— WARNING — Cops writing tickets on the W&OD in Falls Church

[pmf]

My wife got a ticket commuting home from DC last night. It was on the W&OD headed west after route 29 and before the Route 7 bridge. She slowed, saw no cars and rode on through. The cop was hidden behind some bushes across the street around 5:00. He stopped her, and radioed in her ID. She assumes that they’re going to send a ticket for running a stop sign (does this count against your car points?). He claims that there’s been several accidents in the area. My wife is a pretty responsible rider — definitely no Lance wannabe. I saw the same guy issuing warnings a week or so before. I stopped when I saw him.

I find this a bit ridiculous. Either the coast is clear on these intersections, or traffic stops to let me ride through. How is coming to a complete stop and putting my feet on the ground going to help. Either the cars stop, or they don’t. For the dumbasses that barrel through, I figure the Darwin principle will take care of them. Christ, what’s next, speed traps?

Topic

[PrintError]

The simple solution to all of this is to stop at stop signs. Even if it’s just a quick 3-4 second track stand, it’s worth it.

[mstone]

@PrintError 16460 wrote:

The simple solution to all of this is to stop at stop signs. Even if it’s just a quick 3-4 second track stand, it’s worth it.

Except that, in practice, it isn’t. It is tremendously confusing for cars when a bike at a crosswalk stops. What does the car do? Start moving again because the guy on the bike has stopped and isn’t clearly proceeding? What does the guy on the bike do? Stay stopped indefinitely because the car might decide to go because of the above? Should both parties just remain stopped and wave at each other? There’s a reason that the stop sign isn’t an approved control device for pedestrians. It’s much safer to simply clear out of the street while it is safe to do so than to stop and confuse everyone involved.

[SpokeGrenadeSR]

^yep, often i get waved through an intersection before i can even begin to stop (ironically this is in falls church). and if i were to come to a full stop then they’d probably get all pissy.

[vvill]

Yeah a lot of drivers want to be courteous to cyclists, so it makes it an even greyer area. This morning I was stopped behind a school bus that was loading (slowly) and the driver actually got out and told me to go past and I didn’t need to wait for a bus because I was on a bike!

[jnva]

@SpokeGrenadeSR 16533 wrote:

^yep, often i get waved through an intersection before i can even begin to stop (ironically this is in falls church). and if i were to come to a full stop then they’d probably get all pissy.

Yes exactly they will get pissy! I even got yelled at once for not giving a “thank you” wave.

[pmf]

UPDATE ….

Well, we’ve not gotten a ticket in the mail, so it appears the whole thing was some kind of scare tactic. Still, I think it was kinda crappy pulling her over, demanding to see an ID and then radioing the information in to the police station. I haven’t seen the bozo all this week. Maybe he’s on jaywalking detail at Tysons.

Like everyone else has stated, there’s a pretty good system on the W&OD that’s developed over the last few years with bikers and cars. In most cases, they stop for us and we cross the street. This is a big change from what it used to be. I don’t see how coming to a full stop would accomplish anything more than wasting everyone’s time and likely frustrating motorists.

Don’t forget that thankyou wave.

[americancyclo]

I think they would have to issue you a ticket then and there, instead of mailing it. The guy I saw was FCPD, so he’d never make it to Tysons. Maybe they posted him up at Cherry and Fairfax to catch other ‘rogue’ stop sign runners.

[consularrider]

Hmmm, at 5:30 yesterday evening there were two ACPD officers standing on the southeast corner of the Columbia Pike – Four Mile Run Dr S intersection across from where the W&OD trail crosses. I crossed Four Mile Run Dr with the light, didn’t get any look from them, and took the down hill access to the Four Mile Run Trail. Just as I crossed the Run and was going under Columbia Pike, two more ACPD officers were walking towards me on the trail. Again didn’t get much of a look from them. Makes me wonder what they were responding to in the area.

[MCL1981]

@pmf 16578 wrote:

UPDATE ….

Well, we’ve not gotten a ticket in the mail, so it appears the whole thing was some kind of scare tactic.

It’s not a scare tactic. It’s called a verbal warning. Just like in your car. Radioing in the information is standard procedure.

[rcannon100]

Skulbus Driver

Heh! Um, I hope your response was along the lines of “Thank’s. I will wait.”

In the ongoing gripe about car laws being incongruous to bike transportation, pretty sure that the concern re a bus with flashing red lights is consistent for both car and bike. Visibility around the bus is highly obscured; kids have a habit of popping out from behind the bus. We all want the kids to cross safely without getting hit, by anything.

And remember, a lot of them buses, they now have camera’s recording flashing red light runners.

[Author]

Replies