They ticket cyclist on the local MUP trail here. Speed limit is posted at 20mph and they have an electric motorcycle that patrols it. I know one guy who got caught going 22mph and the cop said he blew through a stop sign. Points got taken off his drivers license for riding a bike on a MUP; seems odd to me.
That is really dumb. What would they do if the guy didn’t have a driver’s license?
I wondered the same thing. I’d have just claimed to not have any ID on me or something. I was told by the local cycling club that they are specifically targeting people that “look like bike racers”.
Right… (rolls eyes).
I doubt those tickets would even stand up in court.
My only speeding ticket was on a bicycle. I was pegged going 28 in a 20 mph school zone outside of Austin about five years ago. We were a group of four and a motorcycle cop pulled up alongside the lead rider and told him to pull over. Being friends, we all stopped, a bit bemused with the situation. After issuing the lead rider a ticket, the cop asked who was bringing up the rear. Not thinking, I said I was. That was a mistake. Cost me about $200 in fines and fees. We were in the wrong so I didn’t try to contest it. I was able to take driver’s education to keep the ticket off my record (bicycles were mentioned twice in the six hour class). I think I still have the ticket somewhere; I’ll have to dig it up when I get home and find a frame for it.
I had a cop pull me over for doing 39 in a 30mph (it’s a 5-7% downhill). I told him I was doing 42.1, and had a calibrated cyclometer to prove it; and I wanted 42.1 on the ticket. He just walked back to his car disgusted and never wrote me the ticket.
This has happened to me too. I was coming down a bridge. Granted I was passing cars but still in the bike lane being respectful…I was trying to work out for crying out loud. The limit was 35 and I got ticketed at 44.
Even though I was pissed at the time it’s a story that will always get laughs in the future. It happened a few years ago and to this day every time I tell it laughs are had.
Yes Richmond Park, there are signs stating 20mph speed limit even right before a big descent where you can hit 35 mph. The whole situation seems rather grey as this is one of the Royal Parks which have different laws to the usual Highway Code.
But on a normal day any observant cyclist should be able to see police on patrol and adjust there speed and behaviour accordingly.
As with cars just because you can go x mph doesn’t mean you should.
Overtaking cars on a single lane highwayay suggest careless driving rather than speeding.
It would be super easy to get a ticket in the tiny midwest town where I live if the cops were so inclined. The speed limit throughout most of the town is 25mph. I try to represent all cyclists when I ride though. The more of the general population that thinks well of cyclists the better
There’s a perfectly flat perfectly straight 3 miles of road on my semi-regular bike route. It’s a state highway through a small town. Speed limit is 40 or 50 but in this section is 25. Can you say SPEED TRAP? Small town cops are almost always there. I go through that town on a bike at usually 26-27mph almost hoping to get stopped by cops. It hasn’t happened yet. For the locals it’s the town of Snoqualmie, 202 from Snoqualmie Falls to North Bend.
I’ve been cited for speeding on my bike twice. 52 in a 40 and 38 in a 25.
Both tickets were dismissed by the court.
Cops in my town are not friendly to cyclists. Our town made some list of top 10 small cities with the most car/bike collisions. The police used this info to crack down on cyclists.
It’s like prosecuting a rape victim for wearing a short skirt.
Back around 1990, up in the Santa Cruz mountains, heading down Highway 9 into Saratoga. I think the speed limit was about 35, and I passed a (parked) motor cop doing about 45.
I clearly remember him glancing at his radar gun and shaking his head as I went by.
Umm, not to stir the pot, but it sounds like this guy was behaving like a complete asshole and deserved it.
Why would you pass cars that are going the speed limit? That is just asking for trouble in so many ways.
It would be fair enough if there were the same outrage when cars overtake cycles, but it seems that is accepted as the status quo, while a cyclist overtaking cars is seen as outrageous. If you cycle at 20mph on the flat in Richmond Park you will get plenty of cars hurtling past you at well over the speed limit. Of course, cyclists don’t respond to this by writing to the police to complain about it, whereas apparently car drivers often do when the same thing happens in reverse.
Man that would piss me off to get a speeding ticket if im on my bike, not just anything my training bikes are tri bikes so if a cop pulls me over it would totally look like im a racer. On the 50 mile route i take half of that involves many T sections which I speed through the red light because theres simply no right turns or cars on the right at all.
Its preety rural nothing but acres of farm land, have never seen a cop.
I would absolutely love to get ticketed for speeding on my bike, as long as it was like something like 25+ mph. Fight it in court obviously, but frame that sucker whatever the outcome. When friends bitch about speeding tickets they got while driving, I could top them all.
But, I’d hate to get nabbed by some jerk cop for going 16 mph in a 15 mph school zone. That would not be a badge of honor.
It has always been my DREAM to get a speeding ticket on my bike. I live in an area with some moderate hills so there are some opportunities but not many.
When I was in college I was riding on campus and I was pulled over by the campus police. I was doing over/about 30 (it was a slight downhill) and the speed limit was 20 or 25 if I remember correctly. I was out in the middle of the lane with the cars because cars park along the side of the road and I didn’t want to get doored. I thought I was being pulled over for speeding but the cop explained that it was actually for obstructing traffic. I explained that if I was obstructing traffic it was only because the cars were speeding and that I would gladly fight that in court and likely win my argument. I also explained that I would happily accept a speeding ticket and display it proudly for all to see. I never got the ticket.