bike light ticket

I received an arrest warrant for VC 21201D and VC 40508A. I had been
riding on the sidewalk without a bike light and was given a warning and
told to get a light- the officer had me sign a slip and told me to wait
to receive something in the mail. I never received anything until 9
months later when I got this arrest warrant. It says my bail is 361
dollars.

I have a copy of the slip that I signed, I didn't have my driver's
license on me, so the information that was written down on the slip is
my name, my hair color and eye color (which is wrong), my birthdate and
my bike registration.
Does anyone know how I can fight this, and can I actually go to prison
for not following up on a bike light?

"genohm" wrote in message
oups.com...
I received an arrest warrant for VC 21201D and VC 40508A. I had been
riding on the sidewalk without a bike light and was given a warning and
told to get a light- the officer had me sign a slip and told me to wait
to receive something in the mail. I never received anything until 9
months later when I got this arrest warrant. It says my bail is 361
dollars.

I have a copy of the slip that I signed, I didn't have my driver's
license on me, so the information that was written down on the slip is
my name, my hair color and eye color (which is wrong), my birthdate and
my bike registration.
Does anyone know how I can fight this, and can I actually go to prison
for not following up on a bike light?

All the tickets I have seen or known about, usually have information on the
back about what you are supposed to do about it. Does your's have that info
on it?
Well, it is probably going to cost you something no matter what you do.
One way is to hire a lawyer to go do all the work for you, maybe a traffic
ticket lawyer would work OK. But it could be very expensive.
Another is to simply go on down to the courthouse, see the clerk, and find
out what it'll cost etc. Most cities have an evening night court session
too.
Usually you can get in to see the judge and then explain to him what
happened. The judges are pretty good and they aren't like what you saw in
the movies.
But the court system is run like a business, so at the least you'll probably
have to pay court costs, maybe administrative fees or some such thing.
Sometimes the judge will even dismiss it.

riding on the sidewalk without a bike light and was given a warning and
told to get a light- the officer had me sign a slip and told me to wait
to receive something in the mail. I never received anything until 9
months later when I got this arrest warrant. It says my bail is 361
dollars.

I have a copy of the slip that I signed, I didn't have my driver's
license on me, so the information that was written down on the slip is
my name, my hair color and eye color (which is wrong), my birthdate and
my bike registration.
Does anyone know how I can fight this, and can I actually go to prison
for not following up on a bike light?

All the tickets I have seen or known about, usually have information on the
back about what you are supposed to do about it. Does your's have that info
on it?

Where do you live?
B

(remove clothes to reply)

B wrote:
Where do you live?
B

(remove clothes to reply)


Ok, I am following the rules. My clothes are off. I never knew you
could get a ticket while riding a bicycle. I hope you live in some
obscure place I have never heard of before. Otherwise I am in deep
Sh*t.
Maggie

On 1 Feb 2005 05:15:35 -0800, "Maggie"
wrote:


Ok, I am following the rules. My clothes are off. I never knew you
could get a ticket while riding a bicycle. I hope you live in some
obscure place I have never heard of before. Otherwise I am in deep
Sh*t.
Maggie

Yes, Maggie, you can receive a citation for violations of the vehicle
code while riding a bicycle. Most common around here is for running
stop lights/signs, and there are intersections where enforcement of
that law is common (i.e., they sit and watch for offenders at times).
Light citations seem to be rare around here, probably should be more
common from what I see on the roads.

It sounds as if the OP got a citation, for some reason there was no
followup, and that a bench warrant has been issued for failure to
appear. Without knowing what was on the original citation (was there
an appearance date, instructions to follow up, etc.) it is hard to
comment further. In at least one regard the OP was lucky: since he
had no ID on him the officer could have taken him into custody until
ID was produced.

I think the take home lessons a

You can be cited on a bike.
You should follow up on all citations.

- rick

On 1 Feb 2005 05:15:35 -0800, "Maggie" wrote:


B wrote:
Where do you live?
B

(remove clothes to reply)


Ok, I am following the rules. My clothes are off. I never knew you
could get a ticket while riding a bicycle. I hope you live in some
obscure place I have never heard of before. Otherwise I am in deep
Sh*t.

Riding at night without a light?

Are you more than one child riding a bike that isn't built for two?

Is your child riding without a helmet and getting injured in the process?

Do you ride your chrome BMX bike wi' d' homies and hang out selling sacks and
crack?

Do you go blasting through stop signs at 25mph?

Then you aren't in such deep ****. Those are the things that usually get
cyclists ticketed.

Legislatures write laws about cycling, same as anything else. It wouldn't hurt
to make a call or do some googling to find out what they are in your state.

Now about the clothes thing - you've been getting pretty darn frisky since you
started working out....

Ron

genohm wrote:
I received an arrest warrant for VC 21201D and VC 40508A. I had been
riding on the sidewalk without a bike light and was given a warning and
told to get a light- the officer had me sign a slip and told me to wait
to receive something in the mail. I never received anything until 9
months later when I got this arrest warrant. It says my bail is 361
dollars.

I have a copy of the slip that I signed, I didn't have my driver's
license on me, so the information that was written down on the slip is
my name, my hair color and eye color (which is wrong), my birthdate and
my bike registration.
Does anyone know how I can fight this, and can I actually go to prison
for not following up on a bike light?

You have a few good possibilities here. The cop did not get your SS#,
required in the States, nor did he get your drivers license number, so
he has no way to prove that it was you instead of someone impersonating
you. Those two things alone should get you out. You probably want to get
a lawyer and make noise about suing the court for this warrant that
showed up in your mail with no previous warning and be prepared to pay a
bit, but in this case I would rather pay a lawyer rather than an
incompetent court system. If you had no ID for the police officer to
make a positive ID, then he was negligent in his duty by not taking you
down to prove your ID or to get fingerprinted or something. You should
be able to get out of this one, but not entirely free.
Good Luck, I've been there,
Bill Baka

On 1 Feb 2005 02:14:35 -0800, "genohm"
wrote:

I received an arrest warrant for VC 21201D and VC 40508A. I had been
riding on the sidewalk without a bike light and was given a warning and
told to get a light- the officer had me sign a slip and told me to wait
to receive something in the mail. I never received anything until 9
months later when I got this arrest warrant. It says my bail is 361
dollars.

I have a copy of the slip that I signed, I didn't have my driver's
license on me, so the information that was written down on the slip is
my name, my hair color and eye color (which is wrong), my birthdate and
my bike registration.
Does anyone know how I can fight this, and can I actually go to prison
for not following up on a bike light?

Hi, I would call the city attorney's office and talk to them about
what you can do to get the arrest warrant removed. It is an arrest
warrant, if you show up in person, they may arrest you. Usually, these
kinds of warrants aren't actively pursued. Another words, they won't
assign anyone to track you down and arrest you. But, if stopped for
some other reason, then you will be detained.
More info, on the what is written on the slip given to you, would
help.

Life is Good!
Jeff

On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 07:11:03 -0800, b_baka wrote:

genohm wrote:
I received an arrest warrant for VC 21201D and VC 40508A. I had been
riding on the sidewalk without a bike light and was given a warning and
told to get a light- the officer had me sign a slip and told me to wait
to receive something in the mail. I never received anything until 9
months later when I got this arrest warrant. It says my bail is 361
dollars.

I have a copy of the slip that I signed, I didn't have my driver's
license on me, so the information that was written down on the slip is
my name, my hair color and eye color (which is wrong), my birthdate and
my bike registration.
Does anyone know how I can fight this, and can I actually go to prison
for not following up on a bike light?

You have a few good possibilities here. The cop did not get your SS#,
required in the States, nor did he get your drivers license number, so
he has no way to prove that it was you instead of someone impersonating
you. Those two things alone should get you out. You probably want to get
a lawyer and make noise about suing the court for this warrant that
showed up in your mail with no previous warning and be prepared to pay a
bit, but in this case I would rather pay a lawyer rather than an
incompetent court system. If you had no ID for the police officer to
make a positive ID, then he was negligent in his duty by not taking you
down to prove your ID or to get fingerprinted or something. You should
be able to get out of this one, but not entirely free.

Do they have video cameras in the police cars in his jurisdiction?

Do you know?

Do you know the description on the cop's note pad?

Do you really want cops to routinely drag any unidentified cyclist down to the
station for finger printing? Do you think that's better than handing out a
ticket and expecting people to own up to who they are and what they did? Do you
really think any bike rider whose papers are not in order should be hauled in?
You called that officer "negligent in his duty" for not doing so. No wonder you
believe there isn't enough freedom to go around, your'e a bloody ****ing
fascist.

SInce when is a social security number a mandatory part of a citation?

Good Luck, I've been there,

Denying responsibility for your own actions while advocating restrictions on
others? Yeah, I'll believe that.

Ron

B wrote:
riding on the sidewalk without a bike light and was given a warning and
told to get a light- the officer had me sign a slip and told me to wait
to receive something in the mail. I never received anything until 9
months later when I got this arrest warrant. It says my bail is 361
dollars.
[...]
Where do you live?
B

Probably California. VC 21201(d) is riding a bicycle at night without
a light, while VC 40508(a) is failure to appear in court.

Dennis Ferguson