I was issued a criminal summon today for riding a bike on the sidewalk. Anyone else had a similar experience?

Question

There were no warnings issued. seemed kind of weird to me. Although, i understand it is not fair to ride on the sidewalk but issuing a criminal summon is taking it too far. Come on.. you are placing me with guys who commited crimes like murder, rape for just riding a bike on the pavement.

Answer 1

In North America, the same traffic laws apply to both bicyclists and motorists.

A driver of a vehicle would be ticketed for operating the vehicle on a pedestrian right-of-way (i.e. a sidewalk). This is, in effect, a criminal summons - even though it's usually listed as a misdemeanor for a first offense.

The cyclist is subject to the same laws; therefore, the same ticket.

If the sidewalk had people on it, you could have charges like reckless endangerment, careless operation of a vehicle, and failure to yield added to the list. And if you actually ran into someone .... well, then you have a whole new can of worms.

Answer 2

Not enough info here to give a quality answer.

What state are you in? In Colorado it is legal to ride a bike on the sidewalk except in big retail areas. However, one must be courteous, low speed, and yield to Ped.s and HC's.

In some other states, it is legal, some illegal.

And sometimes if no drivers license is asked for, or offered, ( one is not on the street and not operating a motor vehicle) so how can a traffic citation be used? so it is a criminal one.

Some places do not differentiate between petty offenses such as minor trespassing, and theft. ( at least it did not say Felony)

And as someone else said, what preceded the cop writing this ticket? What was done and what was said and where?

And some governments are in need of money and just want to collect some fines.

Answer 3

The law is the law, although here in the UK most people believe that it is illegal to ride on the 'side-walk' when in fact the police are OBLIGED to enforce this law with DISCRETION, e.g. if they are riding at a sensible speed and giving pedestrians the right of way, then it is in fact NOT ILLEGAL! I've even had cops move out of the way for me when I was riding on the pavement; but I've also had a pillock try and push me off my bike under the same pretense as I went onto a grass verge to pass him.

Who knows, the law might be the same in your country, in fact a lot of laws are enforced according to officer discretion. You might be able to appeal against the decision, but its unlikely!

Answer 4

No, I've never had that experience, and I've ridden my bike on the sidewalk a time or two. Sometimes the roads are just too scary to bike. Were you rude to the officer or anything? That'll bring them down on you all out of proportion to the offence. Also, you might want to talk to a lawyer in your area. It could be a bogus citation. Cops make mistakes too. Good luck with that.

Answer 5

If you have a scan at the highway code, or the American equivelant, you will see that it is illegal. Many cycleists can endanger padestrians and generally give cycleists a bad name by doing this. You may not be sure of your position in the universal make up of transport users, but you are definately categorized as a ROAD USER.

Luck

Answer 6

The only thing you have in common with the murders and rapists is that you've broken the law. They broke worse laws than you did. That's why they have committed felonies and you have commited a misdemeanor.

Discretion is involved. Are you telling us the whole story?

Answer 7

Maybe you should consider moving from North Korea. I hope you not serious, if not that's really messed up.

Answer 8

lol thats funny and Werid!