Fizzaly

So ill try to make this short, about a 1.5miles of my commute is on this straight residential street with a generally strictly enforced 25mph limit, I've lately just started riding in the lane with the cars as i can hold the speed limit and havent had any problems with motorists. Until yesterday i was about a half mile down the road holding 27mph when a car behind starting honking, so i sped up to the point where i was about to break 30, then the car decided to past me over a double yellow, the passenger in the car then yelled at me that they were not very pleased (used very different words than that) i then returned my thoughts to them. After a few words mind you they were still in oncoming lane they told me they where calling the cops, and almost as they finished saying that wouldnt you know a cop car turned onto the road with the car heading right for him, he turned his lights on and when we passed flipped around. Unsure of who he was wanting to pull over i stopped as well. The driver began tell her very inflated story of what happened to the cop, he than came over to me and asked what happened i told him exactly what had, he than told both of us that he had time to radar and that we were both speeding. I told him i had no problem with him writing me a ticket if he had to, the driver had a different attitude. So after a bit of lecture from the officer i was told to go on my way, while the driver was ticketed for speeding, failure to maintain lane, recklace driving, and improper lane change.
I thought it was a rather amusing incident, but have now decided to stay out of the lane to avoid this situation again. BTW i know what i was doing may not have been the best judgement but i have learned from my mistake.

sudo bike

That's awesome.

colleen c

Now that's what I call Poetic Justice!!! Fianlly justice serve to the correct guilty party.

I bet that cop hangs out in that area very often since he radar the speed of traffic on that street. Good chance he has seen you riding your bike on that street before and probably familar with your presence well enough to let you off without a ticket.

Fizzaly

yeah ive seen him on that street a few times, most of the time i see the same cars as i ride down it at the same times every day six days a week. The road does have a bike lane but most if it shoulders along side on street parking and im really nervous about getting hit by a door.

puppypilgrim

Great story and good on you. Its nice to "win" one once in a while.

coldfeet

Awesome story Fizzaly, think you did well, depending on what he/you said to each other, I don't think I would have done any different. maybe I would have blown him a kiss if i could have kept my cool, but it's difficult when they get your adrenalin up. Particularly liked the bit about telling the officer to write you a ticket if he felt it necessary.

I would still take the lane myself, I have a stretch at the beginning of my commute that is downhill, and I can get to the speed limit with a short hard burst, I take the lane for that.

Fizzaly

I said some things that i probably should'nt have but oh well, and on the ticket thing yeah i got a speeding ticket on another hill in town from a cop so i was kinda thinking he was gonna want to write me up but he really didnt say much to me about the speed. I took the lane this morning but at 545am i didnt see a single car on my whole ride in.

unterhausen

I hope the policeman realizes that he will never read the speed of a bike if a car is there. I wouldn't change my behavior because of one motorist, stay in the lane. If you're going the speed limit, you don't want people crowding you, too dangerous.

As far as obnoxious motorists or passengers, I just wave and if they can hear me I say "hi!"

Robert C

Right, you could have beat the ticket in court, after all, you were being passed by a vehicle with larger mass.

That being said, I would do as the others have advised. I would keep ridding the same way; however, I would be sure to stick to the speed limit for a while.

As the line in the safety training goes, you can only drive your car (ride your bike), you can not drive that of someone else, so don't try to; likewise, they can not drive (ride) yours. So, don't let them.

z90

That is great.

coldfeet

If it was radar, well, maybe.. I know they can get a reading off of a cyclist with laser, they do have bicycle speed traps sometimes here in the Summer, they mostly do it to discourage the looneys that weave through the crowded MUPs around the riverfront.

Fizzaly

i have no complaints as far as the officer goes he was nice and fair, they go through phases with the street im talking about they go a few months enforcing it heavy than they seem to ease up on it. I think its due to the neiborhood assn. THere are speed limit signs all over the place and 25mph painted on the road surface everyother block over the last two years they have been adding allway stops on it to try and get people to take other roads.

Tundra_Man 

If I ever get a speeding ticket on my bike I'm not going to fight it, I'm going to frame it!

DX-MAN

It doesn't really matter if the radar catches the bike speeding -- the bike was 'pacing' the car, and the car was speeding; cops have the discretion to use that, too. After all, courts have decided they're 'experts' at speed estimation.

dougmc

You can get the speed of a cyclist with radar -- after all, those things they put on the side of the road that go "are you speeding?" and give your speed pick up bicycles just fine.

HOWEVER, the radar spreads out in a cone, and tends to pick up the largest, most reflective (metal is very reflective!) object in that cone. So if there's a bike and a car, the radar is likely to give the speed of the car rather than the bike. I don't know know the specifics about laser, but I imagine it works similarly (and license plates are very reflective, and much bigger than your reflector.) It could have a much more narrow cone, but then it becomes an issue of aiming that cone (or tiny beam) -- and with a small and a large target, which is more likely to get hit? Even if the cop thinks he's getting the bicycle, he's probably getting the car.

Now, if they're going the same speed (which he can tell visually) -- then it doesn't matter.

Either way, police rarely give tickets for 2 mph over the limit -- but failure to maintain lane, reckless driving, and improper lane change -- they love to ticket for these things, though reckless driving is usually a "go to jail" not a "get a ticket" charge. Throw in some attitude, and you're almost certain to get a ticket!

dougmc

There's no reason that you can't frame your ticket AND fight it!

unterhausen

I usually sprint for those, but I'm not sure they use radar. The other day I saw one, but it never registered my speed. A waste of a good sprint, and it was at the bottom of a mountain too...

Doohickie

But... aside from speeding up, you made no mistake. This was a great story until this last bit.

You were right to take the lane. Don't let the cars bully you.

B. Carfree

I suspect your politeness and agreeable attitude won the day with the cop. Well done. You may have helped him/her see that cyclists aren't necessarily two-dimensional stereotyped anti-authority jerks. In my experience, very few cyclists are problem people, but somehow the few who are get all the attention.

hairnet

heh on a related note; I was driving my car this morning at the speed limit and someone comes up, tail gates me, gives me the high beams, passes in the other lane and gives me weird looks. I'm curious where this B.S. unwritten rule for going above the speed limit at all times friggin came from

Trick fall

That is an awesome story. Its so nice when an idiot driver gets theirs.

Fizzaly

thanks everyone, on a side note the mistake i made was even bothering to get into it with the driver i should have just moved out of the lane and let him by, the competitive side of me kicked in and i just went faster.

Kimmitt 

OP, you did fine. It's perfectly reasonable for you to try to go the prevailing speed of traffic if you can.

zeppinger

The only mistake that you made in that situation was to speed up to accommodate a dangerous asshat. Continue to take the lane if you are keeping up with traffic and stay under the speed limit.

xtrajack

Me too!!!