TexasCHLforum.com

Yes I have lights for when I ride my bike at night. That's beside the point. I think it's foolishness for the police officers to take any action as a result of a meaningless remark that someone made.

If they don't stop every cyclist riding at night without a light, then it is clear that their primary reason for stopping this guy was their ego. I will stand corrected if these particular cops have got a long and storied history of being the bane to the very existence of cyclists who ride at night without lights, including the primary offenders, teenage kids.

And lest you guys think I'm just defending a fellow cyclist, I should point out that I advocate a licensing system for cyclists who are to ride on the road as well as some more enforceable laws for cycling on the road. Riding a bicycle at night without a headlight is not nearly as unsafe as riding at night without a blinking red tail light. If I put a light on my bicycle on the front that is bright enough to help me see anything then it will blind most drivers because bicycle lights are not "sealed beam" type, they have round reflectors. A 35W (two lamp) bicycle light rig will be quite blinding to drivers and is about the minimum if you want to be able to see well enough to ride at 20+ mph. The little sub-5W lights that are typical for commuters are only any good for oncoming cars to see the bicycle, but if it's indeed dark enough that a cyclist needs a light to see, then it's too dark to be riding a bicycle on the road PERIOD.

comsec wrote:Why would you say anything?

Shut your pie hole in this situation.

While that may be a wise way to keep yourself out of trouble, it doesn't excuse the fact that the cops were responding only to a meaningless verbal provocation. This makes both the cyclist and the cops immature fools. It's excusable for a regular citizen to be an immature fool but I think once you are sworn in as a police officer it's time to leave that foolishness behind.

Oldgringo wrote: I never intended to alienate anyone who didn't need alienating. I'm sure sorry if I've somehow offended you...that's for sure.

Not that anyone "needs alienating", but I wasn't talking about you. More like this comment:

One less spandex wearing yuppie screwing up traffic....works for me. Hope they took his bike

Anyone who can't handle someone making a wisecrack about them and respond in a professional manner does not belong on a police force. Sounds to me like they are professional bullies.

Cops get their egos bruised a little bit by a cyclist, suddenly they have prove his point by being overbearing jerks.

Dude would not have been "evading arrest" if they weren't chasing him down in order to pump up their egos. They wouldn't have left whoever else they were harassing to go chase down the cyclist over the headlight unless they were defending their delicate egos. They wouldn't have fund the pistol and charged him with UCW if they hadn't indulged in this chase in order to stroke their egos.

Whether the cyclist was a jerk or not is not the point. The point is that the police were jerks. The difference is that the police have badges and the regular citizen does not. One person once said about driving that if you leave the house with a gun, leave your middle finger at home. Well IMHO if the police pin on that badge, then they need to leave their delicate ego at home.

And we wonder why a lot of people don't trust the police?

Nice to see all of the nice comments about cyclists on this forum. And you guys wonder why gun owners tend to alienate others?