Beware of Bike Cops In Pasadena

This isn't my particular area of expertise, but if I were to guess, I'd say that a DUI on a bike doesnt affect the points on your driver's license. As far as I know, the DMV (department of MOTOR vehicles) doesnt ever get involved in the process of issuing licenses or standards upon normal nonmotorized vehicles (bikes, surfboards, rollerskates, etc.) The criminal conviction for a DUI is completely independent of the DMV proceeding. Anyone who has had a DUI can tell you that it is a 2 part process; one in the courts and one with the DMV.

So in THEORY you just have to deal with whatever the penal code is going throw at you and not worry about your car insurance rates.

 

They do use discretion. Keep in mind that they are also human and have good days/bad days, just like the rest of us. I have a close friend who's a motorcycle cop (ticket cop). All he does is write tickets. That's what he's assigned to do and hence, is his job. That being said, he uses discretion. The worse thing you can do with cops is play the victim or claim you did nothing. Admit your wrong doing and you'd be surprised at how many times you'd get away with just a warning.

 

Running a stop sign is not subjective or open to interpretation. Either you stop where you're supposed to stop or you don't.

Whether or not you get a citation is at the discretion of the officer.

That's just me though.

 

Since this is only mildly off topic, anyone know what a cop's take is on being the second car coming up to a right turn, but the first car rolls right past the stop line and stops at the edge of the corner. As the second car, you end up stopping right at the appropriate Stop sign line. There are no cars coming and its clear to roll. Are you obligated to drive up and stop again, or can you start rolling at the same time as the first car who overshot?

 

What nobody mentioned, and perhaps the OP didn't know, is that there have been issues in the immediate area where the OP received the ticket relating to running stop signs.

In the last month alone:
- In one incident, a cyclist was hit and killed by a car when he ran a stop sign.
- There were reports of two other cyclists that were hit by the same car as the cyclists rolled through the stop sign (same incident).
- A pedestrian was struck by a vehicle and received major injuries.
- And there have been multiple fender-bender that resulted from someone running that stop sign. In one of those cases, a police motorcycle was hit, resulting in the officer being taken to the hospital.

As a result of the consequences of so many people running that stop sign, the local community has been up in arms insisting that the local police department do something about the safety in their neighborhood. In turn, the local police department has stepped up their enforcement at this particular stop sign.

I may be a little fuzzy on some of the details, but we don't know the whole story.

 

Hope I'm not beating a dead horse here but yes you can be arrested for DUI on a bicycle. 21200.5 VC is the violation for DUI on a bicycle and you still go thru the whole process of submitting a chemical test if you fail the SFST (standardized field sobriety test). It doesn't count against your driving record but it will show you for arrested and booked for DUI.

23152 (a) VC - is driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs or a combination of both. On public or private property.

23152 (b) VC - is driving under the influence of alcohol of a BAC of .08 or higher.

When you get arrested for DUI you are usually charged with the "(a)" section. Since the law only allows that only one open charge be filed as a compliant during the time of the arrest by the officer. The City Attorney or DA will filed additional charge by adding the b section. So if you blow a .08 or higher, you are looking at two counts. 1 count for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs, alcohol, or both. Count 2 be that you were above the states allowable limit.

If its your first time most people will plea out to a lesser charge or reckless driving (23103 (a) VC - reckless driving. 2 points on your DMV record). If you fight the DUI and win (very slim chance) then kudos to your lawyer(s). If you lose, expect to be Bubba Smith your new cell mate in County for a minimum of 6 months, probation for 3 years, attend AA meetings at your cost, community service, pay retribution fees, courts and city fees, driving privileges revoke for a minimum of 3 years. With all that said, from start to finish you are looking at $20,000 not including attorney fees. The court and city will bill for everything that was involve with your arrest, booking, processing, and so forth. So most people will plea out on their first offense and even second offense. Third offense within a 5 year period its a felony booking. Bit that's another topic another day.

So without sidetracking even more..especially from the OP of receiving a ticket for blowing a stop sign. Yes its a citation nevertheless whether you agree to it or not. Maybe a better attitude or demeanor might get you with a warning next time. Hope that explains some of unanswered questions and clarify some misinformed information.

 

I can't believe Gene hasn't closed this thread for any one of multiple reasons.

 

I would hardly expect a police officer to say anything different . My information comes from the general perception that the writing of tickets (and the dollar amounts of those tickets) for moving violations has increased substantially since the onset of this recession and the tightening of government budgets. Coincidence? I think not. However, you are correct on one point: accurate information is needed in order to make this claim with any accuracy. Since I question the accuracy of your claims, i'll do my own research and see what the actual statistics are. Fair enough? :-k

 

I just looked at 100+ posts on this subject, and have just one question:

From now on, are you going to stop at stop signs?

 

WooHoo! The lunatics have taken over the asylum.

 

99.9% of the time yes, which is what I have always done. I seriously feel like I should film an exact re-eactment of what I did on the exact same street/ intersection and at the exact same speed i was biking. I think it would change a bunch of people's opinions on whether or not a ticket was warranted, or whether or not I should have been given a warning.

 

Oh boy he could have taken a top twenty in the "race", if not for the po, po

 

HAHAHA Dr. Du do wrong!



shitty

 

Okay, How is that not a race?
Again off topic..

 

The 4th ammendment protects you in any state in the union, so it is illegal in any state for police to arbitrarily stop you with out probable cause or reasonable suspicion that a law has been broken or a crime is being commited. There is no state which requires that adults carry identification. The United States Supreme Court held in Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial Dist. Court (2004) 542 U.S. 177, was that a state could make it a crime for a person to refuse to identify himself (i.e., tell the officer his name and address) when lawfully detained for criminal activity. Note that the Supreme Court did NOT say that any kind of identification papers could be required, nor did they say that police officers could ordinarily arrest someone for refusing to identify himself absent a state law permitting that arrest. There is no law in the United States requiring everybody to carry ID, at least not yet.

 

Another great example of police harassment of cyclists at an organized gran fondo event last week in our area. Otherwise one of the best cycling events in LA is a long time. Check out the comments about mid article and the official organizer's comments at the end of the article:

http://www.roadbikeaction.com/Tech-...820/Being-There-Giro-d-Italia-Gran-Fondo.html

 

. Sounds like a failure by the event promoters. If they knew there cities who didn't want it going on why run the course through those cites. If they werent given the ok for riders to break the law they should have told riders to obey the law 100% while in this area. But it's easier to just blame the cops

 

Read the organizers comments at the end. They did do both. They even had a contract with the sheriffs to support the ride.

 

Although not arrested, you can be lawfully detained until your identification has been ascertained. What does this mean? It means carry identification. This is one of those examples of ideal vs. real world. Quoting the constitution and court pecedents does nothing for you until you reach a courtroom...i.e. long after you've been detained, arrested, beaten, etc.

 

And what does Lawfully Detained mean? It means no matter what state you are in, pursuant to the 4th ammendment (unreasonable searches and seizures), a police officer must have probable cause to stop an individual in the first place. Contrary to what most Americans believe, police officer's cannot arbitrarily single you out while you are walking down the street minding your own business and demand to see your ID. Look online and you'll find dozens of videos of people asserting their rights and refusing (unlawful) random ID stops.

I think part of why the police have become so powerful is that people are ignorant of their rights. Police misconduct has become a normality. If more people were informed of their rights, maybe we would not be living in the police state that we do.