xdrmusclex

I was riding home from work today when an undercover cop pulls up next to me and tells me (in a pleasant tone of course, and without showing me ID until i asked who the hell he was) he is going to ticket me, because I was not on a street with a designated bike route (I didnt get the ticket but it sure did piss me off).

Thinking this was BS, I looked it up and to my surprise there is a law stating that cyclists can "Not ride on expressways, drives, highways, interstate routes and thruways unless authorized by signs." In 10 years of biking in nyc I have never been threatened by a cop with this law.

Anyone ever get a ticket for this?

krapes

Why does your location say Evanston, Illinois?

Scrodzilla

To get The Man off his trail, brah.

LapinAgile

Sorry to hear this, and it may just get worse: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/ny...l?ref=nyregion

silver_ghost

How did you talk your way out of the ticket?

I think a lot of outdated laws get left on the books just because no one bothers to get rid of them. There's a bylaw in my town stating we aren't allowed to wash our horse on the street on a Sunday (bloody fascists).

Fantana

LOL, what does that have to do with anything?
That's like answering "why do you spell crapes with a "K"?" in a post when you ask something..

bhop

I don't know NY laws, but none of these sound like "regular" streets.. which I'm going to assume you were riding. More like the freeways here.

longjohns

where exactly were you pulled over? i ride through manhattan all the time and have never been pulled over...yet.

krapes

Yes that's true, but I still want an answer!

Since we're on the topic, I don't know whether you were asking a rhetorical question or not, but the reason I write krapes instead of crepes is because I'm trying to be cool (or should I say kool?).

Scrodzilla

Here in MA there's a law that prohibits a man from eating more than three sandwiches while attending a wake.

Fantana

Hahaha, rhetorical.. but kool, brah...?

mcerr

NYC cops are getting anal about ticketing cyclists. I had to go to court last month because I was standing over my bike on the sidewalk. The cop insisted I was riding it (my feet were on the ground). I ended up just paying the 75 dollar fine because it's cheaper and easier than fighting it.

lvleph

I am not sure that the streets in Manhattan fulfill the definition in the law as stated. The only thing I am unsure of would be weather or not a street counts as a drive. I don't believe it does.

rustybrown

Sounds like the city is attempting to corral cyclists strictly to the new bicycle facilities. Intimidation tactics with the tickets.

Capocaccia

Just for your FYI:

If hes undercover hes on assignment and isnt interested in a cyclist. Trust me.
If a plain clothes cop stops you and says he is a cop, you have every single right to ask for a badge and if he doesnt produce one you have every single right to leave.
If he is a cop, ask him am I being arrested or otherwise detained? If the answer is no, you are free to go. If he holds you, it is considered legal kidnapping.


Sounds like to me you got hit by a traffic cop probably in an unmarked car. I mean, its his job to know traffic laws and piss people off by stealing their paycheck.

Ok but really, its his job to enforce these things. From what I read, I dont think the cop threatened you. Maybe he did. I wasnt there. But I do know that in NYC if you would have just kept pedaling, he probably would have gotten caught in traffic eventually.

xdrmusclex

I lived in IL for about 4 months last year, I just never got around to changing it back.

As I learned in Drivers Ed (so long ago) any regular street is considered a "highway" what we consider highways (such as the BQE) are actually called "expressways."

I didnt get a ticket because he drove off (of course exceeding the speed limit) after he flashed his badge and "ordered" me to go a few blocks over to a bike lane. But seriously, that was the most ridiculous reason for a ticket, I can understand riding on a sidewalk or the wrong way down a one way street. I'm not sure how people in places like east new york and Bensonhurst are supposed to get around, there are very few bike lanes

Im going back to Illinois...

Inertianinja

i'm in NYC (and a lawyer)

where did this happen? what street?

krapes

If you go a few miles south of where you were, you'll have a lot more fun.

xdrmusclex

it happened on Classon ave btwn park and Flushing, then he gave me a hard time when I got onto Kent (getting ready to cross to the bike lane)

calv

I just looked up dumb laws in CA and found this: "No vehicle without a driver may exceed 60 miles per hour."

mcerr

that's like two blocks from where I got my ticket

x136 

Considering the autonomous Priuses that Google has had stalking I280 for the last year or so, that law has more relevance than you'd think.

96_xj

that is mainly for people flat towing vehicles...

evilcryalotmore

Wow, I don't recall a law like this in ca.

Nick The Beard

I think the undercover cop pulled that BS law out to get you off that street. They were probably about to do a huge bust and were expecting a shootout.