If you are suspected of a crime you must provide ID. Although situations are rare and the vast majority of cyclists are perfectly law abiding it is good practise to supply whatever ID is requested by the peace officer, without hassling them with unnecessary questions.

Had some encounters, but never quite ticketed:

Stopped several times at night. Cops didn't know the laws. They thought I needed a rear flashing light, when the law only required a reflector.

Stopped several times for riding on the 'wrong' side of the road (which is actually permitted by law, in certain states at least, in some circumstances in which it is justified).

Was suspected of intending to camp overnight in an area where it was not allowed (this one was such a close call that it was an adrenaline rush).

Was suspected of camping in an area where it was not allowed (this one was a blast -- I saw them coming and watched from a camouflaged vantage point while they searched in vain, even though the bike was a short distance away from them, also camouflaged).

Was verbally reprimanded (over the speaker system of a police car) for rolling a stop.

Was stopped and questioned while riding through a wealthy, nearly gated neighborhood (where my only intention was to take a detour to revisit the neighborhood, where some relatives used to live, and to wait for the traffic to die down on the PCH). The cops felt guilty -- being relative newcomers to the area -- when I truthfully let it be known that my relatives had been there for generations, and I used to spend Christmas there during childhood.

These encounters ranged from mildly unpleasant to downright fun -- sometimes in the same encounter.

What about " I should stop at all stop signs" ?

Reading this thread is interesting.

I believe I have a pragmatic approach to the police; I'll try to go along with them as much as possible, as politely as possible, even if I know they might have iffy legal grounds to do so or are asking me to do something that doesn't make sense. I also believe that if I break the law -no matter how seemingly trivial -then, well, I've broken the law and I cannot expect anything less than what would be legally set down for the offence.

As I said, I believe I'm pragmatic -it's fine getting all up in arms when a police officer acts the bully, goes power hungry or infringes on your legal rights to some extent, but the bottom line is (however rightly or wrongly) they are the "law" at that point in time and location, and they can or will make things far more difficult for you. That doesn't make it right, of course.

Another aspect to consider is if it ultimately ends up in a court, more than likely it's going to be your word (scraggly cycle tourer) versus an upstanding police officer. Who do you think a judge or a jury is going to believe? Let's face it, unfortunately life's not fair!

I'm of the opinion that if an action outrages you that much, you're always going to have much better results taking this up with the officer's superiors or some other official or unofficial channel once you're removed from the situation. It also gives you time to calm down, think about what you wish to get out of the situation, how you're going to pursue it, and whether it's ultimately worth it to you.

My husband always get mad at me because I always stop at signs!! But - that particular morning it was 5:00 in the morning and there was no traffic at all!

I had an encounter with police in Kortrijk, Belgium a few days ago. I was trying to follow a marked cycle route to the tourist office, and somehow missed a turn. I was stopped just off the road looking at my map when a moto officer pulled in beside me.

He told me that the tourist office was closed, and then had me follow him through the city to the cheapest hotel he knew of. It turned out to be right in the center of town, beside the main square.

I for one am impressed with the Belgian police :-)

Ran a red light in Potsdam, Germany, right in front of two policemen. Fined 10 EURO. It was one of those small lights on the side of the traffic light, not the main one, and I honestly didn;t see it. But the Polizei were fine, almost apologetic, saying that it was important we look out for the lights.

Oh yeah. Great idea. No one has EVER done that.

I had a friend beat a ticket once. On the citation the officer used the code number for the offense as a motor vehicle violation. In court he admitted he has done what the officer had said but he pled not guilty as he had not done what he had been cited for as there is a different code for a bicycle violation. Case dismissed. So accept the ticket then check with an expert in bike law.

Didn't get a ticket, but the Ohio state trooper was pissed that we tried to cross the hwy 2/269 bridge over Sandusky bay (on a loaded tandem). A ferry boat screw up put us 65+ miles out of the way unless we crossed it. It was a 6 lane bridge marked for 4. Lots of room....still he was not happy. He made us stand in the rain for approx 1 hr waiting on a truck he called for to take us the remaining 1.5 miles over the bridge (wouldn't let us in the car and he didn't get out!). Yes it WAS marked no bikes...on the east side of the bridge...we crossed west to east.