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< General ~ Ticketed. Moved out of bike lane to pass cars in bike lane |
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bat56
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 Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 9:16 pm |
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 HandslingerJoined: Sat Jun 26, 2010 9:32 pmPosts: 473Location: stpaulmidwaybikelove
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Riding down University around 17th Ave or so. I'm in the bike lane. Approaching 17th Ave. Light is green and staying green. Cars are passing me. The last car that passes me pulls in front of me into the bike lane to make a right turn. I swerve to the left to go around the car. In the process I pass another car that is in the lane making a right turn.
Flashing lights. Siren. Pulled over. Ticketed.
No 1 Offense: "Failure to drive in one lane or unsafe movement." Statute 169.18 [illegible]
Comments: Passing vehicles within the same lane of traffic.
I understand how I broke this so-called "law", if the law exists. But I cannot find a rule that says that a car or a bikes needs to move out of the lane to pass another car or bike in the same lane. Now, I don't think that my "defense" hinges on the nonexistence of this law. But I would like to find the exact language and understand if it exists and what it says.
Notwithstanding any of that, I think that I had the right to leave the bike lane and continue riding because of 169.19 (g) Whenever it is necessary for the driver of a motor vehicle to cross a bicycle lane adjacent to the driver's lane of travel to make a turn, the driver shall drive the motor vehicle into the bicycle lane prior to making the turn, and shall make the turn, yielding the right-of-way to any vehicles approaching so close thereto as to constitute an immediate hazard.
I think that the fact that I "had to" ride around the cars establishes that I was "so close thereto..." I think it was the CARS who were in the wrong place. Not ME.
AMINUTS?
Help me find the rule that a bike cannot pass a car within the same lane. From there I will deal with finding my exception.
I mostly don't want to pay the fine. And if the other ticket I just got sticks, and this one sticks, I'm going to go broke.
Not only that, this is totally FUCKED if a bike cannot pass a car within the same lane because cars pass bikes within the same lane EVERY SECOND OF EVERY FUCKING DAY.
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thatchio
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 9:46 pm |
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 Thinks "false flat" means low tire pressureJoined: Sun Nov 23, 2008 9:37 amPosts: 336Location: Kenny - S Mpls
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Sounds bogus to me. Just to better understand, did you leave the bike lane and enter a traffic lane and then pass someone on the left side of that traffic lane? If so, I'm just wondering if the cop's argument is that you passed on the left side of the lane and didn't keep to the right.
Sounds like a good reason to challenge it. And if you win, write a letter to the Inspector of that precinct outlining the hassle you encountered because the cop misapplied the law and you had no choice but to challenge it because you don't have the funds to pay the fine on a law that you didn't break. Ask him/her to discuss the issue with their force because there are plenty of very real, dangerous threats on the road than a biker making a legal move.
just my thought
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bat56
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 9:50 pm |
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| HandslingerJoined: Sat Jun 26, 2010 9:32 pmPosts: 473Location: stpaulmidwaybikelove
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Yes to your question. The cars I passed were taking up the bike lane and about the right half of the right lane. I passed them in the space remaining to the left of them; the left side of the right lane.
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hokan
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 9:56 pm |
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If the car drivers were going to turn right then they should have moved into the right side bike lane to prepare for that turn.
There is no rule that you must stay in the bike lane.
There is no rule that you can not pass another vehicle that is using the same lane as you.
Were you turning here too? If that's the case then I can see how things went wrong as you too must drive as far to the right as practicable to prepare for that turn.
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bat56
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:00 pm |
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| HandslingerJoined: Sat Jun 26, 2010 9:32 pmPosts: 473Location: stpaulmidwaybikelove
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I was not turning. I was going straight.
The cars I passed had just passed me and then moved into the bike lane. As you say, if I was turning I would have stayed in the bike lane and waited behind the cars as we made our turns.
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poorimpulsecontrol
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:13 pm |
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| EscapeeJoined: Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:32 pmPosts: 2473Location: MINNEAPOLIS
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did you split lanes? (ride between cars in the lane you merged into and the cars in the bike lane?) If so then you shared a lane another vehicle was using and that's illegal.
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do the next right thing |
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hokan
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:22 pm |
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poorimpulsecontrol wrote: did you split lanes? (ride between cars in the lane you merged into and the cars in the bike lane?) If so then you shared a lane another vehicle was using and that's illegal. Lane splitting is not legal for motorcycles, but (even if not a good idea) IS legal for bicycles and other vehicles.
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HerculesTRockefeller
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 11:12 pm |
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 My middle name is SchwinnJoined: Sat Oct 13, 2007 1:12 pmPosts: 4094Location: Quoting Lebowski.
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Man... fuck this cop.
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Jerbear
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 3:00 am |
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 King of the MountainJoined: Fri May 04, 2007 6:30 amPosts: 1833Location: Lyndale 'hood
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Myhoopdie got a ticket for "unsafe movement" doing this earlier in the year. Thread here.
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…I am consumed by a feeling of inexplicable terror and I wake up reaching frantically for the Park TM-1 I keep on my nightstand. |
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eviljelly
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 4:28 am |
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 Shares birthday with Lance..... Ito!Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:14 pmPosts: 4577Location: nowhere and everywhere
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dumb cop is dumb
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Snak Shak
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 7:08 am |
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 Pretends the bricks at St. Anthony Main are the PaveJoined: Sat Jan 05, 2008 10:35 pmPosts: 2924Location: So.MPLS
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Fight that ticket. You have every right to leave the bike lane to position for a turn or continue straight if someone turns left in front of you.
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kuando
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 8:05 am |
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| Better to have Bikeloved and lost than never to have Bikeloved at allJoined: Tue May 29, 2007 9:22 pmPosts: 2744Location: Golden Valley
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What are you supposed to do? It's not a right turn only lane. Sounds bogus to me.
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steef
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 8:52 am |
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 Dances on the pedals in a most immodest wayJoined: Tue Jul 25, 2006 8:27 amPosts: 6271Location: Carpetbagging between the North and the South.
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Was it a UMPD cop trying to enforce "Safety is Easy"?
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I've spent my riches on bikes, women and booze.
The rest.....I've just squanderd! |
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kuando
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 9:01 am |
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| Better to have Bikeloved and lost than never to have Bikeloved at allJoined: Tue May 29, 2007 9:22 pmPosts: 2744Location: Golden Valley
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cyclejerk
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 9:41 am |
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| Glass CrankerJoined: Thu Oct 02, 2008 4:43 pmPosts: 223
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Man, you and the police just don't get along.
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