find me on that road, for her convenience. Then I'd get to the local station with her badge number and have a discussion there, including why she pulled over me instead of the idiot driving into oncoming traffic.

545h4

I feel more comfortable carrying my ID and insurance card at all times. That way, when I'm potentially incapacitated in an accident, I won't have to worry about screw-ups in billing and reporting to next of kin...

ItsJustMe

The dog tags are exactly as effective as the phone would be. There's no phone coverage over most of my route, so even if I had the phone, and it was on, I probably couldn't use it. That's why it's usually off. If I leave it on in a no-coverage area, the batteries will be dead in a few hours.

FWIW, you're constructing very unlikely events to prove a point. In general, there will be help around. Heck, even when I'm riding in the middle of nowhere, if I stop even to shift something in my panniers, someone will slow down within a minute and ask if I'm OK. When the EMTs come, they WILL find my dog tags. I don't know about my phone.

ItsJustMe

That would make sense. The EMTs and paramedics have only ONE concern; dealing with trauma/illness. They don't need to know who you are to give you care, and it shouldn't matter one bit, except meds and allergies. That's all on my dog tags (none of either).

Once I get to the hospital and am stabilized, then they can worry about who I am.

chingon77

I haven't been pulled over by a cop yet but i almost got hit by one a couple of weeks ago that was to busy eating his big mack while driving. It was a damn close call.

When dealing with cops never be afraid to remind them that they are "public servants," that they are paid to serve the public and we are the public as we pay for them to serve us, hence the name public servants. So don't let cops take advantage and use their false sense of authority against you. I'm not saying all cops are bad, they trained to be so. Of course there are a few cops that are actual human beings and have the logic to understand this. And no i'm not bashing cops, just bashing the brainwashing they go through.