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-   -   Got pulled over for speeding tonight.... (https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycling/189403-got-pulled-over-speeding-tonight.html)

baj32161 04-19-06 09:28 PM


Originally Posted by chrisvu05
The only person that I am endangering is myself and possibly a pedestrian....

Okay let me set this straight. I did not have a problem with you speeding, hell all of us would like to frame a ticket like that. My issue was you calling the cop a jerk when he didn't give you one when he easily could have...thus saving you $186 and a trip to court. Or did I read it wrong?

Specializerider 04-19-06 09:29 PM

Wow thats awesome 41 MPH!!

patentcad 04-19-06 09:30 PM


Originally Posted by chrisvu05
ON MY BIKE!!! It was quite possibly the defining moment of my cycling career. It happened like this...nice strong tailwind...slight downhill...full out sprinting...cop car is in the left line beside me (i was in the shoulder of the right lane) and I wasn't paying attention to the speed on the computer as I was trying to keep pace with his car...suddenly he swerves into the right lane and puts on his lights and almost runs me off the road. This big fat guy gets out of the car and I could tell he wasn't amused by the look on his face. He walks over to me and says:

"son, do you realize that I paced you back there at 41 mph!"
Me:"really!?!" (Secretly inside I was rejoicing because that is pretty damn fast
usually sprint in the mid 30s on this same route).

COP: "the speed limit is 30 mph....can I see your driver's license please?"
Me: I don't carrry one sir, i don't have any pockets (complete bull****, carry my license and insurance card in my seat bag)

COP: "Well i'm gonna let you off with a warning this time, but next time you are subject to a $186 fine...you need to slow it down."


I clipped back in and took off making sure to keep in right at 30 as he stayed behind me all the way to the end of the street. What a jerk!!

Au contraire mon bonehead. This cop was doing you the cyclist's ULTIMATE SERVICE.

Let me see if I get this straight. You had a chance to have an officer actually WRITE YOU A TICKET for SPEEDING ON YOUR BICYCLE - arguably the Holy Grail of bike weenie souveniers - and you let him LET YOU GO WITH A WARNING???

Say it ain't so. If some fat cop pulls me over in that situation I'll be such an insufferable wise ass that he'll have no choice but to write me up. I'll fight the ticket in court of course (that would be big fun too). But I'd have that ticket digitally imaged, enlarged and FRAMED in my livingroom next to my other bike memorabilia photos. Where EVERYONE can see it : ).

This is like a guy who knows nothing about baseball in NY being offered box seats to the 7th game of a Mets/Yankees Subway World Series - and passing because he has to go home and watch 'American Idol' that night.

But I'm KIDDING you. Congrats on being pulled over for speeding on your bicycle dude. You are my NEW HERO. 41 in a 30? On your racing bike? Again, next time TAKE THE TICKET. Please.

the beef 04-19-06 09:32 PM

Haha, cool. Should've gone for the ticket.

baj32161 04-19-06 09:36 PM


Originally Posted by Jet-man
JFC - yes, the cop was an a$$hole - he's on a f-ing bike you safety conscious freds. God. Do you guys never run red lights or roll stop signs (or have sex w/ the lights on)? A cyclist speeding is not a big deal compaired to someone in a car. You should have said "busy evening officer?" What a putz. The ticket would almost have been worth it just to go to court and rip the cop in front of a judge - however, in the south - that might not be such a good idea....

So I am a safety conscious fred, I can live with that. Maybe I am also crazy but if the OP hadn't been speeding in the first place he wouldn't have had to go through this hassle. Why is speeding safe on a bicycle but so dangerous in a car? And here in NJ I do not run red lights. I have been hassled here in Trenton just for HAVING my bike...so I dont like to tempt fate. If you do, thats cool, just don't whine and complain when fate bites back.

patentcad 04-19-06 09:41 PM

>>And here in NJ I do not run red lights. <<

I"m originally from NJ. Rode my bike there for many years every day. Never met a red light that I wanted to stop for.

Don't take this the wrong way, but you BELONG in Canada. You're waaayyyy too traffic law obedient to be a Jersey cyclist : ).

Nachoman 04-19-06 09:45 PM

We're all proud of you, son. Keep up the good work.

Snicklefritz 04-19-06 09:45 PM

The fact that he was a "big fat guy" says something. Like someone else said he probably has a bad attitude, hates his job, jealous of people who can keep pace with him in his car when he probably couldn't ride a bike even 1/10th that speed without having a heart attack

baj32161 04-19-06 09:49 PM


Originally Posted by patentcad
>>And here in NJ I do not run red lights. <<

I"m originally from NJ. Rode my bike there for many years every day. Never met a red light that I wanted to stop for.

Don't take this the wrong way, but you BELONG in Canada. You're waaayyyy too traffic law obedient to be a Jersey cyclist : ).


No worries...I drove that way here too...that REALLY freaked 'em out. Besides I wasn't raised here. I was raised in Westchester Co., NY (Mamaroneck). And it isn't necessarily from being law-abiding, it is from fear for my life:D ;)

rvabiker 04-19-06 09:57 PM


Originally Posted by Jet-man
JFC - yes, the cop was an a$$hole - he's on a f-ing bike you safety conscious freds. God. Do you guys never run red lights or roll stop signs (or have sex w/ the lights on)? A cyclist speeding is not a big deal compaired to someone in a car. You should have said "busy evening officer?" What a putz. The ticket would almost have been worth it just to go to court and rip the cop in front of a judge - however, in the south - that might not be such a good idea....

Are you serious? A cyclist is considered a vehicle and is treated as such by the law. A cop doesn't write the laws just enforces them. And yes we've all ran stop signs and stop lights but if I ever do it in front of a cop I expect to be pulled over and ticketed. Break the law and face the consequences. Blame the legislatures, not the cop...

sentinel4675 04-19-06 10:06 PM

chrisvu05,
If bikers want to be recognized as vehicles on the road, then they also should expect to obey traffic laws. Yep, maybe that officer saved a life by slowing someone down. Yeah, he was a jerk for not writing a ticket

furiousferret 04-19-06 10:37 PM

Like everyone else, I would have eaten the $186 fine just so I could frame it.

I could see it now, "Officer, could you make sure you put down the exact speed, and does that thing calculate my wattage?"

chrisvu05 04-19-06 10:37 PM


Originally Posted by sentinel4675
chrisvu05,
If bikers want to be recognized as vehicles on the road, then they also should expect to obey traffic laws. Yep, maybe that officer saved a life by slowing someone down. Yeah, he was a jerk for not writing a ticket

wow some people on this forum are just sticks in the mud....

chrisvu05 04-19-06 10:38 PM


Originally Posted by furiousferret
Like everyone else, I would have eaten the $186 fine just so I could frame it.

I could see it now, "Officer, could you make sure you put down the exact speed, and does that thing calculate my wattage?"

i wasn't thinking of the cool factor of having the ticket in hand at the time. I was thinking that I just spend 2 months worth of my Grad School stipend on my brand new Pegoretti Marcelo and if I had a $186 to spend I'd much rather spend it on something for my bike.....

krazyderek 04-19-06 11:06 PM

For the non-american's here... 30mph is ~48kph, and 40mph is ~63kph.

I'd laugh at any cop that pulled me over for doing ~15kph faster then the speed limit. EVERYONE does 65 in the 50 zones around here in their cars. Maybe it's just slightly different here, since residential speed limit is 50kph (31mph), often 60kph (37mph) on the rural highways everyone bikes on.

I'll admit, it's my dream to get a speeding ticket on a flat section of 50kph road though too, always trying to get caught doing a 10s sprint at 60kph+ :D

matagi 04-20-06 12:07 AM

Interesting to see the differences between countries.

In Australia, you cannot be booked for speeding on a bicycle because bicycles are not legally required to have devices capable of displaying speed. Doesn't stop the cops from waving you down and giving you a hard time, however. Also, down here, if a cop paces you in his car and claims you are speeding, you can usually successfully beat that one in court based on previous case law.

Speed cameras and radar guns are a little harder to argue with, you have to sell the judge some tale of tragedy and woe, like "I was bitten by a venomous snake and was racing to hospital for treatment".

rthomse 04-20-06 03:57 AM


Originally Posted by baj32161
Okay....you were speeding...cop pulls you over....doesn't give you a ticket...and he is a jerk.......hmmmmm.
Maybe I am just not seeing this right.

As cyclist we have the same responsibilities to obey all traffic laws .Isn't there thread after thread about how we don't get the respect from driver's? Sorry dude you were speeding and got a warning,beats a fine, points on your license and an insurance increase or a policy cancellation.

patentcad 04-20-06 04:09 AM


Originally Posted by baj32161
Okay....you were speeding...cop pulls you over....doesn't give you a ticket...and he is a jerk.......hmmmmm.
Maybe I am just not seeing this right.


Any cop who gives a cyclist a lecture for SPEEDING needs his head examined. That is just priceless. Amazing. Astonishing. Silly. Hilarious. Ironic.

Not quite as bad as the dickhead power-mad cop who ARRESTED me two years ago for TAKING A LEAK BEHIND A TREE ON A DESERTED BIKE PATH when the only other living souls around at dusk were my wife and dog (i.e., who exactly did he think I was exposing myself to?). The assistant D.A. took one look at the case and refused to prosecute it.

Rule #1 of Law Enforcement: Just because Officer Krupke arrests somebody or writes a summons doesn't mean any violation of the law has actually occurred. That's up to the courts to decide. And courts tend to be more reasonable than certain Idiots in Blue.

Patriot 04-20-06 04:12 AM

Similar thing happened to me a while back when I was on my home from my commute. Sometime I'll write it up in a differant thread. I'll admit, it was kind of funny, and a bit of an ego boost at the same time.

rthomse 04-20-06 04:25 AM

Rule #1 of Law Enforcement: Just because Officer Krupke arrests somebody or writes a summons doesn't mean any violation of the law has actually occurred. That's up to the courts to decide. And courts tend to be more reasonable than certain Idiots in Blue.

No offence that means you think cops run around "enforcing" laws that don't exsist and let the courts figure it out????

substructure 04-20-06 05:01 AM

If I got a ticket for speeding I'd frame the dang thing and hang it in the living room. Too sweet.

SilentShifter 04-20-06 05:44 AM

Sweet. Stupid fat cop was just looking for something to do.

badkarma 04-20-06 06:04 AM

I guess I'm in the minority. I have no problem with the officer pulling you ofer for speeding. You were going 11mph over the posted speed limit. I have problems when officers target cyclists for stuff they wouldn't target drivers for; but this seems like a case where he would've cited a driver for the same infraction.

Everyone b!tches about drivers not treating cyclists as vehicles, and then they complain that we shouldn't be subject to the same laws as drivers - am I the only one seeing the hypocracy?

SKULL7 04-20-06 06:05 AM


Originally Posted by chrisvu05
Really....speeding on a bike is far different than speeding in a car. If I hit another car....i'm going to die....The only person that I am endangering is myself and possibly a pedestrian or a squirrel... As far as destruction goes, a bike would do far less damage than a car going 41 mph. I've seen this same guy before and harasses alot of motorists and joggers. You can tell he really dislikes his job and dislikes what he would probably call "babysitting cyclists"

Agree about the bike v car damage, but what if a kid or an elderly person, or any person for that matter, walked out onto the road?

whitemax 04-20-06 06:26 AM


Originally Posted by badkarma
I guess I'm in the minority. I have no problem with the officer pulling you ofer for speeding. You were going 11mph over the posted speed limit. I have problems when officers target cyclists for stuff they wouldn't target drivers for; but this seems like a case where he would've cited a driver for the same infraction.

Everyone b!tches about drivers not treating cyclists as vehicles, and then they complain that we shouldn't be subject to the same laws as drivers - am I the only one seeing the hypocracy?

Nope, I see it to. Perhaps the cop is a jerk, but not necessarily for doing his job which is to enforce the law. Laws are written at least in theory, partly for the safety of the violator as well as for the rest of society. The OP made a moving violation which could have jeopardized his safety or caused a motor vehicle to wreck in reaction to his bike and its speed/location on the road or whatever the case may have been. Yeah, it probably made best sense to stop him with a courteous warning not to ride above the speed limit instead of having an intimidating attitude. Congrats on the sprint! (Be careful)


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