Wow!!

Today.....I was part of a three man group who also got $335 tickets apiece for "in the officer's opinion" ignoring the 5-way stop. I disagree. We did not ignore it. Early this morning in route to the coast by bike, we were heading west and rolled up the intersection and slowed to less than a walking pace, looking both ways. No cars, no bikes, no peds in sight. I did not track stand. I did not put my foot down. He has a point that we may not have performed a perfect stop. But this version of a stop was not unlike what I do in my car every day. I feel that had I been in my car it would have seemed reasonable to debate it a little more at the time. My point is not to argue the technicality of my "stop" or lack there of. But the reasonableness of the fine and strange view that this will help contribute to reducing the bicycle/car fatalities in Washington County given that our experience with the officer in North Plains was similar to the one described. We were told during our stop before getting tickets, that there had been a lot of bicycle/vehicle fatalities out in this area and a lot of bicyclist activists groups and bicyclists have been complaining that cars need to share the road. And that these activists want bicyclists to be treated as equals with equal right to the road. And, that if we want to be equal we are going to have to find a better way. Independently, these statements have validity. But how are they appropriate to our infraction? It was like this was a plain and simple message. Equal meant a new heightened attention to bicyclist traffic infractions and much steeper fines.

At first, we were all feeling embarrassed about being pulled over and stopped. Feeling guilty for bringing shame to our culture and all. What we were shocked at was the lecture about bicyclist activist politics and the amount of the fine. $335??? My impression was that we were being informed that this an attempt to solve some of these bicycle/vehicle fatalities. What??? I felt as if we were being told that cyclists need to change to prevent these fatalities. Huh???? What??? Were these recent fatalities the bicyclists fault? I guess in some way it might reduce the conflicts of bicyclists and cars in North Plains, in that maybe fewer bicyclists ride through their town. I will certainly consider an alternate route next time.

During the rest of our ride to the coast we discussed amongst ourselves the $1005 in fines we were levied with compared to the $1100 in fines levied against the driver who hit and killed the cyclist recently. Do those two incidents seem remotely comparable? It truly is a strange world sometimes....It turns out to have been an expensive lesson in traffic regulations, politics, and that the divide between many drivers and cyclists looks to be a tough bridge for either side to make anytime soon....

-Tim Schauer

________________________________

From: obra-bounces@list.obra.org on behalf of Greg Crane
Sent: Thu 7/5/2007 8:50 PM
To: obra@list.obra.org
Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Hefty fines levied against cyclists in WashingtonCounty

Boy do I feel safer now that the cops are cracking
down on cyclist. I was almost killed just the other
day in my Xtera by a cyclist not following the rules
of the road.

Lucky for me I was doing 15 over the speed limit and
was able to get out of the very dangerous situation I
was placed in by a thoughtless person on a bicycle.

Greg
--- Mike Manning wrote:

> Just thought I should forward this message on to the
> rest of you.
> Mike Manning
>
> Fellow Cyclists- FYI, on a note I received from a
> Tri-athlete who rolls in our neighborhood!
>
> Part of a group I was riding with yesterday was
> ticketed $335 apiece for rolling though the stop
> signs at the intersection of North Plains Rd and
> Glencoe. The officer indicated that the north plains
> PD has stepped up ticketing cyclists in the area
> since the rider was killed a few weeks ago. Beware.
>
> Lindsay Kandra
> Portland TriClub
> _______________________________________________
> OBRA mailing list
> obra@list.obra.org
> http://list.obra.org/mailman/listinfo/obra
> Unsubscribe: obra-unsubscribe@list.obra.org
>

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