Got a parking ticket!

Buck said:

I got a parking ticket yesterday... on my truck. I have used the truck
so little over the last year that I wasn't paying attention to when the
tags were due. I had to drive yesterday so I could make an afternoon
appointment. The local law spotted the expired tag and left me a little
note to pay a fine.

Bummer. Of course, I'm back on the bike today....

-Buck

Some people on this NG think that motorists are not fined enough or
given stiff enough penalties for bicycle/motorist related accidents.
Around my area, there are checkpoints for all types of things. If you
do one freaking thing wrong, you are stopped and ticketed. I've never
seen anyone stopped on their bike. Ever. And some of them should be.
They ride on the wrong side of the street, they ride on the
sidewalk...its ridiculous. In a suburban town, the motorist is
ticketed for everything. Bicycles seem to be able to break the law
without a problem. Unless there are no laws for cyclists in Suburbia.
I ride like a fool sometimes, and the police just smile. I can't tell
you how many times I have been pulled over "driving" because of my seat
belt or a parking light is not working. Anything to bring revenue into
the town. And God help you if your parking meter runs out 2 seconds
before you get to the car and its the end of the month. The bike
chained to the parking meter is not ticketed. I think Suburbia leaves
the cyclist alone even if they are riding the white line down the
middle of the road, and pulls over someone in a car if they see a crack
in the blinker. I love riding my bicycle, but I do believe suburbia
basically leaves cyclists alone and harrasses motorists sometimes.
Could be different in the city, but I have the misfortune of being in
suburbia where 12 police cars show up with sirens blaring if your are
pulled over for going 5 miles over the speed limit.
Maggie

In article <[email hidden]>,

Maggie said:

I love riding my bicycle, but I do believe suburbia
basically leaves cyclists alone and harrasses motorists sometimes.
Could be different in the city, but I have the misfortune of being in
suburbia where 12 police cars show up with sirens blaring if your are
pulled over for going 5 miles over the speed limit.

The obvious answer is to ride instead of drive.
No hassle.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Tom Keats said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Maggie said:

I love riding my bicycle, but I do believe suburbia
basically leaves cyclists alone and harrasses motorists sometimes.
Could be different in the city, but I have the misfortune of being in
suburbia where 12 police cars show up with sirens blaring if your are
pulled over for going 5 miles over the speed limit.

The obvious answer is to ride instead of drive.
No hassle.

cheers,
Tom

Well in Jersey it has been raining since Saturday...and the weather
report says it will be raining all week. Sometimes I have to drive. I
am made of sugar.....I melt. Or am I the witch who melts with water.
Maggie goes ummmmmmm.

Quoted message said:

-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Maggie said:

Buck said:

I got a parking ticket yesterday... on my truck. I have used the truck
so little over the last year that I wasn't paying attention to when the
tags were due. I had to drive yesterday so I could make an afternoon
appointment. The local law spotted the expired tag and left me a little
note to pay a fine.

Bummer. Of course, I'm back on the bike today....

-Buck

Some people on this NG think that motorists are not fined enough or
given stiff enough penalties for bicycle/motorist related accidents.
Around my area, there are checkpoints for all types of things. If you
do one freaking thing wrong, you are stopped and ticketed. I've never
seen anyone stopped on their bike. Ever. And some of them should be.

It may just depend on what local ordinances your town has regarding
bicycles. And, of course, if the police actually know the law and are
willing to enforce it.

Quoted message said:

In a suburban town, the motorist is
ticketed for everything. Bicycles seem to be able to break the law
without a problem. Unless there are no laws for cyclists in Suburbia.
I ride like a fool sometimes, and the police just smile. I can't tell
you how many times I have been pulled over "driving" because of my seat
belt or a parking light is not working. Anything to bring revenue into
the town.

Yeah, it's about revenue, mainly, although safety is also a concern.
You're much more likely to seriously injure someone while disobeying the
law in a car than on a bike. Even something like a brake light being
out could cause a serious accident on a poorly-lit road at night.

Bikes can be dangerous too, but usually riding illegally only puts
yourself at risk, or maybe a pedestrian - although likely not any mortal
danger.

And God help you if your parking meter runs out 2 seconds

Quoted message said:

before you get to the car and its the end of the month.

Tell me about it. I'm a college student and universities have a talent
for being ticket Nazis when it comes to any minor infraction.

Quoted message said:

The bike chained to the parking meter is not ticketed.

Again, depends on local ordinances. This might not be a crime,
technically.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Maggie said:

Quoted message said:

The obvious answer is to ride instead of drive.
No hassle.

Quoted message said:

Well in Jersey it has been raining since Saturday...and the weather
report says it will be raining all week.

So wear raingear.

cheers again,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Tom Keats said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Maggie said:

Quoted message said:

The obvious answer is to ride instead of drive.
No hassle.

Quoted message said:

Well in Jersey it has been raining since Saturday...and the weather
report says it will be raining all week.

So wear raingear.

cheers again,
Tom

OK, I've been posting for a long time now. You think I will go out
biking with raingear on?

Maggie

Maggie said:

Tom Keats said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Maggie said:

>The obvious answer is to ride instead of drive.
>No hassle.

Quoted message said:

Well in Jersey it has been raining since Saturday...and the weather
report says it will be raining all week.

So wear raingear.

cheers again,
Tom

OK, I've been posting for a long time now. You think I will go out
biking with raingear on?

Maggie

Wussie!

You have the power to change this.

Quoted message said:

Aything to bring revenue into
the town.

When our small town of Plainfield, IL had a popluation of 4000 balloon
to 13000 in the mid-90s, they began sending police recruits to
Chicago's academies instead of local schools.

The aggressive, detached mentality of these new officers had an
immediate negative effect on the quality of our small town life. All of
a sudden police action was for our own protection, not for our safety.

To this day, when in my hometown, I am afraid to talk to any of the
police officers there. Their big-city training effectively distanced
them from the populace to the extent that I don't know, or care for,
any of them.

Bill Henry said:

Maggie wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

And God help you if your parking meter runs out 2 seconds
before you get to the car and its the end of the month.

Tell me about it. I'm a college student and universities have a talent
for being ticket Nazis when it comes to any minor infraction.

Haha...every year GT student's number one complaint is "the parking
Nazis" I feel ya brother

--
Paul M. Hobson
Georgia Institute of Technology
..:change the words to numbers
if you want to reply to me:.

Maggie said:

Tom Keats said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Maggie said:

> The obvious answer is to ride instead of drive.
> No hassle.

Quoted message said:

Well in Jersey it has been raining since Saturday...and the weather
report says it will be raining all week.

So wear raingear.

cheers again,
Tom

OK, I've been posting for a long time now. You think I will go out
biking with raingear on?

If we can find some with a Dooney & Bourke label on it, you might.

Maggie said:

Buck said:

I got a parking ticket yesterday... on my truck. I have used the truck
so little over the last year that I wasn't paying attention to when the
tags were due. I had to drive yesterday so I could make an afternoon
appointment. The local law spotted the expired tag and left me a little
note to pay a fine.

Bummer. Of course, I'm back on the bike today....

-Buck

Some people on this NG think that motorists are not fined enough or
given stiff enough penalties for bicycle/motorist related accidents.
Around my area, there are checkpoints for all types of things. If you
do one freaking thing wrong, you are stopped and ticketed. I've never
seen anyone stopped on their bike.

Not around here; cyclists are cited for various violations, but not
nearly as many or as often as they should. Same with operators of
motor vehicles; some get cited, but not nearly as many as should get
ticketed.

Quoted message said:

Ever. And some of them should be.
They ride on the wrong side of the street,

Bad, both from the operational and legal perspectives.

Quoted message said:

they ride on the
sidewalk...its ridiculous.

Legal in some areas.

Quoted message said:

chained to the parking meter is not ticketed.

In some areas they are impounded.

Quoted message said:

I love riding my bicycle, but I do believe suburbia
basically leaves cyclists alone and harrasses motorists sometimes.
Could be different in the city, but I have the misfortune of being in
suburbia where 12 police cars show up with sirens blaring if your are
pulled over for going 5 miles over the speed limit.

Boy, I think I want to live where you live, where police actually try
to control vehicular operation by the rule book. I can point out
intersections on my commute where cars regularly (like, almost every
time I am at the intersection - twice a day - so I assume it is
happening all the time) run the red light, and often run it while
driving in excess of the speed limit. I could probably point out 10 or
so motor vehicle operator infractions for every mile I commute. Not
many get caught. On the flip side, I see cyclists do dumb and illegal
things all the time; occasionally they get stopped and cited. They
invariably whine on newsgroups or mailing lists. More should be cited.
In both cases.

- rick

Maggie said:

Well in Jersey it has been raining since Saturday...and the weather
report says it will be raining all week. Sometimes I have to drive. I
am made of sugar.....I melt. Or am I the witch who melts with water.
Maggie goes ummmmmmm.

One of my favorite times to ride is while it is raining. Well, as long
as I am on the "rain" bike - the one with fenders. In warm weather, I
don't even bother with rain gear. When it gets cold, my rain jacket is
usually enough to keep me warm even though my legs are getting wet.

I love splashing through the big puddles. Of course, it's only fun if
you know which puddles aren't associated with potholes. It's a bit
scary when you can't avoid a puddle and you don't know what's
underneath.

I took one of my bikes out during tropical storm Allison when she
dumped 23" of rain on my house. The water was nearly up to the top tube
on that ride. But it was a good way to cruise the neighborhood and
assess the damage. And yes, my house was flooded. And no, we weren't in
a flood plain. A dumped couch had blocked the storm drain for the
neighborhood. And finally, yes, I followed my own advice, and moved to
a different house the very next week.

But I still like riding in the rain!

-Buck

Rick said:

Maggie said:

Buck wrote:
chained to the parking meter is not ticketed.

In some areas they are impounded.

Why should it be illegal to chain a bike to a parking meter?
It's a *parking* meter, I'm *parking* my bike at it. It's not
like there's a useful number of bike racks everywhere one wants
to park a bike. And if you try to use a regular car parking spot
without chaining it up, someone will steal the bike or hit it
with a car.
--
Ben Pfaff
email: [email hidden]
web: http://benpfaff.org

"Maggie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
I love riding my bicycle, but I do believe suburbia

Quoted message said:

basically leaves cyclists alone and harrasses motorists sometimes.
Could be different in the city, but I have the misfortune of being in
suburbia where 12 police cars show up with sirens blaring if your are
pulled over for going 5 miles over the speed limit.

Come drive your car in Philadelphia, where you have to shoot somebody from
your moving car in order to get the police to chase you. The lat time I saw
somebody get pulled over for running a red light was never, and the speed
limit is imposed by the rear of the car you're tailgating.

Fun for cycling, too.

RichC

Rich Clark said:

Come drive your car in Philadelphia, where you have to shoot somebody from
your moving car in order to get the police to chase you. The lat time I saw
somebody get pulled over for running a red light was never, and the speed
limit is imposed by the rear of the car you're tailgating.

What do you expect when the local delicacy is cheese steaks made with
meat rejected by the pet food companies. Folks just have mad cow
desease- or worse.

Maggie said:

Could be different in the city, but I have the misfortune of being in
suburbia where 12 police cars show up with sirens blaring if your are
pulled over for going 5 miles over the speed limit.
Maggie

God,
You are so right about the 12 police cars. I was once surrounded by
police in Glendale, part of Los Angeles, because I was driving a car
that fit the description of one used in a robbery getaway. Actually 6
cars, but all with guns drawn on me, which was really a wake up call to
watch out for the police as much as anything else. After they figured
out that the suspect was not even the same ethic group as me they still
wore out their radios trying to find something to pin on me.

Fast forward about 8 years and I went around a corner burning rubber
trying out a friends Firebird 400HO, and didn't notice the group of cops
parked under the shade tree until I had 3 cars surrounding me with guns
drawn, again. I only burnt rubber up to the speed limit in first gear
but damn, all those guns, just like a big time crook. I started to
wonder who the cops were supposed to protect or if they pulled their
guns just hoping someone would make a wrong move. I now have a stay out
of Santa Clara California policy since that police force is totally
corrupt. That was one incident out of many with them. I once had one
walk into me an he got knocked on his butt by mistake but I got arrested
for drunk in public and I was stone cold sober. It was my car he was
sneaking around and I just wanted to go somewhere. I think all the
commotion broke up their big drug bust or something, but they sure were
[censored] that I wasn't the one who got knocked down.
Too many cop/me experiences to go into here.
Bill Baka

In article <[email hidden]>,

Maggie said:

Tom Keats said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Maggie said:

> The obvious answer is to ride instead of drive.
> No hassle.

Quoted message said:

Well in Jersey it has been raining since Saturday...and the weather
report says it will be raining all week.

So wear raingear.

cheers again,
Tom

OK, I've been posting for a long time now. You think I will go out
biking with raingear on?

Well, the other option is to drive and be
hassled by your local traffic constabulary.

Your choice.

cheers again again,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

In article <[email hidden]>,

Rick said:

Quoted message said:

chained to the parking meter is not ticketed.

In some areas they are impounded.

That's so draconianly awful! Parking meters make the
best "bike racks". And a bike locked to a meter isn't
in anybody's way. Anyways, in civilized areas parking
meters are designed to accommodate bikes and U-locks.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Neil Brooks said:

Maggie said:

OK, I've been posting for a long time now. You think I will go out
biking with raingear on?

Quoted message said:

If we can find some with a Dooney & Bourke label on it, you might.

Dooney & Bourke might suffice for a casual bike ride but for anything
more formal like an organized group ride Maggie strikes me as more of a
Dolce & Gabbana, Yves St. Laurent, or Gucci girl. <g>

Regards,
Bob Hunt