BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Wow. That's...outrageous.

It's a tough call as to what to do, esp. if the cop didn't actually order you over to the side of the road. In any event, I think I'd err on the side of pulling over and suing the cop later.

That is insane. Worth reading, especially for bicycling mag.

Cops are there to enforce laws, even if they are wrong, they think they are doing their job. Even that dude (that quote is amazing that he gave)...

I would take any ticket and then fight it. If the cop had written them up, it would have been a lot less stressful to just go to court to fight this and be right than to almost get killed.

Also, a smart person knows the right answer.

A smarter person knows the right answer and doesnt

correct somebody else.

"He reported following the two cyclists at a speed of about 5-10 miles per hour "

"Ryan recalls that they were riding two abreast, at about 18 - 20 MPH"

Really? The cop insists they were going 5-10mph. I'm not a racer, but even to me, that is incredibly slow. Especially on what I would think would be very flat terrain.

I think this says something about the general perception of bicycles. For some reason car drivers don't realize that bikes are capable of keeping up with traffic.

A cop asks me to pull over I pull over. I have been pulled over in my car many times and have never received a ticket. Yes sir, no sir and I am gone. Erie PA, Pittsburgh PA and Ohio Turnpike. Speeding, running red lights, guilty every time, never had a ticket.

As for what I would do in this situation? If they cop ordered me off the road I would pull over and do whatever he asks. If he were wrong I would take down his badge number and report him later.

"A cop asks me to pull over I pull over. I have been pulled over in my car many times and have never received a ticket. Yes sir, no sir and I am gone. Erie PA, Pittsburgh PA and Ohio Turnpike. Speeding, running red lights, guilty every time, never had a ticket."

I agree. I do the exact same thing. However, I have been pulled over close to 30 times, with 3 tickets (2 of which I definitely deserved, 81 in a 65, and 1?? in a 65. The other was for a made up violation where the officer* lied, and later no-showed to defend his actions in court) out of those 30.

However, according to the cyclists, they were never asked to pull over.

"If he were wrong I would take down his badge number and report him later."

I don't know if you have ever done this, but anytime I have ever went to file a complaint, I am either threatened, or it is taken as a joke. When you file a complaint, you are filing with the police department- a very tight knit brotherhood.

There are some very just police officers who do their best to maintain their ethics and professionalism, however, they are usually over shadowed by the bad ones.

*At the time this officer was new to this department after being dismissed by his last department for beating his wife.

well, here in pgh we fortunately have he cprb, or citizen police review board, a board of citizens that handles complaints. they have no real teeth here in pittsburgh, however. cops are required to show up to hearings, but as we've seen, they have shown up to court, doing things like listening to their ipod at high volume, eh hlavac?

anyway, we link to it in our "in a crash" section:

http://bike-pgh.org/resources/in-a-crash/

but here's their website for further info:

http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/cprb/

oh yeah....and 30 times??!!

A few take-home lessons.

There were two cyclists and hints of another witness (the guy who picked up the bikes).

One cyclist and two deputies? Dog meat biker.

The bikers sounded on the edge of road rage - even in their own descriptions.

ERok:

"...citizen police review board, a board of citizens that handles complaints. they have no real teeth here in pittsburgh "

Sounds like one BikePgh question for mayoral candidates might be about getting some balls for the cprb. Non-bikers might find the answers interesting as well.

Mick

yeah, a little bit of mission-creep