Goal Attained

Last Tuesday (Dec 7th), I was on my way to work when I was pulled over and cited by a Utah Transit Authority police officer. She cited me for failure to stop at a red light. I was riding a bicycle.

That's right. Much to my surprise, UTA police officers have the authority to write traffic citations. Also to my surprise, they are serious when it comes to cyclists abiding by traffic laws. As surprising as those revelations were, they did not shock me as much as some of the other details surrounding this experience. Now let me confess up front that I did not stop quite as promptly, nor did I initially take the officer as seriously as she would have preferred. This did not help my situation.

Here's the story. I was stopped at a light when the officer pulled up along side me and began to talk to me out her window. Apparently, she quickly suspected that I found some amusement in the situation because she asked, "Do you think this is funny?" Now, I believe in being honest but perhaps this was one scenario in which it might have been wisest to answer with something other than, "Yeah, I kind of do." I believe that was the pivotal point at which the situation turned from a verbal warning to a citation.

The light changed and the officer followed me a block and a half to the back entrance of my place of employment where I decided we had better stop and talk. I was shocked when two more UTA police cars arrived within a minute or so. I was further shocked when a South Salt Lake officer arrived within minutes as well.

At the time, I was very confused why it was deemed necessary that so many resources be dedicated to a traffic citation for a cyclist. It was not until later that it occurred to me that it was likely because the back entrance to Access RV is very secluded and could have proven to be a dangerous situation if I had been armed or had otherwise become violent.

The officer who pulled me over approached me in her jeans, T-shirt and fuzzy slippers and requested my driver license and while she was reviewing my lack of criminal history, the two other UTA officers chatted casually with me. Suddenly, the South Salt Lake officer approached me and curtly informed me that if he had addressed me as she had and I had not stopped immediately, that instead of just following me to work, I "would have been eating gravel." This statement was the one that disturbed me most. For an officer of the peace whose focus should be primarily on public safety, I was horrified to learn that he would intentionally cause bodily injury and property damage simply to proclaim his authority.

I was informed by the female UTA officer and the South Salt Lake officer that they could arrest me on the spot and charge me with fleeing. They reiterated this multiple times. Oddly, they referred to the fleeing offense with varying levels of severity. They seemed unsure if it was a misdemeanor or a felony. Either that or they changed their tune to felony when I seemed unimpressed with the misdemeanor charge. Ultimately, she wrote me a citation for failure to stop at a red light and they left.

My coworkers were all very intrigued by the scene I created for them as they arrived at work. So I told the story multiple times all day. All of them were as shocked as I was at the spectacle of four cop cars versus one bicycle. My boss found it laughable that while riding my bicycle, I received a traffic citation that included a penalty of some points on my driving record. In the course of these conversations, I keenly observed that while I do have the cycling merit badge from the Boy Scouts of America, I have never been licensed for cycling by any government agency.

I went home and told Kara the story. She was unamused and disinterested in the details. She simply responded that if I weren’t breaking the law by running red lights, none of this would have happened. This is one of the reasons I love her so much. She is such a woman of principle. She often puts things in proper perspective for me.

I did a little research on the Utah State website and learned that traffic laws in Utah hold cyclists to the same standard as motorists and that there is even a question to that effect on the written driving test.

This morning before work, I rode my bicycle to the Salt Lake City Court House to pay my debt to society. I briefly mentioned to the hearing officer that I was hoping at least to avoid points on my driving record. I asked him to note the vehicle shown on the ticket. That's all it took and he had a city prosecutor change the citation from "failure to stop at a red light" to "failure to follow bicycle rules." This meant no points and it reduced my fine from $90 to $70. I paid my fine, walked out and rode my bicycle to work.

I've always said I wanted to be pulled over on my bicycle just so I would have the story to tell. Now that I've attained that goal with such flying colors, I can focus more on other goals.

I stop for red lights now regardless of my vehicle.