So an undercover (or off duty?) cop stopped me a couple months back. i was riding my bicycle and pulled up to a stop light with two lanes-- i pulled into the left turning lane and waited at the light. the cop was in a beige suv behind me and yelled something at me. i didn't know he was a cop so i just pointed left like i was gonna make a left turn and waited at the light. he then pulled in front of me , and yelled at me out the window to pull over, so i was like ok and did. i never even got through the intersection, so i told him, i didn't run the light and asked, "what did i do?" he said, "you have to stay behind me." so i played it cool and I was nice and said "I didn't mean to be in your way, officer" he said, "well, you were," and got out his citation book and started writing me a ticket. So i asked him, "you can write me a ticket for that?" He said, "you have to follow the same rules as cars", and kept repeating something about roadway devices. I said, "yeah i'm sorry i didn't know i couldn't be in front of you, i needed to make a left turn so i got into your lane."
Let me describe the situation better: so he was stopped at the light to make the left and i pulled in front of him and waited for it. there was room for me in front of his car and i wasn't in the crosswalk or anything, but i guess his beef was that i passed him while he was stopped, but im pretty sure im allowed to do that in my state. my PA bike handbook has a whole section about passing slower moving traffic, you just have to do it on the correct side like you were in a car and i did.
When it was clear to me that i wasn't going to get out of this ticket i asked him how much he was writing it for and he said $100! At this point I was a little pissed because I was nice to him because i figured he was having a bad day or maybe really needed to be somewhere but didn't have his lights on cause it wasn't and emergency, i don't know. But I really can't afford this, so i figured i would have to fight it in court. he handed me the ticket and all it said in the infraction column was "failure to follow roadway devises [sic]" I told him to write down exactly what i did, i don't know what that means. i mean, i didn't want him to just be able to make anything up that he wanted later on in traffic court. so he said "oh i will", handed me the carbon copy of the ticket and got in his car and put the window up. i could see him writing more on my ticket, none of which is on my copy so i don't know if he was writing that i got in front of him like i asked him to, or that i tried to punch him in the mouth for that matter. and then he just drove off.
i cooperated 100% so he didn't taser my ass or anything, but im still angry about it and my court date is on the 20th. ive never gotten a ticket (on a bike or otherwise) or been to traffic court so i don't really know what to expect. should i say that i dont know what's on the copy of the ticket he filed, is that worth making a point of? i assume they wouldn't give you a copy to plead not guilty to if you weren't supposed to look over the charges and say, "oh i disagree to that". Or should I just tell the judge that I thought it was ok to pass a car to get into the turning lane like that, even though he was stopped? help me out here guys.
Let me describe the situation better: so he was stopped at the light to make the left and i pulled in front of him and waited for it. there was room for me in front of his car and i wasn't in the crosswalk or anything, but i guess his beef was that i passed him while he was stopped, but im pretty sure im allowed to do that in my state. my PA bike handbook has a whole section about passing slower moving traffic, you just have to do it on the correct side like you were in a car and i did.
When it was clear to me that i wasn't going to get out of this ticket i asked him how much he was writing it for and he said $100! At this point I was a little pissed because I was nice to him because i figured he was having a bad day or maybe really needed to be somewhere but didn't have his lights on cause it wasn't and emergency, i don't know. But I really can't afford this, so i figured i would have to fight it in court. he handed me the ticket and all it said in the infraction column was "failure to follow roadway devises [sic]" I told him to write down exactly what i did, i don't know what that means. i mean, i didn't want him to just be able to make anything up that he wanted later on in traffic court. so he said "oh i will", handed me the carbon copy of the ticket and got in his car and put the window up. i could see him writing more on my ticket, none of which is on my copy so i don't know if he was writing that i got in front of him like i asked him to, or that i tried to punch him in the mouth for that matter. and then he just drove off.
i cooperated 100% so he didn't taser my ass or anything, but im still angry about it and my court date is on the 20th. ive never gotten a ticket (on a bike or otherwise) or been to traffic court so i don't really know what to expect. should i say that i dont know what's on the copy of the ticket he filed, is that worth making a point of? i assume they wouldn't give you a copy to plead not guilty to if you weren't supposed to look over the charges and say, "oh i disagree to that". Or should I just tell the judge that I thought it was ok to pass a car to get into the turning lane like that, even though he was stopped? help me out here guys.
