Traffic Ticket

[unclejed]

While riding a CaBi in crystal city this morning, I received a $161 ticket from a motorcycle cop for riding through an intersection on the Walk Light. Officer Maplethorpe said that because I was not within the designated cross-walk stripes that I was a vehicle and therefore had disobeyed the light. This was at 23rd and Clark st in Crystal City where all lights are red when the pedestrian cross walk signal is on.

He said to avoid a ticket I would have to jump up onto the sidewalk and ride in the cross-walk. When I said I didn’t want to be where pedestrians were walking he said that was my only choice and it was for my safety. I tried for sympathy by recounting the times I’ve been hit by cars this year and the near misses, he said if I rode in the cross-walk I would not have so many near misses.

[Mark Blacknell]

Ouch.

For those interested, this is the relevant portion of the Virginia Code:

A person riding a bicycle, electric personal assistive mobility device, motorized skateboard or scooter, motor-driven cycle, or an electric power-assisted bicycle on a sidewalk, shared-use path, or across a roadway on a crosswalk, shall have all the rights and duties of a pedestrian under the same circumstances.

[jabberwocky]

Just to be clear, you approached a light in the vehicle lane, and while all 4 lights were red and the pedestrian crossing had the walk signal you proceeded through the intersection?

[TwoWheelsDC]

@jabberwocky 32830 wrote:

Just to be clear, you approached a light in the vehicle lane, and while all 4 lights were red and the pedestrian crossing had the walk signal you proceeded through the intersection?

That’s how I read it. I do this quite a bit and, in DC at least, have wondered if that’s actually the intended protocol, particularly when there are bike lanes. The 15th St. cycletrack, for instance, instructs cyclists to cross on the pedestrian signal…although I suspect that it’s one of those “illegal unless explicitly permitted” type of things. Even if it’s not in strict accordance with the law, I feel much safer getting through the intersection before cars start rolling through, especially if it’s an intersection with a lot of right-turning cars. Seems to me that if pedestrians have a signal to cross, a cyclist also would be safe to cross the intersection in the same direction, even in the travel lane. Although intersections that give peds lead time to cross are relatively rare, they are becoming less so, potentially making the OP’s situation a more common occurrence…hopefully laws can be changed accordingly and explicitly allow cyclists to cross on a walk signal, even if they are in a travel lane or bike lane.

[Dirt]

I’m just pleasantly surprised that someone in this area is doing some form of traffic enforcement these days. I’ve seen a small increase in the number of police officers doing some form of traffic enforcement over the last few months, but it still isn’t anything that resembles consistent or effective. Local police seem to set up some kind of localized, temporary enforcement zone and hand out tickets in that one spot for a few hours, then go off and do other police things for the rest of the month. I do realize that local law enforcement has a much bigger job than just traffic enforcement. I’m sure those on traffic duty do more than just the occasional red-light trap too. I just don’t see any of that.

Sorry about your ticket.

[jabberwocky]

The issue is that legally, if you’re in the vehicle traffic lane, you’re vehicle traffic, not a pedestrian. So you need to act like it, which means obeying traffic signals, same as if you were a car. If you want to legally cross with the walk signal, you need to be riding from the sidewalk across the crosswalk (in which case you’re legally a pedestrian).

I know all the safety considerations, and I know that most cyclists will run lights in this sort of situation (myself included), but legally I don’t think you have a leg to stand on. Sorry. I’d recommend taking a careful look around for police officers next time. :p

[unclejed]

I approached the intersection in the vehicle lane because there is no bike lane on that portion of Clark st. I stopped at the light to make sure the intersection was clear and then proceeded. I did not blow through the intersection like they do in DC.

Thanks for reminding me about the 15th st signs.

[unclejed]

@jabberwocky 32846 wrote:

The issue is that legally, if you’re in the vehicle traffic lane, you’re vehicle traffic, not a pedestrian. So you need to act like it, which means obeying traffic signals, same as if you were a car. If you want to legally cross with the walk signal, you need to be riding from the sidewalk across the crosswalk (in which case you’re legally a pedestrian).

I know all the safety considerations, and I know that most cyclists will run lights in this sort of situation (myself included), but legally I don’t think you have a leg to stand on. Sorry. I’d recommend taking a careful look around for police officers next time. :p

Oh yea, this makes sense to me: get off the road and intimidate pedestrians in the cross-walk.

[jabberwocky]

@unclejed 32848 wrote:

Oh yea, this makes sense to me: get off the road and intimidate pedestrians in the cross-walk.

Waiting for the light like the other vehicles is also an option.

I’m not judging or anything. I would probably have done the same thing in that situation, in fact. I’m just pointing out that legally, you aren’t allowed to run lights if you’re in the vehicle lane.

[DismalScientist]

@unclejed 32848 wrote:

Oh yea, this makes sense to me: get off the road and intimidate pedestrians in the cross-walk.

This is not the choice. The choice is “intimidate” pedestrians or behave like a vehicle, which means wait for the light to turn green.

Also, there is no distinction between a bike lane and a regular vehicle lane with regard to traffic lights.

[eminva]

There is another option, which is to dismount, walk the bike to the crosswalk and walk the bike across like a pedestrian. Not intimidating, and within the letter of the law.

@jabberwocky 32846 wrote:

The issue is that legally, if you’re in the vehicle traffic lane, you’re vehicle traffic, not a pedestrian. So you need to act like it, which means obeying traffic signals, same as if you were a car.

This is right. Or, as the League of American Bicyclists has it, “Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles.” Come to a Confident City Cycling class to learn more!

Liz

[jopamora]

Ouch, sorry about your ticket.

[Tim Kelley]

Jed, welcome to the forum. Don’t let all these posts pointing out how you weren’t following the rules of the road discourage you!

I’m sorry to hear you got a ticket, but I’m very pleased to hear that ACPD is doing cyclist enforcement!

[dasgeh]

@unclejed 32847 wrote:

I approached the intersection in the vehicle lane because there is no bike lane on that portion of Clark st. I stopped at the light to make sure the intersection was clear and then proceeded. I did not blow through the intersection like they do in DC.

Thanks for reminding me about the 15th st signs.

I believe that you’re ok if you waited for 2 minutes. http://www.vabike.org/va-cyclists-can-now-run-red-lights/

Otherwise, sorry.

[lordofthemark]

@eminva 32855 wrote:

There is another option, which is to dismount, walk the bike to the crosswalk and walk the bike across like a pedestrian. Not intimidating, and within the letter of the law.

I sometimes do that in Fairfax, where there are some pretty intimidating intersections – do I actually have to move the bike onto the sidewalk first, or is it okay to ride to the edge of the crosswalk (out of the flow of traffic – shoulder say, with or without parked cars) and dismount there?

[Author]

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