Pickup Truck Is Allowed to Run Stop Sign. Bike Is Pulled Over.
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Watch a U.S. Park Police officer give me a ticket for running a stop sign. And lecture me for not signaling a turn. I did, in fact, not stop at a stop sign. On a Capital Bikeshare bicycle. Right behind a 3-ton pickup truck that did the same thing. I was doing maybe 4 mph. At an intersection in D.C.'s East Potomac Park (Hains Point) that isn't an intersection at all -- the road ahead is closed at night, and turning right would have put me in the Potomac River. In other words, the stop sign is moot after dark -- there couldn't possibly be anyone to yield the right of way to. It's no longer an intersection; it's just a 90-degree bend in the only road there is. You could turn left at that so-called intersection in a Ferrari at 200 mph and not have to worry about any traffic crossing your path. I don't blame the driver of the pickup. As for that "turn" I didn't signal, (a) I actually do signal turns when appropriate, unlike probably 98 percent of cyclists, but (b) there's no need to signal a turn when that turn is the only move you could possibly make. Well, except for the move I made, which was to get out of the street altogether. I proceeded onto the sidewalk to get out of the way of the motor vehicle that I heard behind me. (So, yeah, I didn't stop, but I didn't exactly "run" the sign either.) I didn't know that motor vehicle behind me was a police car, and I figured that maybe a motorist on this lonely road might appreciate not being behind a slow bicycle any longer than absolutely necessary. As a bicyclist, you learn pretty quickly that your very presence is an affront to some motorists, and you make such allowances. Had I known the vehicle behind me was a police car, I'm still not sure I would have stopped at the stop sign. I certainly wouldn't have signaled my turn in the absence of any cross-traffic or the possibility thereof. I'm pretty cautious and paranoid around law enforcement, but that would have seemed over-the-top Eddie Haskell even so. (And, again, note that the truck did not stop.)
Comments
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Anybody saying he should have went after the car, they both broke the law with the cyclist breaking two laws. If you can seriously think that he should have went after that truck, think again.
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This is great! I'm sick of bicyclists making the road more dangerous for safe drivers. You're not above the law.
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I think this is awesome and I wish we could see more cyclists getting ticketed when they break the rules. I don't see any reasonable way you can argue that you didn't deserve the tickets he gave you. You didn't stop and you didn't display the direction of your turn. And if you'd been as aware of your surroundings as you claim you were, it seems likely you would have known about the cop's car before he pulled you over.
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That pig is a total ass hole on power trip.
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I didn't notice the truck running the light until I watched the video. Probably because he, like I, had absolutely no practical reason to stop. And probably just as well, because it could have gotten ugly. Note how the cop was ready with a defensive answer the second I asked how many speeding cars he ignores.
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cops a dick, WTF didn't you mention the truck in front of you?
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This is why I don't carry ID.
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I like it so much more when police came to your rescue instead of this needless embarrassment they bring upon themselves.
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I've found MPD to be much better at focusing on actual road-user safety than Park Police. It is a shame that MPD's high level of professionalism is not harmonized across the many different law enforcement branches in the District
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Only a dick cop would write a ticket under those circumstances.
Study up and document the safety factor of "Idaho Stop" laws, and take it to court. Also point out that you were concerned for your safety with a motor vehicle so close behind you, at that time of night, and with no oncoming/conflicting traffic calculated that it's safer to do a "rolling stop" than a "complete stop". If you can demonstrate to the court that it's safer to "roll" through the stop sign (as demonstrated by the safety outcome of Idaho Stop laws), then you shouldn't be liable under a law that's not written with your safety in mind. There's probably even a law under that jurisdiction that allows you to violate a traffic law if you can demonstrate that violating the law is safer than following the law.
As for signalling: Are bicyclists required to signal? Or encouraged to signal "when safe to do so"? Is it safe to signal that turn? Under those conditions? Or safer to leave both hands on the handlebars? -
Thats some serious BS from the cop.
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