Does anyone collect statistics on how many bicyclists get speeding tickets? If so, how many are given out in a typical year? (I did a Google search but couldn’t find anything.)
If you get a speeding ticket while bicycling, do insurance companies count it the same as one gotten while driving a car?
Note: I have not gotten a speeding ticket while cycling, but the other day a motorist told me he clocked me at 35 in a residential zone. I’m wondering what my legal liabilities are for trying to stay in shape.
Bicycle couriers in big cities get tickets all the time. Most often: running stop signs/traffic lights, wrong way down a one-way street, riding on sidewalks. From what I know there’s no auto insurance raises involved, but then again many bicycle couriers can’t afford cars anyway, so I don’t know (I am not employed in any part of the ticketing process). The ticket is usually a fine the judge imposes based on your history of similar behavior. In the US the catchall charge is usually “operating a vehicle dangerously” (which can mean 10 MPH on a busy sidewalk), not anything as particular as speeding. - MC
Cyclists are subject to the same rules of the road that cars are (more or less). But cyclists don’t have to deal with auto insurance companies at all (unless hit by a car!)
I knew someone who got a ticket on his bike for running a red light. From what I understand, he wouldn’t get points on his license because that’s a license to operate a motor vehicle and has nothing to do with a bicycle. He would only have to pay a fine. (In the end, he fought the ticket in court and the officer didn’t show, so he got out of it.)
I think the issue is that most people can’t bike fast enough to break the speed limit. I mean, whats the top speed of the average mountain bike? 30-some miles an hour? Unless you were in a parking lot or something, it doesn’t seem worthy of a stop.
Depends where you are and what you’re riding. A good road bike can hit 60+ mph on a decent, I know I’ve exceeded the posted speed limit by as much as 15 mph on certain hills. I was once warned by an officer to slow down on a bike path. He said there was a 10 mph speed limit on the path (though that’s not posted anywhere) and I was clipping along at 21 or 22 mph at the time. Although the average rider would rarely approach the speed limit, a racer or serious recreational/fitness rider (as I believe the OP may be) certainly could.
[Anecdote] At my high school I was involved with our solar bike rayce (play on words) team. We watched another team practice one time and their rider with the motor on completely while peddling was reaching speeds of 60 mph on straight-a-ways on the highway. The rider was going so fast that he was actually passing cars. That is something that was just a bit strange to watch. [/Anecdote]
Ok, so you can ticketed for unsafe cycling. Now, can you get a ticket for exceeding the speed limit on foot?
I can’t imagine a policeman being so desperate to make his ticket quota to try this, but I was just wondering, since I remember doing sprint workouts with the track team in our high school’s parking lot, where the speed limit was 10 mph.
I recently got a ticket for running a stop sign in Golden Gate Park on my bike. For those of you who know the area, I was riding on a stretch of JFK on the big downhill by the buffalos, and there were no cars so I blew right through the stop sign at the bottom. A City motorcycle cop pulled me over to give me a ticket. Since I had no wallet on me or anything, I blatantly lied about my name, address, etc (Bob Smith, 2525 25th ave, etc), he knew it, but didn’t call me on it, just wrote it out. I tossed it the minute I got home. I guess he could have asked for my SSN and been a hard ass about it, but he wasn’t - I’ve been wondering ever since why he even bothered to write me up…City cops with quotas? Nah…
Yes, but I don’t ride like bike messengers. I stop at stop signs and signal turns and generally obey the traffic laws (better than many drivers, actually). So while they can probably charge me with a catch-all violation, it really wouldn’t be the correct charge.
BTW, the 35 mph was on fairly flat street. There was a shallow descent but then it went back up. I don’t know if I was going that fast along the whole street or not. I was pushing the pace there but didn’t think I was in that good of condition.
Well, if I ever got one, I’d probably feel the same, especially since (age-wise) I’m on the high side of 45…
But I was wondering if anyone kept any stats on tickets for bicyclists so I could estimate how likely it is that I might get one. No one seems to know of anyone who does.