How it happened:
I was riding down the main street on the sidewalk when I decided to go on the side of the street. I went one footed for about three to five seconds keeping very straight and consistent.
Then I hear a honk beside me, go back to two feet and look over. A police officer.
He told me to pull over and asked for ID. I asked him what I was being stopped for and he told me that it was for dangerous driving. I asked him to see if a unicycle was defined in the law. He pulled out his handy book and defined it as a “muscular powered vehicle”.
I then proceeded to ask whether I was being charged with anything. And he said that he was going to write up a $325 ticket for me. (He was serious)
My stomach instantly went heavy and I apologized for asking/arguing the definition of a unicycle. After a minute of talking he asked me what school I went from and how my grades were.
I told him my school and my grades were average. He asked me if I was familiar with drugs in the school or the local hemp store.
I said no to both and told him that I have never even drank any alcohol since I turned 19 and that I have never had any criminal charges.
This managed to sway him to not write the ticket.
It was a close call for me. That’s a weeks worth of pay I almost lost out on for about five seconds of riding.
Any one else have any similar experience while unicycling?
thats retarded.
he was just being a dick and was probably under his ticket quota.
dangerous driving?
considering we are considered pedestrians by law
and their is totally such a thing as dangerous walking
they need to do what they are dedicated to do. and that isnt stop “dangerous unicyclists”
That is funny, in a lot of towns it is illegal to ride on a bike on the sidewalk and unicycles are not described.
What a hard a**, do you think he thought that one footed riding was dangerous, or just unicycling in general?
I haven’t heard of anyone being stopped before, but it made me think that it would be cool if there was a unicycle mounted police unit, that patrolled parades.
I feel the urge to shout this: What a stupid mo*r fuer!!! Dam, Police are sopose to help the comuntity! (my apologises to the hopfuly majority of nice, sensible officers)
Yeah, I was stopped before. I was just riding along down a practically deserted road. There were two policemen going the opposite direction that I was going, I saw them a far ways off, but didn’t think anything of it at the time, because there are often policemen walking around over here. And I’ve never been stopped before, but then again, I was never on a unicycle before.
Anyway, as I was passing me they asked me to stop, and asked me some questions and said that my unicycling didn’t have any brakes or reflectors. confused:
Anyway, they just took down my name and phone number, and then said I could go.
But I’ve heard of other people that have gotten fines and stuff, so now if I see a policeman, I just go down a side street if I can.
dont make is seem like you are afraid to go past them cause then they will bust you for avoiding them (cause it seems like you are acting guilty)
i know 2 kids who got into trouble while playing man hunt for that (even though they didnt know it was a police car they were hiding from)(man hunt is a giant game of tag at night where the hunters are in cars and the huntees have to get to a certaint destination in a set amount of time to win)
He pulled you over because he had nothing better to do, and when he saw that trick he probly thought that was dangerous, bet there was no reason to pull you over, al least you got out of the fine.
The police person may have considered the one foot riding to be similar to riding a wheelie on a bike down the road or riding a bike no handed down the road. Doing either of those “tricks” on a bike on the road in view of a police officer will likely (possibly) get you some traffic enforcement attention.
Whether is in the same category as riding a wheelie on a bike is debatable, but to a lay person it’s going to look like a maneuver where you have minimal control.
Now if the police attention was because you were on a unicycle and not just because of the one footing bit then grrrr! Bad police man.
you are within every right to ask what you are being ticketed for. You should have gotten his badge # for future reference. (in case he brought you up on any charges or anything) As was stated above me, he probably was under on his ticket quota and he had to make it up.
How would a unicycle provoke the officer to ask you about drugs at your school?
I’ll try to remember to put reflectors on my unicycle next time I going riding at night. I have a mesh reflector vest that I could use too. It’s great for nighttime jogging or any other exercising activity performed outside at night.
I got stopped on my bike last night, riding on the sidewalk… third time, this time I actually forgot about this fairly stupid law.
I was riding down Main St and I heard someone yell at me from a car, I looked back and it was someone in a black 2006~ Charger or whatever the Police here are driving now… I didn’t think anything of it, figured it was some idiot trying to sway my attention.
Later on like an hour later, I was riding down Main again and this time the same officer who I didn’t even know what an officer the first time stopped me and nearly knocked me off my bike.
He said it’s an $80 fine for riding on the sidewalk, and with other things such as no proper reflectors it will add up to over $500.
I asked him for his badge number and noted that I almost got knocked off my bike into HEAVY traffic. To which he replied, “Do you want the ticket?” and I said of course not.
I then waited for the light to go red and rode on the road… on the 3 or so kilometers home, I had probably 10 cars squeeze past me, and out of those, I think 3 or 4 of them honked or yelled at me to get off the road, to which I yelled back to give me $80 or piss off.
I honestly had no idea that the person who yelled at me from a car not wearing a uniform was a cop… which is ridiculous, why would he even try to yell at me.
I was stopped once for riding my trials uni on the sidewalk (at the same speed as a friend who was walking with me). The female officer asked me to stop riding on the sidewalk. I asked where then I could ride and she told me on the grass in parks. She said you may not ride on a paved walkway where people are to walk nor can you ride with the cyclists at the side of the road.
I wonder if she would feel the same if I had been on a coker.
I cop pulled me over at night (I was wearing a helmet and everything) and said that its a $100 fine if I dont have a flashlight on my uni… It was at a park and it was full of streetlights and everything!
I said it was my first time being pulled over, so he just gave me a warning
Pedestrians are allowed on the sidewalk. Unicycling is the same as being a pedestrian so there is no reason why you cant be on the sidewalk unless youre riding a giraffe.
Dam, Police are sopose to help the comuntity! 