in Fremont CA, not much else to do but crack down on a suited high school counselor commuting home. What should I say in court you guys? I was ticketed as a car (moving vehicle). its ridiculous. there were no cars around and the cop spun around and hit his siren. Pah-leeeze! Goal: get the ticket as reduced as possible.
anyone else get something this absurd on a bike? I have run many many reds in all my years of riding but still…
Sorry, I don’t have an answer for your question, but to piggy back on your thread, I have a similar question.
Instead of running the red, is it acceptable to make a right turn at the intersection, another U turn, and another right to get through the interestection without waiting for a green?
So you’ve run, what, maybe 100 red lights in your years of riding? That’s only $4.39/violation. That make it feel any better?
I agree, $439 seems pretty steep, but in this tough economic environment municipalities are looking for revenue. Good luck
Ha! it does make it better dood. I thought of that to. averaging it out to swallow. still shitty going down. and 100 red lights in my career… no way. try 1000 plus. I run that intersection alone twice every day for the past 2 school years… should have told the cop I would continue running them in his absence after he gave me the ticket!
What’s the officer’s sheild # / last name? I have some cyclist friends at Fremont PD who might be able to convince him he doesn’t need to show up in court.
Dave
Which intersection in Fremont was this?
$439 is crazy; I’ve run a red light with my car (again in Fremont) and the fine was much less than that (then again, this was some years ago).
Sorry, the only help I can offer is grapevine rumours: judges at the Alameda County court do not appreciate having these tickets challenged, so if they found you guilty it is very common for them to double the fine – at least this is what I had heard about automobile fines (and decided to just pay the fine), but maybe they would show leniency towards a cyclist.
Best of luck,
John
Always get an attorney. This sounds like a $100 to the attorney to make it go away. This is all a big game to the cops and courts. If you are not repesented by a lawyer you will be taken advantage of. I was once a trouble maker. Get to know a lawyer. You are a dude on a bike. If you blow an intersection and hit a car, you will not hurt anyone. This is a $100 see ya later ticket (to your lawyer only) . Don’t let them take advantage of you. This is bullshit! You have to be smarter than them. Good luck.
IIRC it is legal to go through a red light if the light doesn’t “detect” you. Possible on that intersection?
What’s the officer’s sheild # / last name? I have some cyclist friends at Fremont PD who might be able to convince him he doesn’t need to show up in court.
Dave
rosetti. maybe be a sup or someting. drives a truck with lights and the whole bit. I called the courts and they laughed that I was ticketed and when I told them the cop, they knew and it made sense to them. any help would be great.
Which intersection in Fremont was this?
$439 is crazy; I’ve run a red light with my car (again in Fremont) and the fine was much less than that (then again, this was some years ago).
Sorry, the only help I can offer is grapevine rumours: judges at the Alameda County court do not appreciate having these tickets challenged, so if they found you guilty it is very common for them to double the fine – at least this is what I had heard about automobile fines (and decided to just pay the fine), but maybe they would show leniency towards a cyclist.
Best of luck,
John
Stevenson right by lake elizabeth (and mission control for FPD). the court date is looking like october. I wont even be working down there. so I will need to take time off my new job and kiss ass in court. I may well just pay it. check this out $439 ticket, traffic school is $450 and a court fee of $55. nearing a grand for rolling a red on bike just to pay the tickect and get it off my record!! whack. thanks for your feedback on the county dood!
from a cop’s persepective, and feel free to PM me at any point. is it illegal, yes? were you on a bike? yes. now, i am coming from a New York perspective, and as an avid cyclist/triathlete I empathize because i feel this is a bullshit ticket. if this was in NY, I would request a supporting deposition. this means contacting the court system, (usually where you mail in the ticket) and asking for a written deposition from the officer to what he observed. 2. get the court date. respresent yourself, dont pay for an attorney. “you were waiting for a red light to change that did not change, and that you rode your bicycle through to carry on your ride”. nothing more, nothing less. plead the “i am guilty, but innocent routine” because to most normal officers, you did nothing wrong and that officer should be ashamed that he is so damn desperate for a ticket, that he has to write a cyclist! 3. again, let me know by PM if I can be of any more help in the legal matters…there has to be other offices around this forum willing to help out.
The whole thing stinks, but there are a few things that might improve the outcome for you. First, contact the court clerk and explain that you need to change your court date. Tell them you are going to out of town. Suggest a date the following week on a different day of the week. The goal is to maximize the liklihood that the PO does not show. This seems to work better with CHP but is worth the effort. Second, carefully inspect the ticket to make sure it is filled out correctly. If not respectfully ask that the court dismiss the ticket when you appear. If all fails plead guilty " with an explaination". The judge should reduce your fine to $100.00 if you are respectful. I always told my clients that whenever you testify in court “make sure you stay close to the truth”. Good luck.
You run a red light and you are upset you got a ticket? $439 sounds steep but you did break the law.
Now replace your bike with a car and would you have run the red light at 15 mph? NO so why do it on a bike.
Pay the fine and stop giving cyclists a bad name.
Not that this will make you feel better, but I’m a cop in the area and I could swear my wife was ticketed by the same officer for speeding a few years back. Now granted my wife was in the wrong, nor was she or I expecting any special treatment as noone is above the law. However, one thing I have learned is that there are cops who would give tickets to their own mother, including the agency I work for. This is probably one of them!! Take it for what it is, it’s his job, maybe he gets enjoyment from it, maybe he hates cyclists…who knows!! What I do know is that if you did run the light it will be tough to win in court because most likely he will show up like all motors(assuming he was on the motorcycle unit, as most beat cops would give you a warning) do for tickets. Beat cops are a different bread…more about criminals than traffic violations.
You would be surprised how many Bay Area cities have details set up to catch cyclists running red lights. Down on the Peninsula and into Santa Clara County cops will have one cop set up at a stop sign and another down the road to stop a whole pelton if they blew the stop sign. Los Altos PD along Foothill always are stopping cyclist for running red lights even when there is no cross traffic. It’s their job and you can blame them as noone can predict when running the light or stop sign could cause a serious accident or death.
Best bet is to see if they(court) can give you some type of traffic school or reduce the fine in court instead of wasting time with an attorney. Attorneys will not work for $100 for a traffic ticket in the Bay Area…I know plenty of them(both criminal and civil defense) and they are close to $400/ hour. Traffic court takes more than 1 hour to handle, so do the math!! You can always ask the court to go on a payment plan, which I did once, and the best thing is they dont charge you interest when paying over a few months.
Good luck on taking care of this
Have your local attorney show up for you in court. The DA will either significantly reduce the fine or your attorney will set the case for trial. Cops are generally scheduled for court on a specific day for all the tickets they write in a month. Your attorney will then continue the case a few times and the Cop will not show up. If no cop - no violation.
Sorry but thats how it works. Should cot you about $150
That ticket sounds pretty damn steep. However, you did go through the red and 15mph aint exactly “rollin”. 15mph is still reasonably fast for going through an intersection, especially a red light.
Sorry, I don’t have an answer for your question, but to piggy back on your thread, I have a similar question.
Instead of running the red, is it acceptable to make a right turn at the intersection, another U turn, and another right to get through the interestection without waiting for a green?
Peter…I bet you’ve seen a few people do that manouver to get around Toronto. You can do that move as long as its safe and you don’t get rear ended. We would do this move alot if we were doing surveillance and had to catch up to a target and couldn’t blow the red. Great move for those long red lights late at night when no ones around. Its also legal in Ontario to do a U-turn in an intersection (which most people don’t know).
You broke the law and got caught. You should get a ticket.
I hate cyclists who think that they are somehow above the traffic laws. I am an avid cyclist. But nothing pisses me off more than cyclists rolling stops signs/lights. Not only is it dangerous but it is bad for the cycling community. You are putting your own life at risk and making the road less safe for everyone else.
What is “absurd” is your moral indignation about getting a ticket for admittedly breaking the law. Under the law you are no different than a car. Either follow the laws or accept the consequences.
Just to clarify here- you were riding a bike when you got the ticket?
15 mph is not rolling through a light.You ran the light period.