Lots of anger out there....

[zap]

Check this out..........

http://www.wtop.com/index.php?nid=600&sid=1324727&comments=true


I'm still not sure exactly what prompted the officer to issue a ticket to this fellow in VA.

[Samster]

Sound like BS to me.

+++++
Bicyclist Gets Four-Figure 'Abusive Driver' Fee
January 11, 2008 - 8:05am

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) - Kajuan Cornish didn't know he was such a danger on his bicycle, and now he's facing hefty fees that could have paid for him to have a car.
One day after Gov. Timothy M. Kaine admitted the state's so-called abusive driver fees had failed and called for them to be repealed, Cornish was ordered to pay a fee of $1,050 for recklessly operating his 18-speed Huffy in an intersection during rush hour.

"A bike with pedals - a 4-year-old can ride a bike," Cornish said Thursday. "I could see it happen if I'm riding the wrong way down the expressway - that's dumb."

Cornish, 19, doesn't drive and was convicted of reckless driving in Newport News traffic court for a ticket he received after riding his bike across Warwick Boulevard.

Cornish was returning to work when he received the summons.

Officer George Evans said drivers had to slow down to avoid hitting Cornish when he crossed the intersection and that he would have written a warning if not the ticket.

"If he gets hit, then we have a mess," Evans said, adding that as a citizen, he thinks the abusive driver fees are too high, but also out of his control.

The fees were instituted last year against drivers with egregious traffic offenses.

Cornish is due back in court to appeal in February.

"I'm stuck," he said. "I'm trying to be Christian about it, but it's frustrating."

Information from: Daily Press

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
++++++

[Bernie]

The story has made the local news channels, been picked up in the local papers. Facts are somewhat sketchy. Guy who works at Rite Aid had 30 minutes for lunch, rode his bike across the street (a 4+ lane urban arterial street with raised median) to burger king and back. On the ride back he was pulled over by a cop who thought what he was doing was dangerous and unsafe in rush hour traffic, and was blocking/impeding the traffic flow. No details as to why (none of the reports have clearly stated if he was crossing the median, riding against traffic, running thru lights or signs, etc.) the cop thought it was illegal and unsafe. Anyway, bike rider got charged with reckless driving, since in VA you can be held to the same standards as a car driver. Recent legislation passed to snag dangerous repeat offenders and serious offenses, as well as put extra money in the state's coffers, tagged on a lot of additional money for the fines putting the final tag for the ticket at over $1000. Guy went to traffic court (called Gen. District Court) and the judge took the cop's version and found him guilty. Rider is appealing conviction to Circuit court. Circuit Court can overturn or alter the earlier decision in any way they see fit as it is treated as a new trial, new evidence, new everything.

As I see it there are any number of issues that should be hardly fought. Among them are whether the new law of extra fines applies to bicycles, whether the facts support 'reckless' driving, whether or not what was done was illegal just to name a few. I hope the guy gets a good lawyer.

[BumbleBeeDave]

On the one hand, the fine DOES seem excessive. You'd think the judge would exercise some discretion--isn't that what judges are supposed to do?--and try to teach the guy a lesson without being this severe. If this guy can't afford a car anyway then it would seem you wouldn't have to fine him $1,000 to "teach him a lesson."

But, on the other hand . . . I was on the way home last night, turning right from one main street onto another. In front of me, I watch this kid on a beater bike come down the street against the light and just keep going, right between the cars in line going through the green light. Of course the driver had to slam on his brakes and the driver behind him did too to avoid hitting the guy in front. The kid looked right at them, obviously knew exactly what he was doing, and just rode sedately onward. Unfortunately, there are lots of those kind of riders in Schenectady, who are obviously not serious cyclists and just ride sedately onward as if no traffic laws of any kind apply to them, as if to say "Eff you" to the drivers. They're reckless, they're dangerous, and when one of them inevitably gets hit, I think people read about it and just use it as yet another affirmation that we cyclists are all reckless and shouldn't be allowed on the road.

Was the guy in this story riding recklessly like that? My inference from reading the story is that he was. I just don't see the cop giving him a ticket if he had waited at a light and was riding across with a green light. I'm sorry the fine is so high, but if he doesn't see himself as having any responsibility for riding safely just because he's on a bicycle, then it's hard for me to summun up much sympathy for him.

BBD

[Grant McLean]

..rode his bike across the street (a 4+ lane urban arterial street with raised median) to burger king and back.

maybe he was freaked out because he couldn't get a whopper?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa8fHfo4uEI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYtzsmiv85s&feature=related

-g

[Matt Barkley]

This may not be applicable here or slightly "of-a-related-topic" - but I would be interested to know how the immediate infrastructure relates to this case. If this guy was a pedestrian could? he have even crossed that 4 lane road for lunch. Is the city planning so car-centric that it is unsafe period to be on a bike or a pedestrian in that area? Just a thought.

[Fixed]

bro the cops have too much time on their hands don't have anything real to do up there ? no crime to fight or protect us from ourselfs ?
cheers imho

[William]

Anger? I already posted on how to handle anger:

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showpost.php?p=312727&postcount=1



Theraputic no?




William ;)

[Alexi]

bro the cops have too much time on their hands don't have anything real to do up there ? no crime to fight or protect us from ourselfs ?
cheers imho

ehhh watching traffic is plenty hard and important for cops to do...

[Grant McLean]

This may not be applicable here or slightly "of-a-related-topic" - but I would be interested to know how the immediate infrastructure relates to this case. If this guy was a pedestrian could? he have even crossed that 4 lane road for lunch. Is the city planning so car-centric that it is unsafe period to be on a bike or a pedestrian in that area? Just a thought.


+1

back in my urban politics/planning classes, we talked about stuff like this all the time.

It's just another part of the hidden cost of living in a world with a blind obsession
for cars, and not recognizing the major imapct there of...

-g