Hi everyone,
I realize this topic has been discussed sufficiently, however, I have
one important thing to add.

Whenever you, as a cyclist, get pulled over and are issued a citiation
by a police officer, make sure that they write down on the ticket that
you were on a bicycle. This will make it much easier when the judge
sees the ticket and will keep it from affecting your driving record,
regardless of the disposition of your case.

Peter



Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2004 23:22:57 -0700 (PDT)

> From: Cycle Santa Monica <cyclesantamonica@...>
>Subject: RE: Police give me ticket, what should I do?
>
>
>Hi Rick. Since it appears the officer made some errors in their
>interpretation of law and made apparent errors in the writing of the
>ticket. I would highly recommend calling the Police dept that wrote the
>ticket and ask to speak to the watch commander. I would explain this
>things to the watch commander. If you got him before the officer's shift
>is up, he could probably squash the ticket before it gets into the
>system to far.
>
>If it has been one or more days from the incident this may be more
>difficult to pursue. However, it may worthwhile that the watch commander
>intervenes and possibly pulls the officer aside to provide them with
>instruction on the law and that may aid future cyclists that may be
>ticketed by this officer in error. And besides that maybe the watch
>commander may be able to do something so your ticket is pulled from the
>system. It seems to me that if he can, that it is in the best service to
>the community and the best use of our tax dollars not get wasted trying
>an obvious error by our policing agency and agents and the courts time.
>
>Michael
>Cycle Santa Monica!
>Empowering Cyclists, Skaters, and Pedestrians
>In Santa Monica and the Westside
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cyclesantamonica
>
>