Missed connection

[Birru]

Is today International Missed Connections Day and I wasn’t informed? Once I crossed the DC line my commute turned into a farce.

This is by far the best clip from the highlight reel:

Me: Sweet Jamis Renegade heading east in the bike lane on L St NW approaching the intersection of 18th St NW. The traffic signal shows a red left arrow and a green forward arrow and I’m going straight.
You: Ugly black Lincoln MKZ driving straight in the lane outside the protected bike/turn lane putting on a left turn signal at the last minute and attempting to turn left. On a red. Blocking auto traffic. From the wrong lane. Across the bike lane. Nearly left hooking me.
You again: Rather than make an illegal left you come to your senses and proceed straight… all the way through the bike lane until the left turn lane at L and Connecticut.
Me: O_O

@Judd 160541 wrote:

Me: Riding around Hains Point yielding to the ducks that decided to cross the road in front of me.
You: The guy that pulled a 3″ pass on a duck.

Geese ride bikes now? Nasty little punks.

@GovernorSilver 160598 wrote:

We were just talking about salmons in bike lanes. Today was the day for my first encounter with one – on Braddock St. by the metro station.

I was of course prepared for this day, with my jousting lance. My opponent was on a CaBi, sneering at me to bring it on, as she rolled towards me. I struck her solidly with the lance and…

Idea: Spring-loaded aero bars that extend into jousting lances.

[Birru]

@Judd 160541 wrote:

Me: Riding around Hains Point yielding to the ducks that decided to cross the road in front of me.
You: The guy that pulled a 3″ pass on a duck.

Geese ride bikes now? Nasty little punks.

[scoot]

@GovernorSilver 160598 wrote:

We were just talking about salmons in bike lanes. Today was the day for my first encounter with one – on Braddock St. by the metro station.

Common occurrence there, I would assume. Someone heading to Metro from the southern end of Del Ray might somehow think that’s a better idea than making multiple left turns in traffic (or riding on a busy sidewalk).

[cvcalhoun]

My missed connection today involved being stopped by a Montgomery County police officer, who threatened to give me a ticket. The thing was, none of the three things he wanted to give me a ticket for was illegal. And in one instance, what he suggested was in fact illegal.

The three things he came up with were:

1. Bicycles are not allowed to squeeze between cars stopped at a light. (MVA guidelines give specific instructions for bicycles squeezing between cars in such circumstances: http://www.mdot.maryland.gov/Office_of_Planning_and_Capital_Programming/Bicycle/Documents/Cycle_Guidelines_092413.pdf)
2. Bicycles are not allowed on the sidewalk. (Yes they are in Montgomery County)
3. If bicycles do ride on the sidewalk, they are required to cross at crosswalks. (Riding a bicycle in a crosswalk is currently illegal in Maryland.)

When I respectfully suggested he might want to check on the riding on the sidewalk thing, he gave me a long lecture on how he has a police officer of course knew the law. And threatened to give me a ticket.

And the thing is, if he gives me a ticket (no matter how unjustified), I have to take off from work to contest it. Whereas he can either show up (and get paid for it), or not show up (and thus not even find out he was wrong). So I really had no recourse.

I do have video of the whole encounter, so I could theoretically file a complaint. However, my experience is that if I do, I get sent to arbitration. And he shows up with his union representative, while I show up on my own. And basically, the arbitrator is not going to impose a penalty he doesn’t agree with, which means he still gets off scot-free.

Let’s face it, police officers get away with cold-blooded murder even if there is video. Have we seen even one instance in which a police officer was convicted for murdering a civilian? So reporting an unfounded lecture is likely to get me absolutely nowhere. But I’m still fuming.

[Emm]

@cvcalhoun 160641 wrote:

.
So I really had no recourse.

You can blast it all over social media with your video (and maybe a list of the legal citations he was wrong about). Might not be official recourse, but if enough people pile on via twitter/facebook/etc complaining about how wrong the officer was in your video, it may show the county that they need better officer training, and net you an apology.

[Tania]

Agreed. I’d post the video along with links to citations and tag the Montgomery County PD.

[KLizotte]

I could have sworn that a recent thread on this site said it was legal for cyclists to ride through crosswalks in MD. I believe a link to the relevant source was cited too.

[cvcalhoun]

@KLizotte 160645 wrote:

I could have sworn that a recent thread on this site said it was legal for cyclists to ride through crosswalks in MD. I believe a link to the relevant source was cited too.

I was the one who posted. And legislation has been passed to make it legal, but the legislation has not yet been signed by the governor.

[Crickey7]

My interpretation of Maryland law was that, in fact, a bicycle cannot filter. I admit the language is a bit ambiguous, but I think the most reasonable read would say it’s not permitted.

[cvcalhoun]

@Crickey7 160647 wrote:

My interpretation of Maryland law was that, in fact, a bicycle cannot filter. I admit the language is a bit ambiguous, but I think the most reasonable read would say it’s not permitted.

Do you have a citation for that? Because the MVA thing I quoted seems to say the opposite.

[Crickey7]

@cvcalhoun 160648 wrote:

Do you have a citation for that? Because the MVA thing I quoted seems to say the opposite.

That’s not how I read what it said. It said IF you’re going to, then this is what you should do. Not that you can. Looking for the cite, which as I remember says only one vehicle may be in a lane at a time. Bikes are “vehicles.” There are other statutes that say two bicycles can be in a lane, or two motorcycles, but no where does it say a bike can enter a lane in which there is another vehicle.

[cvcalhoun]

@Crickey7 160652 wrote:

That’s not how I read what it said. It said IF you’re going to, then this is what you should do. Not that you can. Looking for the cite, which as I remember says only one vehicle may be in a lane at a time. Bikes are “vehicles.” There are other statutes that say two bicycles can be in a lane, or two motorcycles, but no where does it say a bike can enter a lane in which there is another vehicle.

Well, I interpret “if you are going to” as meaning that you are allowed to. They wouldn’t give you instructions about, “If you are going to run a red light, here is what you should do,” for example.

[KLizotte]

@cvcalhoun 160646 wrote:

I was the one who posted. And legislation has been passed to make it legal, but the legislation has not yet been signed by the governor.

Thanks for the clarification. Insane that the DMV has such a patchwork of conflicting laws.

[Crickey7]

I’ve now spent way too much time on this, and while it’s not specifically forbidden, it’s also not specifically allowed. So the default interpretation would hold, that as a “vehicle” a cyclist has to follow laws of general application to vehicles. So, in conclusion, you probably can be ticketed in Maryland for filtering.

[GovernorSilver]

@cvcalhoun 160641 wrote:

And the thing is, if he gives me a ticket (no matter how unjustified), I have to take off from work to contest it.

Could you sue him for lost time from work? Just curious.

[Author]

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