Police Officer w/ Radar Gun spotted on Capital Crescent Trail

[creadinger]

Knowing the competitive nature of people around here that just sounds like a challenge to ride fast enough going uphill to get a ticket. It’s certainly a gentle enough grade that I think a lot of people could do it.

It doesn’t say exactly where he was. I’m curious about that detail.

[jrenaut]

I’m curious what he did to piss off his supervisor enough to catch that terrible assignment.

[Steve O]

@creadinger 121336 wrote:

Knowing the competitive nature of people around here that just sounds like a challenge to ride fast enough going uphill to get a ticket.

Piece of cake. Just look at all the names of people you know on this uphill segment averaging 17+
https://www.strava.com/segments/8860402

bikeeveryday
Jopamora
Sethpo

And lots of names I don’t know up above 20 mph.

[Crickey7]

Yeah, it would not be that difficult to exceed 15 mph there.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

That bugs me. Cyclists aren’t required to have speedometers and many don’t have speedometers. Not many cyclists know the difference between 13 mph and 18 mph. Seems a little unfair to me.

[JimK]

Radar guns don’t know the difference between 13 mph / 18 mph either.

[sethpo]

@Steve O 121341 wrote:

Piece of cake. Just look at all the names of people you know on this uphill segment averaging 17+
https://www.strava.com/segments/8860402

bikeeveryday
Jopamora
Sethpo

And lots of names I don’t know up above 20 mph.

That’s just ‘trying to get home in time for dinner’ speed…

[wheelswings]

I’m curious for what speed they’d actually pull a bicycle rider aside — or give a warning or a ticket. There’s a lot of leeway when you drive a car…on many roads the drivers routinely exceed the limit by 10 mph or more. So presumably there’s a similar margin for bicyclists?

For myself I’m not too worried on my dinosaur bike, though it’s fun to try and reach/exceed the real-time monitors on the roads …this morning I had an excess speed of a whopping 2 mph. :+)

[GovernorSilver]

This article mentions volunteers using radar guns:

http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Magazine/July-August-2015/Capital-Crescent-Trail-Congestion/index.php?cparticle=2&siarticle=1

Pelicano says park police do stage enforcement waves occasionally. Records indicate that no one has ever received a citation for speeding on the trail, but warnings have been issued, Pelicano says. The department prefers to rely on park volunteers who are armed with a radar gun or a large digital speed sign to stop speeders and educate them about the speed limit and safe cycling practices, Pelicano says.

Even so, Kines says safe and unsafe speeds for cyclists depend on context. “If someone is speeding along the trail at 2 p.m. on a Sunday, it would appear unsafe and would be unsafe,” Kines says. “If someone is traveling at the same speed at 4 or 5 a.m. on their way to work, it’s a different story.”

[Crickey7]

The bigger issue lately on the CCT has been the increase in fast riders–like in the 20-25 mph range–not calling passes. At least half the riders passing me this summer haven’t been calling passes.

[GB]

If they enforcing the “law” like they do on the roads, you wouldn’t have a problem unless you were going under 14mph or over 30mph. Good luck runners!

[mstone]

15MPH + 11MPH “cushion” == 26MPH before you get stopped?

[Steve O]

@mstone 121365 wrote:

15MPH + 11MPH “cushion” == 26MPH before you get stopped?

Okay, that would need to be in the downhill direction.

[Terpfan]

Meanwhile on the MTB, riders want the police to do anything….

[Oldtowner]

I actually saw this policeman with the radar gun on Friday morning. He was arriving at the bottom of the overpass that goes over River Road to catch southbound cyclists. It was Friday about 9:30am so it was just after all the rush hour crowd was gone. He said hello to me with a grin on his face, but didn’t have the gun on me yet because he was just setting up. I was only doing 16mph for some reason. Not that he could tell, anyway. At the time I told myself, “that can’t really be a radar gun for a speed trap….” He didn’t have either a motorcycle or a bicycle.

[Author]

Posts