More Fun with Cops
Today while riding to class (a little late), I was stopped by a University of Washington Police Officer on a bicycle for, as he claims, “blowing through a stop sign.” He went through the regular cop intimidation attempts, but I have learned that I have gotten much better at not letting these tactics affect me. Throughout the ordeal, I never admitted any knowledge of guilt (and I still do not), and I even refused to sign the ticket , so where my signature might otherwise be, the cop wrote what looks like “Given to D”.
I have several thoughts after contemplating the incident and my response:
- I have seen this particular bike cop around before, and I know that I could probably ride considerably faster than him (unless he has been hiding his prowess very well). So, perhaps I could have “gotten away” — he is probably just lucky that I did stop behind the car in front of me soon after my alleged infraction. I stopped because I consider it rude to pass cars close on the right under most circumstances.
- The cop asked me if I had a drivers license on me, which I did and I told him so. I didn’t give it to him until he asked me for it (and even then he never actually asked me for it, he just implied that he wanted it). I’m curious as to what would have happened if I didn’t have the license on me, or if I had told him I didn’t. I certainly don’t need to have my drivers license with me most of the time, so perhaps I should stop carrying it around most of the time. I already have a “everyday” set of keys and a “driving” set of keys; perhaps I should do the same with my wallet.
- The cop told me that the fine was $124.00. But then the ticket says the fine is $103.00. Or $103.60, depending on where on the ticket you look. What is up with cops and lying?
- I will almost certainly contest the ticket. This will cost the system more than they can possibly gain from giving it to me. We should probably all contest every ticket ever, to ensure that it is not financially viable to continue giving tickets out.
For the curious, I was cited under RCW 46.61.050 with the accompanying text “FAIL TO OBEY TRAFFIC ? CONTROL NUICE Bicycle $103.60”. Feeling generous today, I will interpret “NUICE” to be “DEVICE”, which would make the citation make sense.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:16:18 am
So upon reflection with others, I’m pretty sure that despite my efforts, I still screwed this one up. As Bobby pointed out, the fact that the cop never explicitly asked me for my license is a pretty good indication that he couldn’t legally ask me for it. So I fell for that one pretty badly.
Also, I had my camera on me and I should have whipped it out and started recording a video, but I didn’t think to do that until later, of course.
Regardless, I have submitted the contested hearing paperwork and will fight this as far as is feasible.