Cycling is NOT a Crime
Mar. 26, 2009 Filed in: Personal
Some of you may have noticed my lovely new flash homepage and tribute to the men in blue of the Irvine Police Department. Now, before I get hate mail, let me explain...
Last Saturday, I went out to do the Food Park group ride like I usually do. Recently, Irvine PD has been following our group rides, pulling them over, talking to us before the ride starts, etc. about our behavior on the ride. We’re taking up to much of the road. Or rather, some citizen complained and now they’re out in force to try and shut the rides down. Yes, that’s right, your tax dollars at work.
So, on our ride, there were two motorcycle cops and one in an SUV who set up their sting operation to try and catch us running a stop. We all did stop but once we made a right at a green light, the motocycle pulled out in front of us and made us all stop. Some kept rolling past him but the majority, me included, stopped.
He told us we were all riding more than two abreast and, he couldn’t write tickets to everyone, so he was just going to pick five of us at random and let everyone else go. I happened to be standing right next to him. Gee, I wonder if he’ll pick me.
Now, I will say that when you have 60-80 cyclists out for a group ride, you’re going to take up more than the bike lane. The majority of us are very experienced cyclists. We don’t want to get hit by a car. We also try to leave room, whenever possible, for cars to pass us. There are some who will roll red lights and think the road belongs to them. Believe me, we yell at these riders when they do dumb things like this.
Don’t the police have better things to do? These rides are not going to stop. A ticket is not going to make me stop doing them. So, Irvine PD...get behind these rides cause they’re not going away!
Last Saturday, I went out to do the Food Park group ride like I usually do. Recently, Irvine PD has been following our group rides, pulling them over, talking to us before the ride starts, etc. about our behavior on the ride. We’re taking up to much of the road. Or rather, some citizen complained and now they’re out in force to try and shut the rides down. Yes, that’s right, your tax dollars at work.
So, on our ride, there were two motorcycle cops and one in an SUV who set up their sting operation to try and catch us running a stop. We all did stop but once we made a right at a green light, the motocycle pulled out in front of us and made us all stop. Some kept rolling past him but the majority, me included, stopped.
He told us we were all riding more than two abreast and, he couldn’t write tickets to everyone, so he was just going to pick five of us at random and let everyone else go. I happened to be standing right next to him. Gee, I wonder if he’ll pick me.
Now, I will say that when you have 60-80 cyclists out for a group ride, you’re going to take up more than the bike lane. The majority of us are very experienced cyclists. We don’t want to get hit by a car. We also try to leave room, whenever possible, for cars to pass us. There are some who will roll red lights and think the road belongs to them. Believe me, we yell at these riders when they do dumb things like this.
Don’t the police have better things to do? These rides are not going to stop. A ticket is not going to make me stop doing them. So, Irvine PD...get behind these rides cause they’re not going away!
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