posted
I live in Chicago and we have a really great bike path that runs next to Lake Shore Drive. I have been riding this path for years and at all hours of the day and night. It's so much better than riding in the streets because there are no stop signs and most importantly there are no cars!
Well last night I was riding home at about 12:30 am, when I was stopped by the Chicago Police and issued a ticket. I had no idea that when the parks closed, you couldn't be on the bike path. I was very polite to the cops, yet they still found it necessary to yell and berate me for my ignorance of this law.
The one officer told me it was really lucky I had an ID on me because if I had been killed and they found me without one, they would have labeled me a 'Jane Doe', my body would have sat in the county morgue for a month without getting claimed and then they would have buried me in the municipal graveyard.
What on earth? I could understand them being a-holes if I had been beligerent or defiant or drunk or any other number of offensive reactions. However, I was polite. I immediately handed them my ID and politely asked what I was getting a ticket for. There was no cause for them to yell at me.
So that was my first problem with the incident. The second is: where else should I be riding my bike? It's a lot less safe to be riding on the streets than in the park in my humble opinion. Chicago does have some bike lanes on the streets, but they are only gotten to by riding down streets without bike lanes. Also I live on the far far north side, where they can't even get the CTA to run all the time, much less add bike lanes for those of us who would use them.
I ride my bike at all times of the day and night, but at night I'm particularly nervous about riding when the drunks are out. I have good friends who live in Wrigleyville and after Cubs games get out all hell breaks loose. I don't want to risk my life riding my bike through a sea of drunk Cubs fans. I feel I'm safer on the bike path by the lake, even against the possibillity of gang bangers and psychotics.
Thanks for listening.
Posts: 511 | Registered: Mar 2006
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Usually when cops get like that, it's either because they lost someone close to them in similar circumstances, or they've been detailed one-too-many times to investigate dead bodies.
I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive them, and maybe try to see it from another perspective.
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
I also have trouble finding ways to do things I want (like go for bike rides and walks) safely at night Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Plainly, the correct choice would have been to carry a gun, shoot the policemen, and take their ID. Then they would have been put in the morgue as John Does, etc.
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Bob, believe me I don't hold it against them. They were just doing their job. For all I know, they were pissed that they got assigned to ticket bikers in the park. I just think that regardless of their personal issues they shouldn't take it out on me.
They more or less reinforced every stereotype of of the CPD that I've ever had. Let me be clear, I have met some Chicago cops that totally broke that sterotype, that were kind to me when I was beligerent, and didn't arrest me when they probably had cause to. (I'm not a criminal or anything, but I've had some youthful transgressions.)
These cops last night were being jerks purely to put the fear of the almighty Chicago Police Department in me. That, to me, was unecessary.
I am not a police hater. All police are not jerks. These two guys were. End of story.
Posts: 511 | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
Logic? What is this logic you speak of, KoM? I think point of mine across came wording regardless. Posts: 511 | Registered: Mar 2006
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Weren't were talking about how different people in certain groups can be so wildly different from one another?
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Actually, we're talking about what a bunch of jerks CPD cops can be.
(btw, Luet, I lived in a community where the cops had a "reputation" like that of Chicago cops. It was rather frustrating. Sorry if I came off as belittling your frustration just then. It is great to meet an officer who can rise above that sort of stuff.)
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
Luckily - no interactions with the CPD for me...
The times that there should have been (ridiculous behavior the night before a cousin's wedding, even more ridiculous behavior the night of a different cousin's wedding, blatant carousing the night of a good friends graduation) we miraculously avoided them! I guess we were lucky that the few occasions we chose to, hmmm, paint the town red it stayed in check.
*edit to say we did nothing illegal. well - aside from being loud and merry well after dark... if that's illegal*
Posts: 1355 | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
Luet, I thought I'd offer some advice as a fellow cyclist.
1. Protest the ticket. I'm not sure how it works in Seattle, but in most places when you protest a citation of this nature you go in for an informal hearing and explain to someone that you had never seen a sign indicating that the bike path was closed at night and they will likely reduce the ticket to a warning.
2. Its entirely possible that the police were wrong and that the bike path is open even when the park is closed. I have found that most police officers are woefully ignorant of the laws regarding bicyclists. Don't take there word for it
3. Contact the Chicago Mayors Bicycle Advisory Council about the problem. Their job is to advise policy makers on bicycle related issues. If this bike path is a through path that is used for tranportation and not solely for recreation, then it shouldn't be closed just because the park is closed. Can you imagine how car drivers would respond if they closed down the highway at night If the path really is closed at night, chances are good that the Bicycle Advisory council can get that policy changed.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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Thanks Rabbit, for the excellent advice. I'm debating whether I'll have the time to go in and protest the ticket or whether I'll just pay it and not bother. Either way is tempting. I'm just afraid that while I was able to bite my tongue with the cops, I'd have a harder time not saying what I think in front of a judge.
I'm definitely going to contact the Bicycle Advisory Council. One great thing about Mayor Daley is that he truly belives in biking and tries very hard to get more bike paths, more rights for bikers etc. The lakefront path is beautiful, and at night infinitely more safe than riding around on the streets.
Posts: 511 | Registered: Mar 2006
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