rydabent

What if you were riding a trike like I do? I never unclip and put a foot down at a stop.

Elbeinlaw

!!

Lawrence Rhodes

Saw a cop occupied with paperwork so I jumped a red light on a deserted night to keep away from cars.. A motorman pulled me over. When I told him the truth he let me off with a warning. One time I saw another bicyclist pulled over for using a cellphone while riding.

Notso_fastLane

They can't even see my feet in the velomobile.

RISKDR1

I was rolling along about 21-22 mph and I hear a siren. I look over and a cop pulls along side with a big grin. Young guy. He says, "wow you are going pretty good. I'm a rider too. Have a great day". I was 35 then. 75 now. I never get that anymore.

Kahsyrbag

My only two where rather odd ones, first one was shortly after I moved back where I use to be, forgot about the park curfew, and apparently there was extra police presence cause of local teenagers causing trouble, I had an SUV cut me off from ahead, and another pull up behind me, and I had also just lost my wallet, so I had to sit there getting interrogated because I popped up with registered IDs in three states, and was in my early 20s.

The second time was much simpler, and irritated me, pulled over just outside of the city limits due to someone calling in a welfare check "because I was cycling in a blizzard", after they confirmed I was sane enough to be left alone, they let me go.

jon c. 

When I rode a motorcycle many years ago, cops would often stop people for not putting a foot down. Although the did not and does not require this. But when it comes down to fighting the ticket, the cop will say you did not come to full stop and the judge will accept his or her word.

It's sad to see cyclists harassed in such a manner. As long as you're riding safely, no cop should ever bother you.

RGMN

Several years ago a buddy and I were out for a ride out by his place in the country. We're riding side-by-side on a nearly deserted road when some guy in a pickup comes up behind us and starts honking and waving us over. We try to wave him around us, but when he passes he cuts us off and stops, forcing us to stop.

He starts explaining to us that he's a police officer and he was trying to get us to ride "lawfully" before stopping us. Now that he stopped us he was going to ticket us, but since he's off-duty and didn't have his ID with him he had called in an on-duty officer to do this. Turned out the guy actually did call the police but he didn't know that my buddy was a sheriff's deputy. The on-duty deputy shows up, recognizes my buddy, and asks him what's going on, completely ignoring the pickup driver. My buddy pulls out his badge and says "We have someone impersonating a peace officer." The look on the guy's face as he realized he was screwed was priceless. The county attorney charged the guy with 2 counts of impersonating a peace officer, 2 counts of false imprisonment and my buddy issued him a careless driving citation.

masonv45

The regulations here in TN - and probably most states - is that a vehicle must stop forward momentum.

On vehicles, most officers look for the vehicle to rock back on it's suspension to signal a full stop.

On bikes - momentary track stand works for me.

Lemond1985

Did they ever think of just looking at the spokes on the bike or motorcycle's wheels? Those are a pretty good indicator of whether a vehicle is in motion or not.

I dunno, this whole "put your foot down when you stop" thing sure seems like something bored small town cops would obsess about. I can't see how it makes any difference, safety-wise.

rmanera

I was once pulled over by a local sheriff but simply because he wanted to know the brand of my light - which he claimed he could see half a mile away during daylight. He wanted one for himself and his wife. BTW, was a Cygolite 850...

ClydeClydeson

I ran a stop sign at the bottom of a hill in my town. It was evening and the sun was going down, I slowed enough to see that there was only one vehicle un sight, a few hundred meters up the road I turned on to. Lo! The one vehicle was a police SUV, and the cop flagged me down, so I stopped, fully expecting a ticket. He gave me crap for running the stop sign, adding that my lights were not very good (I recall maybe a dollar store headlamp zip tied to my handlebars, but maybe not even that) and this compounded the danger. He let me go with a verbal warning because I had been so cooperative and I agreed that what I had done was stupid.

BentRider56

I rode GttSH Eastbound in '91. That foot-high wall on the right looks damned freaky when the clouds roll in and makes you think if could be the Cliff-of-Doom...I think I did make it to Logan Pass by 11 though...

BentRider56

I used to be cocky about talking on the hand-held mobile while cycling (I ride recumbents now), until I also tried to shift & talk at the same time. Eskimo-rolled the RANS Stratus (really just lost control and fell over).
Always use ONE earbud now, and leave the phone in a pocket...

eswright

Yep, got a ticket for running a stop sign about 10 years ago on my way to work. So frustrating.

bikehoco

I don’t ride very fast .... if I ever get pulled over it’ll be for loitering. 🙂

rsbob 

Was riding in the countryside in a 40 mile zone. Saw a motocop on the opposite side of the road with a radar gun on me. I thought, “you have to be sh—-ing me”. When I got even with him, he yelled across the road, “Got you going 18. Way to go!” And gave me a thumbs up.

Seeing he was bored and had a sense of humor, I stopped and we chatted for 10 minutes. I continued on for another half an hour and stopped at a public park for a break. A minute later he showed up for a bio break, saw me and said, “Next time you better be going over 20 so get training” and another thumbs up. Cool guy.

alanf

That's hilarious !

klasse

Couple of times:

1. Late 1990's in Davis, CA., got pulled over by a bike cop on campus. He blew a whistle, then came after me hammering.
2. 7-8 years ago in Marina Del Rey for running through a red light. Sheriff in squad car pulled us over, let us go w/a warning. Never ran those lights again!

Funny because the next time I saw the bike cop I was speeding through doing like 30mph and I just didn't even give him a 2nd look haha

mdarnton

Same, Chicago. Now I stop.

wphamilton

I was pulled over once, about ten years ago, but it was weirder than a traffic infraction. About 10 or 11 at night, a commute in the middle of winter, and I was just past the trailhead entrance on the Greenway when I saw headlights behind me! Following me onto the Greenway path. It scared the crap out of me - some drunk? A fool trying to teach me a lesson for being on the road? I sped up thinking maybe I could lose him on the turns, furiously trying to recall where I could ditch if I had to, and it went on for 15 or 20 seconds though it seemed like forever at the time. Finally he flashed his lights and I stopped, relieved that it wasn't a random crazy but concerned about cop crazy.

Cop shouted some dumb cop orders over his speaker but didn't get out until backup arrived. Then he was all concerned about why I was out, and demanded to see my work ID. I finally balked at that since he'd already identified me and asked why he stopped me. There'd been some car break-ins days ago, and he mumbled something about "sneaking by" on a quiet bike being suspicious. Which sounded to me like the cop was asleep and my flashing lights startled him into some kind of panic.

Lesson learned, after that I always turned my lights OFF rolling through that trailhead. Rolled right past him half a dozen times, seriously "sneaking by" on a quiet bike.