[bike] oops

[topaz]

What's the most embarrassing thing you can do after filing a formal written complaint against the Cambridge PD for improper behavior toward a cyclist?

Yeah, get a ticket on your bike for running a red light.

For all that I talk about wishing that the police enforced the law more consistently against cyclists, I'm still annoyed. I stopped at the light and waited for it to turn. I started on the pedestrian signal and was entering the intersection as it turned green. I'm glad that they're issuing tickets but think that my case was marginal at best.

But, in any event, embarrassing!

Comments

[hawkegirl.livejournal.com]

Doh!

*sympathy*

[mattlistener.livejournal.com]

Was that in Cambridge?

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Yup: at Hampshire and Windsor, near Inman Square. They were issuing warnings last summer -- my co-worker got three. Now they're writing real tickets. It's essentially a trap: an officer observes the bikes running lights from a side street and radios ahead to a car down the street, who pulls people over to the side to give them tickets.

[renniekins.livejournal.com]

Those cops probably have your picture posted everywhere by now. "Crack down on this guy! He's a trouble-maker!"

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I could have sworn that I heard one of the cops say, "Don't think you're so tough now, huh? HUH?" as I pulled over!

(Actually, no, but that would be a really cool story, huh?)

[pinkfish.livejournal.com]

They ticket for that? Egad, I do that all the time. I mean, all the time! I go out of my way to find intersections with red lights and pedestrian crossing signs, just so I can ride through them without stopping.

Next you'll tell me they are issuing tickets for jaywalking.

[mr-privacy.livejournal.com]

its enough to make ya think we have too many laws, too many cops, and not enough real problems for them to be spending their time on.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

This is a particular intersection that they seem to be targeting in Inman Sq. I'll be quite surprised if it becomes a more general program to crack down on cyclists across the city.

[pinkfish.livejournal.com]

Besides that, I do the lion's share of my cycling in Boston, where the cops have more important things to do with their time. Like cracking down on public sex in the parks, and killing exhuberant sports fans.

[mr-privacy.livejournal.com]

I seem to recall them harrassing cyclists there 5 years ago when I left. Perhaps its near a donut shop? Or the cyclists are cuter there? Or maybe its just less gory than in Central, where there are real fatal accidents?

[ckd]

There's a Dunkin Donuts on Broadway, very close by. Hmm....

[pinkfish.livejournal.com]

and hey! What about riding the wrong way down a one-way street? I actually try to avoid this one (I find it nervewracking on any but the tiniest streets), but boy, a lot of people do it. I feel like a chump going the long (and often much busier) way around, while watching fleets of less worried cyclists careening up and down one-way streets, blissfully oblivious of any road rules. Why must I be counted among those whose lot it is to bear the burden of responsible cycling?

(I know why you must be one of them; because you were dumb enough to write a complaint to the police! God, what a loser! Oh yeah, I encouraged you to do that, didn't I. Riddle: How does a chump get satisfaction?)

[awfief.livejournal.com]

were they also ticketing cars that ran red lights?

[jwg.livejournal.com]

I just walked through central sq in Cambridge (Inman & Mass Av) and there were motorcyle cops on both sides. I saw one stopping a car that went through a red light. A half minute before that, while walking out of the post office, I was talking to a friend and he remarked that his big gripe was that they never give tickets for red light running to either cars or bikes.