Thread started by tortuga_veloce at 12.4.08 - 11:14 am

im putting together an eductational handbook for cops. as some of you know, i recently got cited for 21202. i brought a copy of the law to the police station, in hopes that the cop would drop the case. of course, i was foolish. he amended the citation to include 22400, minimum speed law. of course, there is a valid argument:

a. the minumum speed law does not apply when you are impeding traffic "in compliance with law"
b. the DMV's own fucking handbook advises to leave a gap of four seconds, which is a much greater distance on a bicycle.

so, to make this a more valuable tool, what bullshit tickets have you gotten? it's amazing how much literature has been published by LADOT, DMV, etc. that directly contradicts exactly what i've been hearing from police officers in my weekly harrassment of the watch commander.

GIVE ME YOUR TICKETS!

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If there are any cops that you know write large numbers of tickets for things that are not illegal, is anyone interested in filing a restraining order on behalf of the MR?



tortuga_veloce
12.4.08 - 11:14 am

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What was the address of where you got the ticket? The CVC states ...

(b) Whenever the Department of Transportation determines on the basis of an engineering and traffic survey that slow speeds on any part of a state highway consistently impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic, the department may determine and declare a minimum speed limit below which no person shall drive a vehicle, except when necessary for safe operation or in compliance with law, when appropriate signs giving notice thereof are erected along the part of the highway for which a minimum speed limit is established.
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc22400.htm

Me -
This reads that if the DOT hasn't done a survey on that road, then the officer's ticket is invalid.

I also got a ticket that cited me the 21202 code. He also noted (failure to move right). Too bad he didn't read further on this code, cause that code gives me the right to take the lane if there's not enough room for a car and bike in the lane. Which there wasn't. I'm in the process of fighting that one. I can send a copy of the ticket tonite.



User1
12.4.08 - 11:37 am

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I was given a ticket for not riding to the right, although the officer said it was because I was obstructing traffic. What I was doing was making a legal left turn and merged lanes over to get there, all this with a red light ahead so cars weren't going anywhere fast anyways. The law explicitly makes it clear that making left turns is an exception to the ride to the ride rule, and the officer even acknowledged in the notes of the ticket I was doing a left turn arm signal. I wrote up a letter of declaration stating my case and also taking a few jabs at the conduct by the officer, and got my violation dropped.

I'm going to do a write up about the case and publish my letter on my blog soon and I'll post a link to this thread when I do.



GarySe7en
12.4.08 - 12:42 pm

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i dont believe that's correct, but in fact it's much simpler than that. here's the first half of the text:

Minimum Speed Law

22400. (a) No person shall drive upon a highway at such a slow speed as to impede or block the normal and reasonable movement of traffic, unless the reduced speed is necessary for safe operation, because of a grade, or in compliance with law.

No person shall bring a vehicle to a complete stop upon a highway so as to impede or block the normal and reasonable movement of traffic unless the stop is necessary for safe operation or in compliance with law.


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The key clause here is "unless...in compliance with law." The law in question is 22100 (b), permitting left turns and 21202, which allows you to make a left turn.

The ARGUMENT you will make in court is to put 21202 in perspective. The language of 21202 is very similar to the law regulating slow-moving vehicles, or 21654. THEREFORE, a bicycle should move in a manner similar to that of a garbage truck.

Similarly, a garbage truck is required to operate in the bicycle lane, and similarly is slow to accelerate. You wouldnt expect a garbage truck to wait until it is 50 feet from an intersection to switch over 3 lanes of traffic to make a left? that would be crazy.

Furthermore, in order to avoid violating this section, it was imperitive for me to move over when i did have the chance. otherwise, i would have ended up at the end of the block, with my hand out, waiting to get over and blocking traffic. that would have been a violation of 22400.

as far as making a "box turn," it's been shown to be more dangerous to make a box turn using crosswalks and sidewalks than to make a left turn as a car, where you are more visible.

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“The average cyclist in this study incurs a risk on the sidewalk 1.8 times as great as on the roadway, and the result is statistically significant (p<0.01).”

Wachtel and Lewiston, “Risk Factors for Bicycle-Motor Vehicle Collisions at Intersections,” ITE J., Sept. 1994, [http://www.bicyclinglife.com/Library/Accident-Study.pdf]

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Furthermore, it is not the police officer's judgement that dictates which type of turn i should make, but rather my own.

The key to winning in court is not to find some legalese loophole, but to keep it simple. Now, based on this analogy, the police officer should be looking pretty red. at this point, i pull out the DMV handbook, which is most likely of greater reference than a traffic law handbook. I can flip to the page pertaining to changing lanes...

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"Any time you merge, you need a gap of at least four seconds. However, this gives both you and the other vehicle only a two-second following distance"

---

The four second rule is dependent on a vehicle's speed, and therefore, if a bicycle finds an opportunity to change lanes before the intersection, it is in the bicycle's interest to change lanes. this is of course, provided that the bicycle is changing lanes within a reasonable distance of the approaching left.

in the case of my ticket, the citing officer felt that 200' was excessive. ironically, his partner picked that number as an acceptable distance before the former returned with my citation.

assholes.



tortuga_veloce
12.4.08 - 12:55 pm

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hey gary, what court did you go to? i consider it a perogative to keep some track of which judges, police, etc are more or less informed of cycle law.





tortuga_veloce
12.4.08 - 12:57 pm

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