Unicycles, the law, and thou

Re: Unicycles, the law, and thou

Certainly in the UK, lawsuits have been scrapped for all sorts of points of
law, and trivial errors of process by the police. Compared to some this
seems a major error and I suspect you will walk away from this one, not
guilty, with maybe a polite warning from the judge to be more careful next
time. If the ticket says bicycle, it certainly implies two wheels. And
anyone on a unicycle could also maybe plead ( to the uninitiated general
public of course) that he was on a toy, a plaything, not really a vehicle at
all.

Let us know how you get on…you are allowed one phonecall are you not?
:wink:

Naomi

I don’t have much to say for advice, and I doubt I should ever need it in regards to being in court over my unicycle, as I am a nice kid ( :smiley: ) and the cops are pretty laid back in my town and surrounding area. The only time a cop has ever been near me on my unicycle was when he pulled off the road to tell my dad and I that he was amazed at our unicycles. Oh, and once a cop waved at me when I was riding on the sidewalk.

Most people are too freaked out to say anything other than “is that hard?”, “Where’s your other wheel? chuckle, chuckle”, or “That looks hard.” I’ve been unicycling in tennis-only tennis courts, schools, store parking lots, libraries, post offices… and I’ve been pretty lucky so far.

And I hope you win that court battle! It’s not a bike. It’s not a bike. It’s not a bike. It’s not a bike. It’s not a bike.

Samuel

Yes, because it is considered a bike then you should have lights for riding at night.

I think that Unicycles used to be considered Wheeled recreational devices, so you wouldn’t have been able to use them at night.

Thanks

James (jimmy)

“Cops need to fill a quota of tickets.” This is completely false (I got a family member on the inside)

It was probably invented by someone who thought they were right.

Although I did see a stand up comedy routine where the guy got pulled over at the end of the month (going on this quota fiasco) as the woman cop is approaching the car, he goes, ‘yeah yeah, i know it’s that time of the month, just give me the damn ticket’

Intimidate you how? Or more to the point of what I wanted to ask, do you believe you were a danger to the sidewalk users near you at the time the cop saw you? Why do you think he wrote you the ticket? Was there anything speical about the street situation where this happened?

I don’t have any court experience in these areas (and missed my chance yesterday). But I think it helps to start by letting the judge know where you’re coming from. Establish as early as possible to him that you are an intelligent and coherent person, hopefully not like the majority of yahoos we see on the TV court shows. I’m sure he/she will be more willing to listen. Explain that yes you were riding on the sidewalk (or wherever), but that your understanding of the law is that the definition of bicycle does not include what you were riding on. Have a copy of this with you to quote from.

I think it will also help to give the impression you are not looking to establish a precedent for you to unicycle at high speeds on all sidewalks. If true, tell that you ride in the street the vast majority of the time, and that you do not intend to use the outcome of this court session to ride sidewalks more.

Be prepared for the judge to offer you a different interpretation of the precise definition of “bicycle” under the law you are alleged to have broken. Make sure your existing lawer advice is as accurate as possible.

Good luck!

‘Foolish’, as i understood it, unis were not grouped along side bikes, and were overlooked in the law. Where were you getting your info from?

In the UK that is…

Re: Unicycles, the law, and thou

On Tue, 18 Feb 2003 16:57:17 +0800, “Naomi”
<Naomi_SajeriDELETETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote:

>And
>anyone on a unicycle could also maybe plead ( to the uninitiated general
>public of course) that he was on a toy, a plaything, not really a vehicle at
>all.
That, I have been told, is the legal position of a unicyclist in The
Netherlands. I am a pedestrian (using a toy).

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict

"In France, travel agents are not permitted to advertise on television. "

Re: Unicycles, the law, and thou

This thread has gone off on the “third thing” which is fine with me, but I couldn’t let a comment like this one go unresponded to.

It has been many years since we last had a “president who is worthy of the holiday” NOW WE DO!!! Clinton had the chance of getting Bin Laden when he was offered to us by the Sudan AND TURNED IT DOWN!

Do you honestly think that the reason we are about to bomb Iraq is over the economy? (Which as a side note is far from in the tank and actually on the rise, despite what a certain political party desperately does not want the rest of the country to think so that they can attempt to paint the current administration as a failure.) It couldn’t be over a lunatic with tools to kill millions and hates our guts, who is working on sending us a neighborly gift could it?

Many screamed and hollered about how the President should have done something to prevent the Sept. 11th attacks based on what little we knew then. Now the same people are screaming and hollering about what a terrible person the President is NOW for making sure a similar or far worse attack does not take place. You can’t have it both ways! If we had never fought to preserve the freedom we have now you wouldn’t even have the ability to make a public comment about the leadership of our country without being arrested. The United States will continue to fight evil despite ignorance.

Sadam Husein (however it is spelled) is a nut case! He has already used his mass-extermination weapons to kill over 1.5 million people including thousands of his own countrymen. Do you have any doubt that he will not use them against us once he has the ability?

It has been over 12 years since the Gulf War and this lunatic has never complied with his agreement to disarm. (Which ended the first war to begin with, so technically it could be argued that the first one really never even ended.) There have been at least 7 U.N. resolutions since then because of this, and he has not complied with one of them. This last one states that [B]he[/B] must finally account for the weapons he has that have already been documented, and he hasn’t done it. It is not the world’s responsibility to play hide and seek and find them, it is [B]his[/B] responsibility to show them. (or show the details of how they were destroyed if they were) If he did, why doesn’t he show it and end all this?

Why are you as an American citizen criticizing the President of our free country and not even mentioning the Tyrant who is, as we sit here, raping and torturing and killing his own people? Why not mention the true person who could end this all right now, by complying? Would you like to live in Iraq? Do you think those oppressed by this lunatic want to continue under these conditions? Should we have left Hitler to have his way in Germany and the rest of Europe?

I’m new at this forum and am really liking it. I don’t want to make any enemies. I don’t know if there are any rules about bringing up political issues when this is all about unicycling. I didn’t bring it up though! :wink:

The world would be a much better place if everyone would just learn the beauty of the Unicycle!

If we all were required to ride the uni in the street, fine. I can see it now. Everywere, traffice is slowed to a crawl as hundreds of unicyclists in hundreds of cities and towns hit the roads with their 20 inch wheels. In the city there would be no shoulder on the side of the road, so you would be forced to ride in the middle of the right lane of traffic, at about 2 miles per hour. In no time at all, they would change any laws and put us back on the sidewalk with the walkers and the uni would be legally accepted to NOT be a bicycle.

I heard that a guy in Salt Lake City was told by a cop to stay off the sidewalk. SO he started riding down the road in front of the cop car. After about a block, slowing traffic to 2 or 3 miles per hour, the cop told him to get back on the sidewalk.

Side walk is better (IMO) in most cases, exept for Cokers.

in staying with the topic of riding on streets, do you ride the same tire/tyre on the road/sidewalk as you do on the trails? or is there another wheelset, or another unicycle all together? (everyone,“another unicycle”[watch airplane if you don’t get it]) just curious, because there are no good trails close by where i live, so i would need to unicycle there. just a question.

We’ve already fixed this problem in Seattle.

Re: Re: Unicycles, the law, and thou

I must agree on everything Jake has said. I’m all for peace but sometimes war can but shouldn’t be avoided. If left unchecked, this problem can only go from bad to worse.

On topic 3, but keeping in mind question 2, fight for what you think is right. But just be glad we live in a country that “fighting” will not lead to your early demise by the hands of your own government.

That is all I have to say about that.
Daniel

great pic UniBrier

Oh, if only it were true…

Phil

“as i understood it, unis were not grouped along side bikes, and were overlooked in the law. Where were you getting your info from?”

Ando:
On all byelaw notices in country parks etc., I have not seen the word “bicycle” once. It always seems to say “cycles”, which would include unicycles, would it not. Also (in the UK) thost little round road signs with a bicycle inside a red circle (i.e. cycling prohibited) apply to “cycles”, not just bicycles, so again it would apply to unicycles as well. Of course I could have completely the wrong end of the stick and feel free to correct me if I have. I havn’t seem any signs anywhere in the UK specific to bicycles only.

Some signs do specifically mention bicycles although most of these relate to parking. The word ‘bicycle’ is, however, used in the ‘road traffic act’. Just because something is a ‘cycle’ doesn’t mean that the any sign that mention cycles must be abided by.

There is has to be clear definition of what vehicles each law applies (and it is more that just whether it has ‘cycle’ in it’s name :slight_smile: ). The same is true of cars, lorries, buses, invalid vehicles, motorcycles, etc.

I take the view that you don’t just take those signs at face value, as there is detailed legislation behind each one, which as i understand misses out unis, due to their one wheeled nature. I too might be wrong on this, but i’m pretty sure this is what i’ve heard others say online. Anyone from the UK care to correct me or back me up?

John, thanks for the good advice. After I commented the the officer must be having a slow day, I walked away. He applied his siren for several minutes. Initially I turned and made a questioning look to see if he wanted me for anything else. Only the siren. Now these guys have a loudspeaker with which they could have summoned me (This is how they summoned me over to their car the first time). Since their was no indication that they specifically wanted me, other than their annoying siren, I kept walking. Several minutes later, the cop catches up with me in the car and beckons me over. He very drily asks me my height, weight, hair color and eye color. Like I’m going to skip town or something. :astonished: That’s all I meant by “intimidate.” It was slightly intimidating but no big deal. I just felt bad for having made the comment, and a bit nervous with the extra interrogation.

I was absolutely no danger to pedestrians. The temperature was about 20 degrees. I was on my Muni, there were maybe three people passing by during the course of 5 minutes, during which I hopped up on a curb. (This was I was just doing a little practice. Everything was frozen solid and the area was basically desolate. The three pedestrians who did walk by didn’t come more than 15 feet close to me, and gave me big approving smiles.

It really doesn’t matter, but it is COMMON KNOWLEDGE in New York City, that the cops have a quota at the end of the month. Does your family member “on the inside” work in New York City or at least have some connection to the ways of NYC traffic law? It seems a bit extreme to state that this is “completely false” unless you have something more substantial than a family member on the inside. Of course I could be wrong, it’s just my and everyone elses opinion here in NYC.

Now the fact that I was decked out with a bright yellow jacket, wrist guards, on a big fat tire muni, a white guy jumping up a curb in Harlem, someone tell me I wasn’t standing out like a sore thumb. :smiley:

Of course limit my trials activities to less obvious places now, I ride the street more often and I watch for cops.

From various threads unicycles tend to get round the law in various ways.

Number of wheels. UK law is 2 wheels or more
Wheel size. Small wheeled vehicles are often considered toys (but we don’t tend to ride these on the road)
Direct drive. Not applicable to giraffes

This only gets you around cycling laws. You can still be ‘busted’ for lots of other reasons.