BUSTED!
I was on the way to climbing gym tonight, riding the road bike as usual; quickly getting to the other end of town. As I was riding down the right lane of a three lane one way, I hit a red light. I needed to make a left turn ahead, so I took the advantage to make a quick double lane change with the only cars being a block or so behind me. The cross street was completely clear, so after doing a quick psuedo track stand, and checking the road, I took off through the light to get a jump on the cars approaching from the rear.
I was immediately greeted by the wonderful sound of sirens. Apparently there had been a police car, literally directly behind. The cop was actually really cool, and sounded apologetic for pulling me over, stating that he really had to because of the blantent disregard of the law on my part, and the fact the there were a lot of people there watching me, and watching him watching me. He wasn't apologetic enough to not issue me a citation though. I won't find out how much it is until I get it in the mail, but he said that the rule is that bicylist running stop lights are ticked for running stop signs, which is significantly less than the red light violation of $320.
I'm not sure if there is any reason to fight it or not. I really don't have much of a defense since it was a extremely blatent. What's funny though, is that the officer seemed more surprised that I stopped in the first place. If I hadn't, the police car would have been farther behind me, and probably wouldn't have ticked me since it wouldn't have looked as bad. What do you think JoJo, is the "I really don't like that law" a good defense.
In all honesty, I think its better to look at it as a "fee" instead of a "fine." Kind of a "privlege to run lights" fee. And as we all know, the best way to save money is to buy in bulk, so that's what I'll have to start doing.
I was immediately greeted by the wonderful sound of sirens. Apparently there had been a police car, literally directly behind. The cop was actually really cool, and sounded apologetic for pulling me over, stating that he really had to because of the blantent disregard of the law on my part, and the fact the there were a lot of people there watching me, and watching him watching me. He wasn't apologetic enough to not issue me a citation though. I won't find out how much it is until I get it in the mail, but he said that the rule is that bicylist running stop lights are ticked for running stop signs, which is significantly less than the red light violation of $320.
I'm not sure if there is any reason to fight it or not. I really don't have much of a defense since it was a extremely blatent. What's funny though, is that the officer seemed more surprised that I stopped in the first place. If I hadn't, the police car would have been farther behind me, and probably wouldn't have ticked me since it wouldn't have looked as bad. What do you think JoJo, is the "I really don't like that law" a good defense.
In all honesty, I think its better to look at it as a "fee" instead of a "fine." Kind of a "privlege to run lights" fee. And as we all know, the best way to save money is to buy in bulk, so that's what I'll have to start doing.
posted by Frick at 9:46 PM
1 Comments:
Random initial comments ...
I'll be curious to hear how much the fine is. Whether it's worth it for you to contest the charge would probably depend on the amount of the fine.
Will this go on your driving record?
Rationalizing this as a fee (instead of a fine) implies that after you pay the fee, you're covered for a finite time period. Paying this fine doesn't cover you for any finite period ... unless you consider it as covering the months you've been in Sacramento, and all the lights you've already run.
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