BREAKIN THE LAW: Have you ever received a ticket on your bicycle?

Twice, both in BZN

(1) on the way home from the town library, cruising main street at 11pm on a monday night. roll up on a red light, it's just me and a cop car. i slow down a bit, look both ways (empty), and keep going. light goes green, cop passes me. next light: red. do the same as the last time: slow down, look, keep rolling. seconds later, the lights go on behind me and the cop pulls me over in front of a busy restaurant's patio (hi guys!). cop is baffled, BAFFLED, that i would just blithely break the law in front of him. i explain that i just moved here from chicago, and that we do that shit all the time there (true! i blow lights in front of cops like it's my job). he scolds me, and tells me that my blinky is out of batteries.

(2) coming home from the campus library, midday. roll up to four-way stop sign. slow down to match the speed of the car that's going next, and move with it when it's their turn to go (ie - don't stop). go about two blocks. need to make a left-hand turn, but it looks like there's a big train of cars coming my way. i don't want to track-stand in the middle of the road and wait, so i cross early and ride against traffic for exactly half a block (like, 200 feet). make it about another 1.5 blocks on the side-street, and am pulled over. cop informs me that i have (a) run a stop sign (b) gone against traffic and (c) made a turn without signaling. this SHOULD be 6 (8?) points on my license and a ticket for $450 dollars, but he's a nice guy and will give me a warning instead. ok, guy! go fuck yourself!

meanwhile, in chicago, i very regularly do illegal stuff right in front of cops basically all day and they could not give a shit. why? BECAUSE THEY HAVE MORE IMPORTANT SHIT TO DO.

fun facts to know and tell (as told to me by salty old bike mechanic in bozeman): if you are a cyclist, it would behoove you to get a state ID and carry that when you're biking (instead of a license). if you do break any laws, they'll give you a ticket, but they won't be able to take points of your driver's license, so your insurance won't get fucked. you'll be out the cost of the ticket, but it won't have the long-term repercussions.

I got a ticket for not having lights a couple of years back. When he pulled me over I assumed it was going to be obviously drunk, and that would presumably be a problem. Either he didn't notice or he didn't care (roads were deserted). (I think I have told the story on the drunk thread or elsewhere.)

I got a £30 fine, which I could either pay within 10 days -- or buy new lights and take them and receipt to a police station, where they would waive the fine as part of an amnesty. I went with the latter.

I SMELL LIKE JAIL.

Cycling the wrong way down a one-way street - let off with a warning. Cycling on non-cycle paths on Wimbledon common - let off with a warning (I should have bounced and seen if the mounted copper could have caught me).

Just at the start of my commute, in the half mile from my house to Westminster bridge, I can either subject myself to 50 traffic lights and hugely diverting contraflows and one or two massive roundabouts, or go 50 yards the wrong way down a one-way street, and then 100 yards along a pedestrian underpass. Oh the guilt.

If one gets stopped and fined one could just give a fake address, right?

I WISH people who rode down one-way streets got ticketed here, fuck. Altho with my luck the guy who almost hit me b/c he was going the wrong way in the dark would get off scott free and I'd get tix for getting lost in South Wburg.

Blowing red lights right in front of a cop is kind of asking for a ticket. In my experience, cops don't like brazen challenges to their authority. And sorry to lecture, but you shouldn't blow red lights anyways. It's dangerous and gives cyclists a bad image. There, I went and said it.

xpost to gbx

(please don't be mad)

And to answer the question, no I haven't, because I am holier than you dirty messenger wannabes.

^^^the aloha lifestyle that i aspire to^^^

but in the meantime, back to dirty messenger wannabe-ing.

bb-b-b-ut i have to blow red lights to keep my heart rate up!@!

I AM ENRAGED

Kind of unrelated but involving two-wheeled transport: I was envolved in a moped v. moped accident and should have probably received some kind of citation (but didn't). The other moped crossed my path from a side street and I t-boned her (that sounds kind of icky). Her leg hurt, but she turned out to be fine. I flew far and every joint seemed to stretch out a bit but was fine. She went to the hospital in an ambulance, I walked. Police came and did an exhaustive investigation. They decided she was at fault seeing as I was on a major road and she didn't yield. Thing was I was def speeding and the accident probably wouldn't have happened had I been traveling at or near the speed limit. Considering that they did all kinds of measurements at the scene, I'm sure the cops figured out that I was going too fast, but they didn't pursue it. My moped was totaled but got replacement money. This was in Japan BTW, and the whole thing freaked me out big time.

Guess this should really go in the crash thread and probably not there either.

Thing was I was def speeding and the accident probably wouldn't have happened had I been traveling at or near the speed limit.

Both car accidents I've had were caused by me pulling out onto a road where another car out of view was speeding, and both times I copped the blame. I guess the logic is that the accident only happened because someone pulled out from a side street without checking.