Go for it Mr. LaHood.

However, there is something inherently wrong when a town enacts legislation that is contrary to everything we teach our children from the first day we teach them to cross a street. “Stop and look both ways” is that first lesson.

I live in a college town where the pedestrians don’t stop but rather continue across the street as if they have no awareness that their frail bodies cannot stand up to the weight of a vehicle. Add to that a policy that makes it illegal to blow your horn (except when warning another driver).

This town considers cyclists drivers too. There is a conflict when a cyclist doesn’t obey the same law.

I personally had a confrontation with a bicycle cop last summer. The cyclist was slowing traffic for several blocks. Unaware of what the delay was, I patiently rode in line behind other drivers too. After several blocks, the others peeled off, turning left or right to their destinations. When I saw the cyclist bobbing and weaving across the lane, going nowhere in particular but taking an inordinate amount of time to get to wherever he was going, I decided to pass to the left when the roadway was clear. Because he was weaving, I honked my horn to warn him I was going around him. As I passed, he hollered “STOP!.” I did.

When the officer approached, the first thing he said was “it’s illegal to pass in downtown Columbia,” In my own experience, everywhere in this country, it is legal to pass when the path is clear and there is a broken yellow line, which was the case here. After the officer studied his handbook for over 20 minutes, he cited me for “following a bicycle, imprudent driving, honking the horn, and excessive speeding.”

At the place where I passed, the distance from that point till the officer hollered was less than 50 feet. In a 13 year old car, there would be no way I could have passed him at over 20 miles above the speed limit in that distance. Rate = Time / Distance. The officer claimed he could estimate my speed because of his experience yet he could not tell me how far I had traveled. There is something wrong with this picture.

At court, there was a trial. A “real trial” as if I had committed some terrible crime. According to the driver’s handbook, I did everything according to text. The judge noted he had never seen a case like this. He said I had done everything correctly according to the handbook but he still found me “guilty.” Absolutely AMAZING!

This is definitely adding up to the “twilight zone” effect. The officer claimed he “feared for his life when he heard rocks popping up off the pavement, and I was going 20 miles over the speed limit.” Not one of those things happened. I appealed.
In this town, they don’t keep a transcript of court proceedings. That meant I had no record of the lies the officer told to impeach his testimony at the next trial. (By the way. No one had every appealed a conviction in this town and the court clerk didn’t even know where the form was or how to fill it out for the appeal. I was in the “Twilight Zone” again.

I went to the police station to request a copy of the officer’s incident report because he told me I could read it there because he wouldn’t let me read the ticket at the stop before signing it. Although this is a state that has a “Sunshine Law,” the keeper of records required me to fill out a form to request that incident report. Then that keeper of records called me on the phone several days later to ask me why I wanted it. Needless to say, he didn’t produce the records claiming officers don’t have to file a report. “Twilight Zone” again.

My crime was that I had the audacity to pass a bicycle cop. Well, needless to say, the trial date came, the officer was a no call, no show at the hearing. The judge refused to dismiss the charges and rescheduled another hearing. At the next hearing, the officer was a very late arriver. My case was called early in the hearing. Again, no officer. Well, the wonderful judge put my case at the bottom of the pile and waited the hour for the officer to finally show up. Guess what the verdict was? “GUILTY!”

As a mother of 3 grown daughters and now 5 grandchildren, I have always taught my children to obey the law, look both ways before crossing the streets, be careful when cycling and respect cars; the police are your friends. Respect them and call them if you’re in trouble. I left that courtroom with a very bad taste in my mouth.

At the initial stop, when the officer lied about the illegalities of passing where there is a broken yellow line, I began to record the conversation on my Blackberry. I had my 9 year old grandson who was visiting from Florida for the summer with me. As a grandparent, it is my job to teach him to obey the law too. He was terrified and so was I. The stop was confrontational. The officer would not allow a 50 year-old grandmother with handicap license plates out of the car to read the ticket in the dark. He snatched his ticket book from my hands twice because I wanted to read it before signing. (My Constitutional Right). He even threatened to arrest me because I wouldn’t sign the ticket without reading it. Needless to say, I never signed it because the officer snatched it out of my hand so that I couldn’t read it.

At this point, I shudder to think about driving now because the town I live in has the attitude that they will make laws to suit their own agendas. As I told the judge in parting, “I’m afraid to drive now because if I obey the laws as they’re written on the books, I may run across a rogue cop who perjures himself in the interest of his ego to write a ticket because he feels like it.”

This new “bicycle friendly” city is shaping up to be not so friendly. With any idea or concept, it can be twisted for “evil intent.” I think this is happening here and I really think there should be another look at the application of this legislation.

Yes!

And thank you, Bike League, for your hard work that has led, at long last, to this recognition by our American government.

Not sure how gun control came into this discussion…but, I a strong proponent of control.

Your comments on what is mainstream are interesting. But what was mainstream 50 years ago is no longer. So change is expected. We need to guide change so that 50 years from now our children have a better planet and better lives.

Yes, you are correct, people who would run a biker off the road are sociopaths. Not all drivers are that way and most are to opposite. Just yesterday I had a very pleasant ride with several drivers yield to me allowing me to pass. Regardless, what is the answer…to continue unchanged. You can see where that got us.

We are not advocating elimation of the auto…simply to allow wider use of pathways.

You can read my comments in the club’s website…where you can post further comments.

The reason I ask is not to agitate, but to point out the parallels.

Would it be acceptable for a politician to say that bicycles should be banned from a certain place because of the number of injuries involving bicyclists? “Let’s get these dangerous devices off the streets.”

The issue I’m attempting to raise is utilitarianism versus individual freedom.