Eire Mick

So I was stupid and ran a red on my bike while on my way home late at night, and I got pulled over and cited. I have to appear in court, but I wanted to know if anyone could give me an idea of how much of a fine I'm looking at. Thanks.

gkelley

letting us know where you live would probably help a lot. If it's a big city or some podunk town ya know

iansmash

That's so crazy...in Richmond, VA cops don't care about bikers running lights at all


I run lights in front of cops on a daily basis with no issue

Eire Mick

My bad. Hollywood, CA. I'll have to go to the Metro court in Downtown LA.

ibcrewin

Maybe you can plea it down. Change the court date and hope the cop doesn't show.

con

Look on the back of the ticket, some jurisdictions have standard fines listed.

JohnDThompson 

Just pay the damn fine. He *DID* run the light after all, and if cyclists expect to be treated as equals on the road, we need to play by the same rules as the other vehicles.

rdubbz

except, bikes don't trip traffic light sensors. What are you suppose to do, wait at a light all night...or until a car pulls up?

cc700

hop off, walk across in a crosswalk, get back on and ride.

and if there's no cars around, who's giving you the ticket?

also, are you from reston va?

geeknerd99

Cops in Blacksburg don't seem to care. I've run them late at night before NEXT to cops. You just pull up, come to a complete stop, assess the situation, and roll out.

Really helps when it's like, 1AM and there's nothing but cops rolling around. I've actually had a few officers pull up to me waiting for a light and just tell me I can go, since I'm unlikely to trip the sensor.

milfordcubicle

got cited for rolling through stop sign on bicycle in davis, ca (go figure). cop cited me with cal vehicle code violation, same as that you would get if you failed to stop at the intersection in a car. $150. went to court and the cop didnt show so it got dismissed.

i know running a red light in a car is like $371 in california, but hopefully you wont have to pay that. the stupid thing about my situation was that because i had a driver's license, it would have gone on my record as 1 point. yet, if i didnt have a DL then i wouldnt get anything on my record (i would have no driving record). therefore, i would have gotten a point on my record as an indirect result of something i did on my bicycle, which does not require a license to operate.

teiaperigosa

same as car


next time don't stop when they try to pull you over

cc700

especially if you have drugs you're peddling, that way when they do catch you they can lock you up for more than just running.

dude... really... it's LA. they're gonna catch him.

rdubbz

yeah, from herndon. live in reston now. you?

as for OP, I’m not sure about the situation with the limited info we got. In many places it is perfectly legal to run red lights on bikes, as long as you waited and it didn't change in a reasonable amount of time.

stryper

my stupid ticket story. I was riding at 1am on like a monday night with my buddy who just got off work. We were just chillin when I caught head lights behind me. My buddy was in the bike lane and I the road. So instead of slowing down or speeding up to also move into the bike lane, I just pulled to the other side of the road to let the car through. Then I see red and blue lights. It was a cop behind us and they gave me a ticket for riding on the wrong side of the road. BS $150 fine

roadfix

bad idea.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17DIMz7yk_I

owenboen

In Boston, cars barely get tickets for running reds, never mind cyclists. Ignoring traffic laws is standard fare over here.

cc700

i grew up in franklin farm. glad to be on the left coast now, lulz.

JohnDThompson 

In Wisconsin at least, cyclists can legally pull through such an intersection if the light isn't triggered.

teiaperigosa

he got away!

jakerock

Another close call...

Eire Mick

Yeah, we get guys pulled all the time when do our group rides. I mean, we are sorta taking over lanes on some big roads like Sunset and Santa Monica blvd. so it's understandable. People in cars complain a lot about the 'flow of traffic' (which to me is an oxymoron in L.A.), so the cops have been buckling down lately. There's a great bike scene out though. I'll just trackstand til that mother turns green.

xsnakobx

Was it the bike cop? Davis is a real stickler of a town for bikes (though I think the bike cop is kind of a dick in particular, I mean, he retired and came back just for fun.)

milfordcubicle

i think i know who youre talking about. this guy was in a squad car and had to find a parking spot while i rested my bike against a tree and waited. it was quite funny. downtown davis, like 2nd and E.

xianricca

Why would a bike cop need to find a place to park his squad car?