Ticketed by police on my BICYCLE

Joni and I rode our bikes downtown to Bikestock a few years ago in the afternoon. Bikestock2 was an event to highlight advocacy for better integration of cycling in urban planning, bike safety, etc. So it was ironic that 830pm we were pulled over and I was ticketed by a Grand Rapids police officer for “not riding far enough to the right”

We left the GreenWell restaurant on Cherry and rode down to Wealthy to check out some condos that were mentioned to us. We then turned west on Wealthy to start our ride back home to Grandville. The intent was to take Wealthy to Market and Market to the start of Kent Trails which would take us into Grandville.

If you are not familiar with Wealthy, our initial travel was on tight lanes with much parking and the road is brick. A while later it opens up somewhat, though there still can be parked cars and you approach the area of Mary Free Bed Hospital and a roundabout.

Well before this, perhaps by Lafayette or sooner, the road grade becomes a descent, gradually becoming steeper into the roundabout.

The officer pulled us over after we’d crossed Division St by blaring his squawk box and using is microphone to tell us to stop riding. He got out and walked up to us and asked “Do you know the rules about riding bikes on the road?” I replied “ know the state law, is there some local ordinance I violated I don’t know about?” He repeated his question and I gave a general answer about riding as far to the right as practicable, not riding two abreast in some situations, etc.

At this point he said he followed us for some time and that on two occasions I “blatantly swerved to the middle of the lane” to keep a following car from passing. I was somewhat surprised at this.

First, his assertion “blatantly” seems to be a very weighted adjective. Second, how does he know the car was even going to pass? or wanted to? Joni was several bike lengths behind me and the car didn’t try to pass her.

I replied that if I moved to the left at any point it may have been to avoid an obstacle or some such. “Was there something you avoided?” he asked? I couldn’t say at the moment but partly because he didn’t exactly tell me where I supposedly “swerved” so I could either remember or go back and look. He also asserted Joni didn’t swerve correspondingly.

Eventually a second officer showed up. They were talking. The second got in the first officers car, while the first went over to the second policeman’s vehicle. All in all, the overall impression I got was that he simply wanted to issue a ticket, wasn’t sure what law or ordinance he could cite, called in another officer to discuss, they got on the computer and had some discussion and eventually he printed off a ticket on his dashboard printer.

He said he cited me for two violations, but I could only discern one from the ticket (failure to ride as far to the right) but will need to check the ticket when I call in to dispute it.

The Grand Rapids ordinances reference the state Motor Vehicle Code but are not worded the same way. The state law says one must ride as far to the right as “practicable.”

Here’s the city ordinance:

Sec. 10.131. Manner of Operation.(1) Bicyclists. Operators of bicycles on a public highway shall be granted all of the rights and shall conformto all of the rules herein established for the operation of motor vehicles including the direction andinstructions of police officers, traffic control signals and devices applicable to vehicles.(2) Number of riders. A bicycle shall not be ridden by more persons than the number for which it wasoriginally designed and manufactured.(3) Drive to right. Bicycles shall be operated as close to the righthand side of the roadway as possible, andin single file only.(4) Erratic driving. No operator shall cause or permit a bicycle to curve to and fro.(5) Hand on controls. The hands of the operator shall be on the handle bar at all times except when he orshe is in the act of signaling.(Ord. №75–7, 1–21–75)

Here’s the state law:

MICHIGAN VEHICLE CODE (EXCERPT) Act 300 of 1949257.660a Operation of bicycle upon highway or street; riding close to right-hand curb or edge of roadway; exceptions. Sec. 660a.A person operating a bicycle upon a highway or street at less than the existing speed of traffic shall ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway except as follows:(a) When overtaking and passing another bicycle or any other vehicle proceeding in the same direction.(b) When preparing to turn left.© When conditions make the right-hand edge of the roadway unsafe or reasonably unusable by bicycles, including, but not limited to, surface hazards, an uneven roadway surface, drain openings, debris, parked or moving vehicles or bicycles, pedestrians, animals, or other obstacles, or if the lane is too narrow to permit a vehicle to safely overtake and pass a bicycle.(d) When operating a bicycle in a lane in which the traffic is turning right but the individual intends to go straight through the intersection.(e) When operating a bicycle upon a 1-way highway or street that has 2 or more marked traffic lanes, in which case the individual may ride as near the left-hand curb or edge of that roadway as practicable.

Without knowing where exactly he refers to the incident, much of Wealthy is not easily passable in a vehicle. It does open up after Lafayette and as one nears Prospect- there’s plenty of room. It may be in this area he is referring. Cars do park along side here so a photo of an empty street and then saying I was in the “middle” of the traffic lane would not be the same as asserting I was in the middle of the lane at a couple of discreet points in time with cars and other issues to deal with on a descending road. Anyway, shortly after Lafayette, as you approach the roundabout, the road opens up to a legitimate two lanes.

I pulled some screenshots (below) from Google streetview. The photos do not do justice to the amount of cars parked alongside the road. The first photo shows most of the tight Wealthy road. As we get through photos two & three you can see the road open up.

Prior to the crack laden section in photo three, the road is smooth asphalt from recent construction but there are at least one or two of those holes you get when they re-pave and leave a two-three inch deep, seven inch wide round hole for pipe access (gas, water, etc). You can see one of these holes in the photo. The Prospect intersection has the construction barricade.

I also do tend to move left a bit as we approach intersections to prevent cars from doing that “quick pass and right turn” which often results in the cyclist hitting a car broadside.

Photo four is a shot back up with the Prospect intersection at the left. You can see the descent started some ways back, though the officer said the road didn’t start going downhill until after Prospect. Clearly perception in a car is not the same as on a bike.

More to follow- stay tuned