Bicycle Austin forum

dougmc

Administrator

Registered: 2008-06-01

Posts: 623

Texas cyclist ticketed for impeding traffic, is fighting the charges .

His blog is here -- http://chipsea.blogspot.com/

He basically was ticketed and then arrested in Ellis County and is now working on fighting the charges.  Interesting reading ...

ParmerSurvivor

Member

Registered: 2010-01-05

Posts: 14

Re: Texas cyclist ticketed for impeding traffic, is fighting the charges .

Maybe he is onto something.  Maybe riding in a lane is safer than the shoulder!!! :)

dougmc

Administrator

Registered: 2008-06-01

Posts: 623

Re: Texas cyclist ticketed for impeding traffic, is fighting the charges .

He was convicted by a jury, and is now working on an appeal.

More at --

http://let-him-ride.com/
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.ph … pSeal-Ride

and other places linked from those sites.

CycleDog

Member

Registered: 2010-03-11

Posts: 1

Re: Texas cyclist ticketed for impeding traffic, is fighting the charges .

There's a piece on Cyclelicious at:

http://www.cyclelicio.us/2010/chipseals-defense/

There will be another on my Examiner page in a day or two.  Just search for Tulsa Alternative Transportation Examiner.

rich00

Member

Registered: 2010-01-18

Posts: 166

Re: Texas cyclist ticketed for impeding traffic, is fighting the charges .

Impeding traffic - the cars probably had to stop and wait at a red light within a minute of passing him I bet.

It's the same mentality I see while I'm driving. On the highway we all are slowed to 10mph or stopped for 20 minutes. Then when we finally get going and it clears, you have people riding your bumper in the right lane, because you're going 65.

Last edited by rich00 (2010-03-12 01:22:06)

dougmc

Administrator

Registered: 2008-06-01

Posts: 623

Re: Texas cyclist ticketed for impeding traffic, is fighting the charges .

I don't know the place, but it looks pretty rural.  They might have gone longer without a red light than that ...

In any event, what weakens his case is that the area has shoulders that most cyclists would have used.  Not that the law requires their use, but motorists are used to seeing cyclists there when they're there, and they're used to people moving to the shoulder to let faster traffic pass, so the jurors may have based their decision on that.  (The instructions to the jury didn't seem to include the entire law, that certainly didn't help either.)

Of course, in his favor, being a four lane road, there wasn't actually any traffic stuck behind him -- they just went around him easily in the other lane.  Though apparently in the police video there was a car behind him with their blinkers on, presumably trying to "do him a favor" and protect him or something.