bike light ticket

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?
Where do you live? I can find the info for you in one day.

Christopher

On Tue, 1 Feb 2005 20:06:26 -0800, "Joselas" wrote:


"genohm" wrote in message
roups.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?


The arrest warrant is not for lack of a light. It's a greater crime to not
respond to a summons, it's called failure to appear. It's your
responsibility to do so. You've received good advice from other posts.
Call, (don't go in person, you have a warrant for your arrest out), set up a
court date, don't be late and don't miss that date! Check out the sidewalk
versus roadway lighting requirement. Have printouts of the appropriate
vehicle codes in your hand when you go to court. Then tell the judge you
are sincerely sorry for your misunderstanding about your failure to appear,
and that you now know it is your responsibility to make arrangements for a
court appearance regardless of whether you receive notice or not. Also, buy
a light for your bike, take a picture of it on your bike. Bring the picture
along with your printouts of the pertaining vehicle code. Tell the judge
that even though the law specifies the lighting requirement for bicycles
operated on a roadway not the sidewalk, you took to heart the spirit of the
law and the officers good intentions and equipped your bike with lighting.
OR, the rich persons version: bring a ton of money, plead guilty for
everything and pay the fines. If there's any question of time served just
tell the judge your livelyhood would be in jeopardy and you're prepared to
pay all fines immediately.


Just another thought along these lines - you might state that the reason you
were on the sidewalk is that you had been caught out without a light and knew
that riding in the street would be illegal and dangerous.

The plea you'll be making probably won't be guilty, but no contest; aka: "nolo."

I don't know your jurisdiction, but here in Florida there will be a hearing
before any actual court trial. You'll talk to a hearing officer who will often
be happy to hear the story before asking your plea. Greatly expedites thing.
There will only be a court date if you plead not guilty.

DO NOT LISTEN TO BILL BAKA. His advice will only get you into the same deep
**** he seems to wallow in. Sorta like getting marriage advice from the guy's
who's been married seven times.

Ron

I do not believe it was a warning; I think it was a ticket for a
deficiency, an 'equipment' or 'fixit' ticket. These are tickets that
are usually excused if you show up and provide evidence that the
deficiency or problem has been rectified. Since the OP failed to
appear the summons, which would probably have been excused if he showed
he had a light on his bike, and sufficient time lapsed that the court
issued a bench warrant. While the courts out here usually send a
'reminder' notice, the original summons (ticket) probably had an
appearance place and date and was in force.

- rick

wrote in message
oups.com...

I do not believe it was a warning; I think it was a ticket for a
deficiency, an 'equipment' or 'fixit' ticket. These are tickets that
are usually excused if you show up and provide evidence that the
deficiency or problem has been rectified. Since the OP failed to
appear the summons, which would probably have been excused if he showed
he had a light on his bike, and sufficient time lapsed that the court
issued a bench warrant. While the courts out here usually send a
'reminder' notice, the original summons (ticket) probably had an
appearance place and date and was in force.

- rick

I don't think this was a "fixit ticket" situation since bicycles are not
required to have a light unless you're riding at night. Bicycles ridden
during daylight hours are not required to have a light.

The OP was originally cited for riding at NIGHT without a light and
subsequently for failure to appear.

Cheto

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.

That "slip" you signed was the ticket, which is basically an agreement to either
appear in court or pay a fine. It should be in the fine print somewhere.
Neglecting to read what you sign has consequences, as you've found out.

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?

Read what it says. You have to learn this stuff. Yes, you can go to jail, for
this and failure to appear, but in most cases they'd rather have your money. If
you look as stupid as you sound and it's your first offense, the judge may show
some mercy and minimize your fines.

Sorry if I sound harsh, but jeez, grow up and take some responsibility for
yourself.

Matt O.

On Wed, 2 Feb 2005 15:51:53 -0500, "Matt O'Toole" 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.

That "slip" you signed was the ticket, which is basically an agreement to either
appear in court or pay a fine. It should be in the fine print somewhere.
Neglecting to read what you sign has consequences, as you've found out.

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?

Read what it says. You have to learn this stuff. Yes, you can go to jail, for
this and failure to appear, but in most cases they'd rather have your money. If
you look as stupid as you sound and it's your first offense, the judge may show
some mercy and minimize your fines.

Sorry if I sound harsh, but jeez, grow up and take some responsibility for
yourself.

I dunno. It'd be more amusing if he tried the Baka approach: "You can't even
prove it was me. Besides, I knew that cop was just messin' with me, tryin' me
the moment he pulled me over."

Ron

"Ken [NY]" wrote in message
...

You will have to put me down as a sceptic. A "warning" was
issued for riding not on the roadway without a light, and
the officer
just asked you who you were and believed you without
checking further?
And then nothing heard from from the court about the
"warning"? Then
you were sent arrest warrants for two violations of the
"warning"? You
do know that "warnings" are not enforcible, right? They are
issued in
lieu of a traffic ticket.

I also feel this is probably a troll.
Why post it to all the auto groups, unless the purpose was to
stir up some "bicyclists are all lame lawbreaker" action?
Luckily, the NASCAR people seem to have other things to do.

If he was really ticketed for riding at night without lights,
the police officer did him a favor by providing some
education. This is not a safe thing to do.

RonSonic wrote:
On Tue, 1 Feb 2005 20:06:26 -0800, "Joselas" wrote:


"genohm" wrote in message
groups.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?


The arrest warrant is not for lack of a light. It's a greater crime to not
respond to a summons, it's called failure to appear. It's your
responsibility to do so. You've received good advice from other posts.
Call, (don't go in person, you have a warrant for your arrest out), set up a
court date, don't be late and don't miss that date! Check out the sidewalk
versus roadway lighting requirement. Have printouts of the appropriate
vehicle codes in your hand when you go to court. Then tell the judge you
are sincerely sorry for your misunderstanding about your failure to appear,
and that you now know it is your responsibility to make arrangements for a
court appearance regardless of whether you receive notice or not. Also, buy
a light for your bike, take a picture of it on your bike. Bring the picture
along with your printouts of the pertaining vehicle code. Tell the judge
that even though the law specifies the lighting requirement for bicycles
operated on a roadway not the sidewalk, you took to heart the spirit of the
law and the officers good intentions and equipped your bike with lighting.
OR, the rich persons version: bring a ton of money, plead guilty for
everything and pay the fines. If there's any question of time served just
tell the judge your livelyhood would be in jeopardy and you're prepared to
pay all fines immediately.



Just another thought along these lines - you might state that the reason you
were on the sidewalk is that you had been caught out without a light and knew
that riding in the street would be illegal and dangerous.

The plea you'll be making probably won't be guilty, but no contest; aka: "nolo."

I don't know your jurisdiction, but here in Florida there will be a hearing
before any actual court trial. You'll talk to a hearing officer who will often
be happy to hear the story before asking your plea. Greatly expedites thing.
There will only be a court date if you plead not guilty.

DO NOT LISTEN TO BILL BAKA. His advice will only get you into the same deep
**** he seems to wallow in. Sorta like getting marriage advice from the guy's
who's been married seven times.

Ron

Ron,
I have only been married once and still am. As others have said, and Bob
will deny, "The police are NOT your friends.". They are there to give
tickets and make their record look good. I don't wallow in deep ****, I
avoid it. I have found it to my advantage in at least one occasion to go
from being pulled over and given a bogus ticket directly to the
courthouse and talk to the judge. Since the judge knew this particular
officer and some of the ridiculous tickets he wrote, she dismissed it on
the spot. Stand up for yourself because nobody else will.
BB

"Cheto" wrote: I don't think this was a "fixit ticket" situation since
bicycles are not required to have a light unless you're riding at night.
Bicycles ridden during daylight hours are not required to have a light.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
So, here's an amusing hypothetical situation. You get a fix-it ticket for
riding at night without a light. You bring the bike to be inspected in the
daytime, and since no light is required then, the officer signs it off.
Ridiculous, but logical.

"genohm" writes:

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?

First, you didn't say what state you are in. If you want to fight it,
check the vehicle code and see if the rule requiring a light only
applies when on the roadway. Depending on the wording, you might be
able to argue that it does not apply when riding on the sidewalk.
Sometimes there are subtle points that an officer might not know,
so don't take it for granted.

Be sure to tell the judge that the officer told you to wait until
something arrived in the mail and that it didn't arrive for 9 months,
and that he said he was just giving you a "warning" so you had no
reason to expect a citation or court appearance.

You can't go to prison for not following up on a bike light, but
you could get in trouble for refusing to appear in court, so make
sure the judge knows what you were told and that someone slipped
up in notifying you.

--
My real name backwards: nemuaZ lliB