Advertisement
I just got a (multi-hundred dollar) ticket for running a red on my bike. I was pulled over by a bike cop in downtown Berkeley. I was just wondering if anyone else has had this experience recently, or if I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
FYI; a moving violation on your bike is the same as one in a car -- it'll put points on your drivers license, and if you have auto insurance, you can watch your rates go up -- you also have the option of traffic school...
--dan
FYI; a moving violation on your bike is the same as one in a car -- it'll put points on your drivers license, and if you have auto insurance, you can watch your rates go up -- you also have the option of traffic school...
--dan
posted by:
|
SF Bay Area
|
Advertisement
Advertisement
-
Unsu...
Re: Red Light crackdown in Berkeley?
Mon, June 20, 2005 - 2:06 PMhow much was the ticket? i thought running a red was $150. i don't know where i got that, but i thought it was from the dmv site (can't find it again).
i have seen cops on the sidewalk at night without a light. i will be collecting badge numbers from now on for that kind of behavior. if we can't bend the laws, neither can the power-hungry hipocrates. i suggest we band together on this. i've heard of other cops, through tribe, that have it out for us.
-
Unsu...
Re: Red Light crackdown in Berkeley?
Mon, June 20, 2005 - 2:06 PMoh, and do you know what they do if there's no driver's license? -
-
Re: Red Light crackdown in Berkeley?
Mon, June 20, 2005 - 3:59 PMRed light violation (CVC 21453a) is $351 !!
If you don't have a driver's license or state ID they'll want to verify your ID and address with whatever other ID you might have (credit card, gym id...). Remember, they've got instant access to the state data base, so don't tell them you lost your license and then give them a fake name. -
-
Re: Red Light crackdown in Berkeley?
Mon, June 20, 2005 - 7:40 PMBack when I was a teenager, it was easy just to give a fake name and get off scott-free... however, now days if you say you don't have any ID on you they'll usually just bust you and haul you off to the holding tank to print you so they can ID you that way.
-
Unsu...
Re: Red Light crackdown in Berkeley?
Tue, June 21, 2005 - 11:22 AMwhat can they do if you run? i wouldn't try it with a motorcycle cop, but maybe a bike (i know these guys couldn't get me) or a car (only in berkeley, the land of pylons). -
-
Unsu...
Re: Red Light crackdown in Berkeley?
Tue, June 21, 2005 - 2:35 PMThat's the attitude that gives cyclists a bad rap. Obey the laws. A red light is something you might want to stop at. Sucks the fine is so expensive, but so is everything else in CA. Your just asking for trouble and a karma come around when you mess with the cops. Yeah they can be dicks, but...
-
Re: Red Light crackdown in Berkeley?
Tue, June 21, 2005 - 5:57 PM"what can they do if you run?"
It doesn't matter how fast you are, or how good you are... you can't outrun Motorola. Doing something like that is just asking them to smash your face into the pavement. If you really want to get at them you'd be better off with a rifle, a scope, a flash suppressor, some magnum jet rounds, and a perch in a tree. -
-
Unsu...
Re: Red Light crackdown in Berkeley?
Thu, June 23, 2005 - 12:56 PMwow, a lotta emotion around this one.
i do like the idea of a cop having to call in backup because a bicyclist is getting away. hee hee, pigs. it would make me giggle. i wonder if i could get on the news like they do it in southern california for a (hee hee) high-speed chase.
i figure i get left alone (i've done everything illegal that i know how to do in front of oakland/berkeley cops) because i don't wear "bicycling clothes," i don't own a flashy bike, i always ride hard (don't get in cars' ways and i look hard to catch) and i obey every law that it makes sence to obey at the time (even helmet, reflectors, lights). i'm a serious bicyclist and i always ride very safe.
btw, how do they let a bicyclist know they are pulling them over? -
-
-
Unsu...
Re: Red Light crackdown in Berkeley?
Thu, June 23, 2005 - 1:17 PMthanks, i'll keep my eye out. -
-
Unsu...
Re: Red Light crackdown in Berkeley?
Thu, June 23, 2005 - 1:25 PMOne time I was making a delivery to 235 Mongomery St. in SF. The front door is smack in the middle of the block, sice the whole building takes up that side of the 200block of Mont. Well I come rolling up and jump the curb, and at the news stand there's this foot patrol cop who gets on my shit while I'm dismounting to lock up and go in the building. He gives me a ticket for riding on the sidewalk! I have ditched cops many times. the key is to turn around and go the other way, then duck into a side street quickly. This works real well on one way streets. -
-
This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.Unsu...
Re: Red Light crackdown in Berkeley?
Thu, June 23, 2005 - 1:46 PM"I have ditched cops many times. the key is to turn around and go the other way, then duck into a side street quickly. This works real well on one way streets."
i like this cheezy better than:
"That's the attitude that gives cyclists a bad rap. Obey the laws." -
-
Unsu...
Re: Red Light crackdown in Berkeley?
Thu, June 23, 2005 - 1:52 PMAll in a days work... I have been riding for at least 30 yrs, and have become old, slow and awesome! I just see no reason to draw attention to myself anymore. Ride like ya do!
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Re: Red Light crackdown in Berkeley?
Tue, June 21, 2005 - 8:32 AMBummer, sorry that happened to you and thanks so much for the heads up!!
Several years ago, I heard about people getting tickets at the stop sign (cheaper fine?) at Milvia and Kittredge; but not much about ticketing cyclists since then...
-
Re: Red Light crackdown in Berkeley?
Wed, August 12, 2009 - 8:21 AM
So Dan, Whatever happened with this citation? How did you plead? Late spring '09/ early summer, I received a moving violation for running the red light in Truckee, CA. i was traveling on a slight downhill between 25-30mph and saw the light turn yellow, then red, before I was able to make it across. There is a bike lane at that intersection, which I was traveling in. The intersection is more of a "T" as the right hand side is a school, and this being summer (and a Sunday!) there wasn't any traffic heading into that lot. At any regular 4-way intersection, I would never blow a red light and put my life in danger.
I was pulled over by a younger officer who issued me a citation, and denied my request for a warning saying "well, you knew what you did was wrong..." I have a completely clean driving record, which he looked up.
I am looking at a $415 ticket for running a red light, the exact same moving violation as if I had done this in my car. There is also the chance of receiving points on my drivers license with the option of attending traffic school...
I am scheduled to appear in court on 8/21/09 where I can plead guilty with hopes of the judge reducing the fine. I can also file for a trial by declaration, where I would state my case through the mail, plead not guilty, and post the $415 bail.
After reading some posts on mtbr.com I'm leaning toward a guilty plea with hopes of a reduction in this sickening fine...
Anyone have any other experiences with the legal side of things? And the outcome?
I will let you know how mine goes! -
-
Re: Red Light crackdown in Berkeley?
Wed, August 12, 2009 - 3:31 PMIdaho has a state law that allows not stopping at stop signs,but requires stopping at lighted signals. Much more realistic.
Advocacy for an Idaho style stop law got shot down when introduced in Oregon,recently.
My take on this is that cars rarely come to a full stop at stop signs either, but it is rarely enforced. The key is to look at the hub of the wheels of the car,or bike and see if they truely come to a stop. Anecdotally,I have heard of a cyclist who supposedly photographed a police enforcement of bikes stopping and caught on video the fact that cars were not stopped for not coming to a complete stop, where cyclists were. The key being the wheels actually not coming to a complete..COMPLETE stop. Hence,unequal enforcement-no ticket,when going to traffic court. Just a thought, but it might be a way to beat this.
Owing to the complete difference of visibilty,mass, and the fact you have to overcome inertia on your own,as opposed to a car relying on an engine to do that, most traffic enforcements are just targeted harrassment. -
-
Re: Red Light crackdown in Berkeley?
Wed, August 12, 2009 - 6:14 PMwell, i personally hate bikes that don't stop at stop signs because they're always very dangerous to me as another cyclists. Twice now I've either nearly broadsided or nearly been broadsided by someone blasting through a stop sign on their bike. I've nearly been hit once when I blasted through a stop sign at the bottom of a hill too. That's when I stopped blasting through stop signs. It only takes once. -
-
Re: Red Light crackdown in Berkeley?
Wed, August 12, 2009 - 9:48 PM???? I generally plan my routes to avoid traffic signals. When I see a traffic light ahead turning red I slow down and coast and stop if necessary. Stopping a car at a red light is more of an annoyance for me since I am wasting much more kinetic energy by braking an automobile to a stop. Around here the city has been removing traffic signals on main streets and replacing them with two way stops. I have only once seen a bicyclist stopped by the police for running a red light, and that was up in Cleveland Heights, the Berkeley of Cleveland. In the central city and the working class suburbs the police pretty much ignore bicycles.
-
-
-
