Markedoc

True - that pepper spray hurts the eyes and does the night-stick beating!

Dave719

Tell the court what you said here. Emphasize that you stopped completely, waited, then proceeded with extreme care, etc., basically that you waited for the light to change and didn't flagrantly blow through it. Judges aren't always that unsympathetic. I went to court for a moving violation involving passing a school bus. I explained the circumstance, etc. (won't bore you with it here). Anyway he fined me $15 and literally smirked and said "get out of here".

If it helps your case, see if there's a pedestrian crossing button at that traffic light. If there is none, say you would have used it if it were present.

Dave

shokhead

Now if you were going with the green light on your bike and a car did what you did, wouldnt you be pissed? Yep.

venga venga

now, that's something we'd like to see!!!! pictures! pictures!

eurotrash666

when i lived in san jose, i would flip the cops off and let 'em chase me. especially the bicycle cops... then loose 'em for awhile... and come up behind 'em and say " 'ere i am, piggy!" until i got tired of it. it was fun until the day a cop drew his gun on me and told me to lay my bike on the ground in front of him and put my hands on the hood while he radio'd for backup. that wasn't so cool. neither was getting a warrant for refusing to pay the ticket.
yeah, it might be my fault cops don't like bikes... sorry guys. i repent.

redfooj

yeah, except, in this situation, there was noone with the green to be pissed. you seem to have ignored the fact that the cross-traffic was CLEAR of cars, bikers, pedestrians, dogs, and woodland creatures.

Paniolo

I wonder what the law is on non responsive lights in Austin. I've got a light where I leave work that will not change for only a bike and there is no ped x-walk with a button. When I leave work a lot of evenings I could wait a long time, I know the light cycle so I just wait for the oncoming traffic to trigger their side and then go through my red light. Have you tried that lights sensors out to see if they are non responsive? Or did you just not want to wait on the whole cycle since there was no traffic.

Re topic; I go through a 20mph school zone at a high school on the way home from work. It's marked by a flashing light. It's a long downhill so I can hit mid 30's there, but I consicously slow down for the speed limit ... I'm more worried about someone turning, or pulling out in front of me, but cops in TX are tough on speeding in school zones. I've seen lots of radar traps in school zones ... which is a good thing IMHO.

Then again, a few blocks further in a res area just before I get home there is a short steep downhill with a 3 way stop 3/4 of the way down it. I'm on the straight road, with a bike path and the T comes in from the left. 98% of the time there is no side traffic and I usually brake hard so I could stop until I am certain there is nobody coming up and then roll through the stop in the bike lane. 90% of the traffic rolls that sign too. But doesn't make it right ... if I got stopped there I guess I deserve the tix.

khuon

Definately check your laws. Most states/cities allow you to treat that light as operationally malfunctioning. At the very least, report that the light does not trigger for a bicycle to your municipality so they have it on record in case you ever need to cite it.

athens77

I was "pulled over" for this yesterday. Luckily alot of the downtown cops are bike cops and they are active in the cyclist community so I hope we have a better rep among car based cops here than most places. He lectured me for a good while though. I was pretty sure he was gonna give me a ticket but in the end let me go. I could not even figure out what he was pulling me over for. I run the light every day. It does not change for bikes, the cross street is one way and you can see all the way down it. If I had gotten off my bike and walked it then no problem but because I went through it on the bike it was a big deal.

shokhead

And it say where that if its clear,disreguard the red light? Is it ok for a car to use the bike lane for the same reason you went thru the light,hell no.

jlvantassel

I was stopped for a red light once because I started just before it turned green. On my bike in a park.

I couldn't be pissed at the cop because he was right.

If I am in my car, on the bike or walking and observe someone in an auto disobeying traffic laws I get pissed. Sometimes people dont stop, speed or whatever because no one is around. If they get into a habit of it one day they may overlook another person and cause an accident. The rules are there for all of our safety. Even if they do seem silly to us when cycling. Or even if it seems stupid when no one is around. It teaches us to make safety a habit.

Okay enough from the soapbox...

redfooj

and i said where that it was legal--by the law book--for me to cross that light? its not a binary question about whether what i did was or was not a traffic violation. its about the applicability of the law in that context and situation. if youre is the type to call the sheriff on an 8 year old pocketing a candy bar in a convenience store then i suppose you'd slap wrists every chance you get...


austin is not as bad as in my hometown in dfw. about 1/3rd of the lights there absolutely would not turn for me. there is little traffic here so sometimes there are no cars to trigger lights for me. once i waited through 4 whole cycles--no ****ting--before i decided to run the light... of course this was after my ticket so i was a bit cognizant and paranoid. once that ticket gets clear, though... smooth sailing. i wont continue sitting at a tiny light a whole 5 minutes in suburbanville usa when there's nobody within a stone's throw

VeganRider

Hey your the kind of guy I'd like to ride with, honest; wish I could find someone like you around here. Other ridders tell me things like that's way outta hand, or that's a good way to get yourself killed and blah balh balh....Breakin the law is fun! it's always fun. Then you can go home and have a good laugh and stories to tell.

dc70

The only thing reason why I think, or my opinion that is, that you seem to have a disregard for the safety of children in that school zone, is because you do not have any, correct? I may be wrong here, so I'll just preface my post by saying I am assuming you do not have kids. If you
do, then I would be shocked to think that you could blow through such an area without thinking
of the possible consequences. We all have to look out for the kids.

You are on a moving vehicle, regardless of the fact that is not a motor vehicle, and you are required by law to obey all motor vehicle laws. Speeding through a school zone is a very serious subject and offense.

Could you imagine if you ran into a small child at 27 28 mph? Do you have any idea what damage that child and you, yourself might suffer? Worst case scenario, the child or you severs a spinal cord, paralyzation or perhaps death. You have to be really careful out there, especially in an area where children are present. Please keep that in mind when you ride through school zones.
As a father of two girls, I know I want all motorists and cyclists and anyone passing through
a designated school zone to be extremely alert and extremely careful.

vrkelley

so... if you didn't have speedometer ... how would you be able to keep with the speed limits? Sounds like a speedometer is a "must".

khuon

Was this the cop?

Pat

The problem with that advice is that if you have to slow down and stop before you can get off the road (as would be the case if you had a steeply sloping shoulder), they will probably run you over in their maddened frustration.

eurotrash666

in all honesty, that is the truth.
but- and i mean but, like the big butt that the lady singin' in the third row of the church choir be havin'- but- the law is irrational. and irrational laws can't be respected. reason: a bicycle is not a cement truck. on a bike we can accelerate faster (50 foot time), change direction or swerve much faster, and most importantly, brake faster, by an enormous margin. the way i figger, if a cop gives you a ticket on a bike, either you are being extremely dangerous to others (like pylon racing through the pedestrian mall- been chased by cops for that...) or the cop is a self-loathing bully that has to go home to an abusive wife. he can't be out enjoying his day, so he's gonna ruin yours...

Pat

Well, an starving model would be 5'7" and 120 lbs but would any lady who had any reasonable amount muscle on her be that light? If you look carefully at models, you will notice that they have stick arms and stick legs indicating no muscles. Nice thing about lady cyclists is they tend to have nice to very nice to "oh my" legs.

Both of my sisters were tall and quite attractive to the boys when they were in high school and swimming competitively but neither one was anywhere near 120 lbs.

slvoid

Ok I'm a GUY and i'm 5' 7" and 135.
Would that mean the ladies are jealous and I'm morbidly at the edge of death?

shokhead

It's not like i was looking to mow down kids. The drunk driver isnt looking to kill anyone. The others that run the stop sign or speed around a school isnt looking to kill anyone. Its just safety on our part for the kids that dont think when the cross the street or dart into the street. We are suppose to be on the lookout for them,not them for use. When i'm going down a side street and a bus flips out the stop signs and lights are blinking and she's getting kids out,i circle until its done. Sometimes i think we have to be better then a car because when alot of non-riders see us do something wrong,all riders are doing that in there minds.

dc70

I'm not sure by the post, but are you actually suggesting that the school zone speed limit law is irrational? Before I even comment with a reply, I will first let you clarify what you mean by irrational and what it applies to in the comments you posted.

turtlendog

Might want to point out that your bike won't trigger a light change and that you used to sit at lights for hours at a time until you figured out that it was never going to change.

Chuvak

Well deserved, should have given the the ticket.

axxalink

100% correct...in nj (and i'm sure just about everywhere else), cyclists are required by law to obey traffic laws as they pertain to vehicles. aside from that, as cyclists, we need to ride courteously...i've heard too many drivers complain about cyclists riding as though they owned the road. i quit riding with a club because during a ride, most thought it was funny when a couple of riders almost hit a pedestrian in a crosswalk. it scared the poor woman quite badly! some hothead behind the wheel of a car or truck could decide to do the same thing to a cyclist. it works both ways!