so, a coworker of mine at the bike shop got a $5 ticket for running a red light on his bike last night.
sucks, but here's the funny part. he wrote BICYCLE over all the registration and license info.
under "vehicle make" the guy wrote:
Kogswell

hmmm... can you pay those online so you can keep the ticket? thats the kind of **** i'd frame

Get out of here. In DC? Something that rare should absolutely be framed.

is that the tan kogswell? I've heard that dc police are cracking down on bike traffic enforcement. maybe someday they will crack down on bike theft and gangs of kids knocking people off their bikes.

last month it was jaywalking downtown. I run a series of reds every am going down 15th between NY and Const. Ave. There is invariably a Capitol police cruiser at one of the lights and no matter how fast I blow by, they never say anything and neither do the ones on bikes. They are too busy standing around pretending to check cars for bombs.

So do you have to show them your DL is you get stopped on your bike? What if you don't have it, or have one at all?

$5.00? What's the point?

That was really smart of him/her to do.
Some states distinguish between bicycle and motor vehicle infractions (at least I believe they used to, last time I had this discussion). This is key because if you don't make the distinction, your car insurance rate can go up! Getting a ticket on a bike can go on your driving record, which to me is absurd! Does jaywalking go on your driving record? Does a speeding ticket go on an airline pilot's flight record? Seems to me these things should stay separate.
I used to run red lights on my bike. I got a ticket for doing so (at night in a completely deserted intersection) and thought about it. That was college days and I was young. Now I don't run red lights. But I roll through stop signs all the time on my bike. This doesn't make me a bad driver. I'm a pretty good driver - not perfect and always trying to improve. I've never gotten a moving violation in 24 years of driving. I realize driving a car entails a large amount of responsibility. It also requires a driver's license. Riding a bicycle does not, so why should an infraction on a bicycle go on my driver's record? It shouldn't!
The "rolling stopsigns" debate rages on. But simply put, a bike is not a car in so many ways. The two are different and should be treated differently. But this is not saying riding a bicycle does not require responsibility on the part of the rider. But ultimately, it's far less likely to injure others while riding a bike like an idiot! Sure, I'll pay the fine of breaking a traffic law while RIDING my bike, but don't put it on my DRIVING record.
PS A friend of mine got a ticket for doing almost 60mph on his bike. He went to court to fight it, 'cause he was in High School at the time and he knew his mom would kill him. So the judge asked what sort of car a "Guerciotti" was (totally mispronounced by the judge). When my friend responded by saying, "It's my bicycle," the judge said to get out of his courtroom and stop wasting his time! Case dismissed! So, be sure to have the officer mark "bicycle" under "vehicle."

HAHA that is great!

also I'm all for paying the fine. Sounds like the officer was being pretty reasonable and def distinguished between vehicles. I realize when i run a red, its against the law and would be fine paying for it as long as i'm not held to the same standard as a car. That said, those tickets are pretty rare. So i stand by my framing comment

And, chimbly, if it was in DC, what kind of cop? Each agency has its own characteristic style, and this bit of info would help me refine my stereotypes.

Cool! If it were a car, it would be like, only $140...

I don't think you have to show ID for a bicycle. It is probably the same as when a police officer asks to see your ID when you are on foot. I guess that depends on your state's laws.

I think Toronto's bike code specifically states that you need not present ID for a bicycle infraction.

5 bucks??? Damn, I have to move there! I've got $600 worth of traffic tickets from infractions on my bikes. Last time I got sniped for running a red it was $190. Did I mention that I hate cops?

5 bucks? around here, the fine is the same as if i'd run the sign/light in a car.

it's one of the downsides to vehicular status, i suppose. but i can live with it.

Toronto's pretty serious, I understand.

Here the fine is theoretically the same, but it's hard to get stopped. Actually, Cambridge will cite but it's not a moving violation. It's on the same ticket as littering and is only a $20 fine.

There is no reason that a bike violation should impact your driver's license. In Mass it doesn't. In NYC it takes points off. Not only does it not make sense in the ways pointed out above, but how come someone with a driver's license pays a steeper penalty for a bike infraction under that rule than someone without? What if I commit a bicycle infraction and then go get a driver's license. Does my license get dinged retroactively?

I think that, in general, if an officer stops you for something, you need to be able to prove your identity. If you've got a driver's license, that means you have to furnish it. But if you have just a regular state ID, you could furnish that instead. Or any other type of govt. ID, like a passport. If you have no ID and they can't verify your identity, I think they can bring you in to verify, which could be highly unpleasant, even if there are no long term reprocussions.

And seriously, a 5$ ticket? That's crazy...

peace,
sam

No they can't, at least not in the US. The US has no mandatory ID requirement nor does it have internal checkpoints (except now it does...War on Terra and all). You are required to truthfully state your information but you do not have to carry proof of same.

If the officer suspects you're lying, he may arrest you, but upon verification of your ID, they can be looking at an unlawful arrest suit (good luck successfully prosecuting, though).

my question is how the cop actually caught you to write a ticket? im not that fast, but i definitely know one of those bike cops on their 40lb mountain bike, or a cop on foot is definitely not going to catch me

it wasn't my ticket. yup, a tan cogswell. yup, he said cop asked for ID, did it like a traffic stop. It was at Connecticut and Woodley NW by a MPD officer in a car.

technically in dc the biggest ticket you can get for a moving violation on biike is $5 unless there's bodily injury involved. but very few cops know that.

I used to live right up the hill from there. It's kind of a dangerous intersection, but not a problem to run provided you slow a bit. Who knows what the cop's reasons were. The fact the the cyclist was breaking the law hardly seems relevant... Maybe he was just having a bad day. The $5 fine is so small it's almost cute.

only $5? I got hit for $100 for going through a stop sign, it wasn't even a light!! I also got hit for another $100 for not having a light on my bike!!

and that's why i try to carry my badge when possible.... it eliminates some problems with LEO's

what's LEO's?

law enforcement officers?

Law Enforcement Officers.. aka people who spend (i think) 50% (might be a higher rate) of their "work" time on criminal cases so in the case of street officers, all the time is LEO work but for other types of agents, investigators etc. you don't necessarily spend all that much time doing criminal work

I'm pretty quick, but those 4500 lb crown vic's still have me beat. So do .38 cal slugs.

A badge, eh? That sounds handy. I'm guessing you'd have to be an LEO to get one.

actually no, I'm not a leo most of my work is civil