An unfortunate thing happened to me this evening. A Ford Explorer, traveling well above the speed limit (he estimated he was going 70), drove up behind me and didn’t see me until the last second. When he did see me, he slammed on the brakes, fish-tailed, and rolled. Fortunately for me, he rolled on the other side of the road. I was completely unharmed. He was out of his vehicle before I dismounted, also completely unharmed. His car is totaled.
The officer that responded to the call cited him for failure to avoid an accident, and he also cited me. His opinion was that it was too dark for me to be riding my bicycle. I do not agree, and I think a large part of his decision was due to the fact that by the time he got around to writing the tickets, after arriving at the scene, accessing damage, and calling a tow, it WAS too dark to be riding (but I wasn’t riding then). But whatever. I’m going to pay to $75 dollar fine and be done with it. Funny thing, though. He had to pour over his state law book to find something to cite me for. I got a kick out of that. He finally found “improper lighting on bicycle”.
The only thing that really matters is that the two people involved in the accident were unharmed. And thus, I was reminded of some very important things.
Wear your seat belt. They save lives. A seat belt saved a life tonight.
Obey the speed limit.
Wear your seat belt.
Pay attention to the road.
Wear your helmet. Mine didn’t come into place this evening, but I’m glad I had it.
Carry ID. The whole process was drawn out considerably longer than it should have been because I did not have any. I know my drivers license number, but that apparently isn’t good enough.
Wear your seat belt.
A funny thing: When he was writing up his report, he wanted to know how many speeds my bike had. I almost laughed in his face. I decided against telling him that that was a completely useless piece of information.
Boy, hearing the brakes squeal and the car rolling had to be terrifying. I’m glad you’re both ok.
On a much shallower note, on my ride last night I passed a police officer and realized that my dream as a cyclists is to someday get a speeding ticket for riding too fast. Unlikely it’ll ever happen cuz I was pushing as hard as I could and was only at 23 mph.
I would certainly dispute the ticket -there cannot be fault leveled at you for riding along the road.
Take a camera out tonight - with a watch - take a photo around the same time as the accident - with the watch visible as part of the image - then take a photo of the same scenery - with the watch visible - around the time the officer turned up.
Glad to hear there are no injuries - did the guy in the truck happen to be on the phone or text messaging someone - or snooze or similar?
I know people who have done the camera thing. Two ideas. Get a video recorder and do it tonight (we’re losing daylight a few minutes each day now), but make sure the data/time are showing. Take a friend and have them either ride or walk at distances away so you can record them. Do it quickly so you aren’t losing daylight. Show it to the judge. Ask him if you would have been cited as a jogger running on the road. Obviously not.
ALSO, check what time published in the paper-sunset was and prepare to show what time the accident occurred. Laws here are specific to sunset for boat/jetski, etc. operation and may be for your biking laws too. Check it out, but definitely dispute it if you think the lighting was not a factor.
(my background was as a State HWP officer in Australia for 6 years ago) - but that was in another life - 90-96
If you can show evidence - which by doing this - would be more than the police could bring to court - then you should be ok - no need to get an attorney - represent yourself - just bring film/photos and yesterday’s newspaper weather page.
You may even find that the driver of the vehicle may support your story!
Make a copy of EVERYTHING in your wallet or purse a few times a month. If/when it gets lost or stolen, you won’t be scrambling to figure out what was lost/contact numbers to cancel cards, etc.
wow, thank God you weren’t hurt. if it were me, i’d pay the ticket and move on as well. at this point i’m sure you’re just thankful to be alive and unharmed, and that the driver was unharmed–aside from the car totalled. arguing it would take time (time is money) and would probably cause you to be upset. i’d pay 75 bucks not to deal with it, and to not cause myself further grief from what could have been a most horrible situation.
one of the few regrets I have in life is not fighting the speeding ticket I got on my bike (and keeping it). Was in a rush to get home in the early morning after crashing at a friends house…family was going to an amusement park that day and I needed to be home by 7am sharp or get left home. Back when I was 18 (and really in shape) I could really give her hell…but I wasn’t paying attention to speed as much as I was trying to get home in time. A cop pulls in behind and flashes his lights…figuring he’s on his way to catch someone other than me I pull over slightly to let him by. He flashes his lights and through a bullhorn in the truck he tells me to pull over. Thinking perhaps he figures the bike is stolen (what thief wears a helmet…clipless pedals and spandex I’ll never know) I pull over to set the record straight. ‘Morning officer…is everything okay?’ “Do you know what the speed limit is on this stretch of road son (bikes had just become vehicles by law less than a month before)?” I just stood looking at him a bit dumbfounded ‘Not really’ “Well it’s 40km/h (we were in a school zone I think)…you have any idea how fast you were going?” As I put a hand over my Cateye solar computer ‘I wouldn’t even know how to guess how fast I was going’. “I had you doing 60” Checked later…I’d been doing 62 in fact. After some debate as to whether or not I had a drivers licence or not…or any ID for that matter and some talk of how was he to know my real name…he handed me my ticket (which would have included 2 points on my drivers licence had I owned one at the time) and told me to take it easy next time. I asked which pocket he thought I should put it in and he warned me that I should watch my mouth or warrant a second one.
Needless to say I got home 15mins late and my mom was furious. She said I’d better have a really good excuse or I’d be staying home today. Didn’t say a word…just handed her the ticket and walked away shaking my head. We all had a good laugh about it that day. Almost as priceless was the look on the clerks face when I went to pay it. She asked to see my licence and I told her I had none…so you were driving without one then…yes…my bicycle doesn’t require a licence as far as I know. Excuse me…did you say bicycle? Uh huh. Turns to the other clerk…how does this work? Gets a shrug in reply. You really should have fought this one son…the judge would have had the laugh of a lifetime before he threw it out of his courtroom.
To this day I keep speeding along that stretch of road hoping to get another ticket…still no luck. I try to get one on a downhill run I do in town too…limit is 50…and I know I can do 80 down it. Someday.
Fight the ticket. I would refuse to allow what could have been a horrible situation made even worse by an ignorant cop who has to search for justification for writing me up.
I have no trouble paying speeding tickets when I speed, but there’s no way I’d stand for a citation that isn’t justified. Follow everyone else’s advice. Get the paper, take some pics, and spend an hour in traffic court. Maybe the cop will learn something from it, especially if you make a point of mentioning that he didn’t take into account what time the accident actually occurred.
I echo everyone so far and agree that you should not be cited for this. Tom, the Ann Arbor rider that died this weekend (if we are thinking of the same woman) certainly led an extroadinary life. I was reading her obit in the Livingston County Press and Argus and thought that I can only hope my life is that full. It sounds like we lost a facinating person.
