Bicyclist pulled over for reckless driving, fined more than $1K(VA Abusive Driver Fines)

[RamboLiberal]

Kajuan Cornish, 19, was convicted of reckless driving last week and ordered to pay more than $1,050 in fines under Virigina's abusive driver program. The catch: He was riding a bicycle.

The Daily Press says Cornish rode his 18-speed Huffy across traffic during the afternoon rush hour and was pulled over by a police car near his workplace in Newport News, Va.

"If he gets hit, then we have a mess," George Evans, the officer who wrote the ticket, tells the paper. "It was a major violation right in front of us."

Cornish, who is appealing his conviction, read the ticket to WAVY-TV: "Year? None. Make? None. Type? Bike. License? None. State? None."

Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, has called the program a mistake and called on lawmakers to repeal the fees.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/01/bicyclist-pulle.html

I still think VA fines are excessive!

[fenriswolf]

1. i look at it like this

maybe the idiot wont ride his bike across traffic. I'm sure he gave a couple drivers a heart attack at seeing someone zoom out in front of them. You can't put a price tag on stupidity but I think his is fair.

[BB1]

5. Then just more people should ride bikes, now,

shouldn't they? Those officers should have offered the kid some course to safely navigate through traffic on a bike.
We offer courses like that to 'traditional immigrants' (folks who've never seen a bike from upclose, only on tv ) from Marocco, India and the US.

[fenriswolf]

6. a course to navigate through traffic?

its called a cross walk. Their is no excuse for weaving through traffic and becoming a hazzard to yourself and other drivers. What i hate most about this is that if he was hit the driver would deal with it for the rest of the drivers life while the cyclist would be the one who gets the sympathy. I have no sympathy for people who do not think about the consequences of their actions.

[BB1]

7. did the report state how jammed up traffic was?

I might not have been (jammed), but riding a bike in slow traffic is unlikely to get you hurt (if you know what you're doing).

I understand your point, being a traffic safety advisor in Dutch High Schools. Of course the motorist would suffer from eternal trauma. I don't agree the cyclist would be hailed as a martyr though. Here in Holland he would be branded plain stupid.

There's just one more side to the story. Quote: " I have no sympathy for people who do not think about the consequences of their actions. "
Motorists have the (I'd say sacred) duty to watch out for the 'lesser' roadusers. See yourself as a moderator on the streets. If it gets hammered home that automobilists are watching out for cyclists, and every year less accidents are happening, then more people will start ride those evironmently and healthy bikes!

No kidding, but I have some 500 custom-made DU-printed city bikes in store, that are waiting to fall from the back of a truck near my home. They're crashproof. Send me a mail if you want one :)

[fenriswolf]

8. the poster did state it was rush hour. so i don't think it was slow.

[BB1]

9. that sounds like a Catch 22

you want to go somewhere fast, but because everybody else wants to go to the same place equally fast, everything just grinds to a halt. Result: you get nowhere, fast.

try a bike instead! ;)

[fenriswolf]

10. right but thats not the point

the point is a cyclist took it upon himself to zip through traffic regardless of his own safty or the safty of the people using public roads correctly. The question the OP poses is if the fine was exsessive. If it gets the cyclist to think twice before crossing a busy freeway then yeah I don't think the fine was excessive. Not quite sure where you are going with your argument.

[BB1]

11. I'm sorry. The fines ARE excessive to me.

The rest of the argument is to try and score some points for cyclists. So far, you've not been very responsive.

okay, case closed. Do you ride a bike? Or do you have a sleigh with huskies?

[fenriswolf]

12. oh well I have a bike

and I have no problem with bikers but they don't own the damn road. A car is a huge mechanical thing with alot of momentum and is hard to stop. cyclists are fine so long as they understand, they can share the road but they do not own it.

and before you start going for the cyclists i agree, cars do not own the road either. but if the two met in a head on collision it would be the cyclist who pays and the driver who is blamed. It's not fair to either party.

[BB1]

13. one possible solution:

move to Namibia.

This is nonsense of course, and highly cynical. Somewhere south of Etosha National Park (where they shoot all the cool elephant movies) in a little town called Outjo, I met a French couple in 2003. The guy had, a week before, been hit by a car which was driving on the wrong side of the road. He sustained serious injuries to his head, his back and his left leg.

A week after (two days before we met them, he had been in bed for ten days), he had to show up at the police station. He was given the choice between paying up for the broken carlights, or have his injured ass dragged into court, where he would surely lose. You see, in Namibia, cyclists are NOT the protected species. As a Dutchman, I was shocked!

The bottom line, for you and me, of course, is to treat every roaduser with as much respect as you would like to receive.

[mike_c]

2. the fines might be excessive, but as a bike rider/commuter...

...I'm completely behind cops who enforce the traffic laws against cyclists. I live and work in a university town at it pisses me off to no end how many cyclists have no clue about their responsibilities on the road.

[northzax]

3. I have a friend who got an OUI in NoVa on his bike

a couple years back. they would have suspended his license, but he didn't have one (hence the reason he was on his bike)

[Gidney N Cloyd]

4. As a cyclist, I say GOOD FOR THE COPS.

The brain-dead bikers make it harder for the rest of us to get around-- cars are either trying to kill us or they don't believe us when we try to follow the rules of the road.

[sentelle]

14. In my state...

(WA), cyclists are subject to the same laws as are cars and motorcycles, with only a few exceptions (seatbelts, driving on the shoulder, etc.).
i.e. if you do not stop at a stop sign or light, you are cited. I've heard of cyclists who have gotten on busses so as to avoid DUI laws (yes, you can be arrested for driving a bicycle drunk).

I think this might qualify as 'reckless driving'. If it is proven that he rode his bicycle recklessly, then he should be forced to pay the fine.