Anyone Gotten a Red Light Ticket on a Bike? I did!

So I admit I was rushing to meet one of Chainlink's new interns.... and ran the light at Newport and Clark.  Flashing lights on, cop points to me to pull over and writes me a ticket.   He said they get calls every day for car accidents caused by bikes running red lights in front of cars. 

No idea how much its for, he just told me my court date is early October and if I have questions to call 311 and give them my violation is V11-B.8c.

Here is my proof, with a wonderful "It's ok" figurine that someone from The Coop Coworking Space gave me.

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Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on February 14, 2014 at 5:47am

Some insight, I have. Data, I do not. 

The crash data website I maintain at Chicago Crash Browser uses data from Illinois Motorist Crash Reports filed by police officers across the state and collected by the Illinois Department of Transportation. 

Such a crash report is usually only collected by IDOT when the motor vehicle involved "does the hitting" or when a driver's behavior is the cause for being hit by a bicycle (one example of this may be a driver who turns in front of a bicyclist who cannot stop in time and runs into the car). 

A crash report may be filed if a cyclist runs into a cop car in this way, but I can't be sure because the policy for the crash data IDOT collects is to prefer when the motor vehicle does the hitting. If there was an injury or property damage of $1,500 or greater I would expect a crash report to be filed. 

Anyway, this police officer's tale of bicyclists running red lights and hitting cop cars would sound less ridiculous if it didn't involve plural word forms. 


T.K. 8.4 mi said:

[The cop] was something like, "with more bikes on the road we are having more accidents from cyclists running red lights. Specifically, cyclists running lights and hitting cop cars is a problem." I had to chuckle at the second sentence and tell him that I try to follow these incidents and have never heard of a cyclist running a red light and hitting a cop car. Anyone have any insight on that?

My favorite part of the encounter was the group of 2-3 bikers running an adjacent red light and hollering at us while I was being handed the ticket. :)

This will not change my Idaho-ish riding habits, and I said this directly to the officers.

  

Permalink Reply by BootsyC on February 14, 2014 at 8:13am

CPD officers in/on city-owned vehicles do not have to abide by traffic signals.

At least that's what the CPD PR department continues to say.

Haddon said:

+1 to the first person to post a video of a bike cop blowing a red light. 

Permalink Reply by Shawn A Conley on February 18, 2014 at 7:22am

2 things...

@Steven Vance - I was involved in a near-accident in the way you described (driver turned in front of me).  I began yelling and she hit the brakes.  I bailed into the sidewalk and crashed into the bushes.  There was a squad car behind the driver that just kept going.  There was another squad car who pulled another motorist over across the street.  I flagged him down and advised him that I needed an incident report.  He said that he didn't know how to do it.  The cop then calls another squad car over, then leaves.  The woman then tells the new cop, get this, I WAS SPEEDING.  I pull out my trusty Garmin and...well, she paid me cash for the damage to my bike.

2nd thing...

I know this is a little different but I got a ticket for driving with my bike rack on my car without a bike.  I asked the cop if it is illegal to do so.  He responded that it was his discretion.  That didn't really answer my question.  I fought the ticket, wasted my time going to court, then the judge asked me if I took my rack off my car.  I told him that I did, which was true, and he threw it out.  I did ask the judge if it is illegal to drive with a bike rack on my car.  He said it's at the cop's discretion.  (Ubiquitous angry faces go here)

Permalink Reply by Crazy David 84 Furlongs on February 18, 2014 at 7:31am

I suspect that the "bike rack rule" relates to whether or not the license plate has been obscured and is related to speed cameras and red light cameras.  They don't want people using the rack to prevent the plate from being read and thus no ticket being issued.   

Shawn A Conley said:

2 things...

@Steven Vance - I was involved in a near-accident in the way you described (driver turned in front of me).  I began yelling and she hit the brakes.  I bailed into the sidewalk and crashed into the bushes.  There was a squad car behind the driver that just kept going.  There was another squad car who pulled another motorist over across the street.  I flagged him down and advised him that I needed an incident report.  He said that he didn't know how to do it.  The cop then calls another squad car over, then leaves.  The woman then tells the new cop, get this, I WAS SPEEDING.  I pull out my trusty Garmin and...well, she paid me cash for the damage to my bike.

2nd thing...

I know this is a little different but I got a ticket for driving with my bike rack on my car without a bike.  I asked the cop if it is illegal to do so.  He responded that it was his discretion.  That didn't really answer my question.  I fought the ticket, wasted my time going to court, then the judge asked me if I took my rack off my car.  I told him that I did, which was true, and he threw it out.  I did ask the judge if it is illegal to drive with a bike rack on my car.  He said it's at the cop's discretion.  (Ubiquitous angry faces go here)

Permalink Reply by Shawn A Conley on February 18, 2014 at 7:36am

I understand.  So I told the cop that I had just dropped off my bikes to the bike shop for repair and showed him the receipt.  He wrote me the m%#$@*f*#$(&% ticket anyway.

Crazy David 84 Furlongs said:

I suspect that the "bike rack rule" relates to whether or not the license plate has been obscured and is related to speed cameras and red light cameras.  They don't want people using the rack to prevent the plate from being read and thus no ticket being issued.   

Shawn A Conley said:

2 things...

@Steven Vance - I was involved in a near-accident in the way you described (driver turned in front of me).  I began yelling and she hit the brakes.  I bailed into the sidewalk and crashed into the bushes.  There was a squad car behind the driver that just kept going.  There was another squad car who pulled another motorist over across the street.  I flagged him down and advised him that I needed an incident report.  He said that he didn't know how to do it.  The cop then calls another squad car over, then leaves.  The woman then tells the new cop, get this, I WAS SPEEDING.  I pull out my trusty Garmin and...well, she paid me cash for the damage to my bike.

2nd thing...

I know this is a little different but I got a ticket for driving with my bike rack on my car without a bike.  I asked the cop if it is illegal to do so.  He responded that it was his discretion.  That didn't really answer my question.  I fought the ticket, wasted my time going to court, then the judge asked me if I took my rack off my car.  I told him that I did, which was true, and he threw it out.  I did ask the judge if it is illegal to drive with a bike rack on my car.  He said it's at the cop's discretion.  (Ubiquitous angry faces go here)

Permalink Reply by Marcus Moore on February 18, 2014 at 8:27am

It sounds like we're talking about a trunk rack, right?

If it's not obscuring the plate I wonder if the ticket was for having something hanging off of the car without having a piece of red fabric dangling from it?

I've never heard of someone receiving a ticket for this.


Crazy David 84 Furlongs said:

I suspect that the "bike rack rule" relates to whether or not the license plate has been obscured and is related to speed cameras and red light cameras.  They don't want people using the rack to prevent the plate from being read and thus no ticket being issued.   

Shawn A Conley said:

2 things...

@Steven Vance - I was involved in a near-accident in the way you described (driver turned in front of me).  I began yelling and she hit the brakes.  I bailed into the sidewalk and crashed into the bushes.  There was a squad car behind the driver that just kept going.  There was another squad car who pulled another motorist over across the street.  I flagged him down and advised him that I needed an incident report.  He said that he didn't know how to do it.  The cop then calls another squad car over, then leaves.  The woman then tells the new cop, get this, I WAS SPEEDING.  I pull out my trusty Garmin and...well, she paid me cash for the damage to my bike.

2nd thing...

I know this is a little different but I got a ticket for driving with my bike rack on my car without a bike.  I asked the cop if it is illegal to do so.  He responded that it was his discretion.  That didn't really answer my question.  I fought the ticket, wasted my time going to court, then the judge asked me if I took my rack off my car.  I told him that I did, which was true, and he threw it out.  I did ask the judge if it is illegal to drive with a bike rack on my car.  He said it's at the cop's discretion.  (Ubiquitous angry faces go here)

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on February 18, 2014 at 8:53am

I know a police officer who wrote a cyclist for running a red light in River North last year. The cyclist nearly ended up as a hood ornament on the squad car - didn't appear to look for any approaching traffic. That guy could have gotten really hurt if the officer hadn't slammed on the brakes. Instead he got a ticket.

T.K. 8.4 mi said:

Julie, what happened in court last October? 

I joined the ticket club last night in Greektown:

One officer (there where two of them) said that he would not be showing up in court. Also, he made a similar statement to yours:

He said they get calls every day for car accidents caused by bikes running red lights in front of cars. 

His was something like, "with more bikes on the road we are having more accidents from cyclists running red lights. Specifically, cyclists running lights and hitting cop cars is a problem." I had to chuckle at the second sentence and tell him that I try to follow these incidents and have never heard of a cyclist running a red light and hitting a cop car. Anyone have any insight on that?

My favorite part of the encounter was the group of 2-3 bikers running an adjacent red light and hollering at us while I was being handed the ticket. :)

This will not change my Idaho-ish riding habits, and I said this directly to the officers.

  

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on February 18, 2014 at 8:55am

Shawn - Glad you were okay in the near-accident. I've heard of other incidents when GPS data and/or video footage saved the day when a driver was lying or a cop wasn't listening to both sides of the story.

Shawn A Conley said:

2 things...

@Steven Vance - I was involved in a near-accident in the way you described (driver turned in front of me).  I began yelling and she hit the brakes.  I bailed into the sidewalk and crashed into the bushes.  There was a squad car behind the driver that just kept going.  There was another squad car who pulled another motorist over across the street.  I flagged him down and advised him that I needed an incident report.  He said that he didn't know how to do it.  The cop then calls another squad car over, then leaves.  The woman then tells the new cop, get this, I WAS SPEEDING.  I pull out my trusty Garmin and...well, she paid me cash for the damage to my bike.

2nd thing...

I know this is a little different but I got a ticket for driving with my bike rack on my car without a bike.  I asked the cop if it is illegal to do so.  He responded that it was his discretion.  That didn't really answer my question.  I fought the ticket, wasted my time going to court, then the judge asked me if I took my rack off my car.  I told him that I did, which was true, and he threw it out.  I did ask the judge if it is illegal to drive with a bike rack on my car.  He said it's at the cop's discretion.  (Ubiquitous angry faces go here)

Permalink Reply by Shawn A Conley on February 18, 2014 at 11:52am

@Marcus Moore  Yes, it's a trunk rack.

@Anne Alt  Thanks.  I didn't have to actually show the data from my Garmin, but the mere fact that a driver would accuse a cyclist of speeding while heading down a Boulevard is crazy to me.  

Permalink Reply by Robert Underwood on February 18, 2014 at 12:08pm

I have run lights in front of cops in uptown, but I never got a ticket.  I do it carefully, so they see me check before I run it.  Maybe the cops downtown are more prone to give tickets.

Permalink Reply by Sol on February 18, 2014 at 5:46pm

I believe Julie's ticket was in Lakeview. Personally, I find it best to just follow right behind the police as they drive through the red light.

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