Goooooooooooood morning, Austin! Or is it?

It's 7:48 in the AM and it's INCREDIBLE out! It's 38 degrees right now. Thirty eight! I actually kept my hoodie on the whole commute in this morning, it was so damn cold. Thank you Jeebus, it's about freaking time the temperatures dropped into the realm of reasonable. Of course we're looking at over 80's for Friday and the Halloween Critical Mass ride, so make sure you've got a costume that won't kill you from heat exhaustion. Nudity is always in fashion. Today though the high is 71 so throw on a jacket and GO RIDING! If you aren't on a bike today I truly feel sorry for you. There's still time!

Unfortunately my mind was somewhat troubled on the ride in to work. Just before I left I read the following email, sent to me late last night:

Hey--

Don't know if you remember me, been on a bunch of the cemetery cat rides. Name is Chris. Friends with Mason. Whatever. Anyway, got pulled over at 10 this morning for running a red at 7th and congress. Cop didn't write down a fine, and said he had no idea how much the fine would be. He said I'd have to call the courthouse, he didn't even know if it was considered a real moving violation. What he DID know is that starting right now the cops have been assigned to crack down on all bike related offenses. They are camped all over downtown, day and night, looking for any bike offense they can find due to a large number of complaints recently. This particular cop had no interest, was pretty nice, but definitely not into letting me off with a warning. Just thought I'd let you know so you can get more word out. He said they are definitely out to get cyclists right now.

chris

No you're not paranoid, the Austin Police Department IS out to get you! Yes, if you're on two wheels and lack an engine, SPECIFICALLY YOU. The line that really jumps out at me from the above email is this one:

Cop didn't write down a fine, and said he had no idea how much the fine would be. He said I'd have to call the courthouse, he didn't even know if it was considered a real moving violation.

So the police officers of our fair city are authorized to enforce laws that they don't understand, and in this specific case they claim not to know?!? Where's the breakdown in the system here? Is this a problem with officer education? With overzealous cops making up laws and rules to harass us citizens with? Or is the problem systemic, stemming from the police departments' love of marginalizing citizen groups that are known to be fractious or disorganized, and often less-capable of defending themselves. If the cops said they were going to be cracking down on persons of color, or women, or muslims, or any other legally protected group there'd be an angry mob with torches and pitchforks assembled on 8th Street, screaming "DISCRIMINATION". Instead, when they say they're specifically targeting cyclists, for no other reason than that we choose to ride to where we're going instead of drive, no one bats an eye but us.

I'm officially calling SHENANIGANS on the City of Austin, specifically the Austin Police Department. This is some serious BULLSHIT. I'm just waiting for them to pull over a cyclist who also happens to be a lawyer. Maybe they've also been instructed to look out for the scruffy, rough-around-the-edges cyclists, and are leaving the "legitimate" looking ones alone. I honestly don't know how deep their prejudices go. These are cops we're talking about, and they've never been known for being fair and/or balanced.

There's DEFINITELY an issue with cyclist education. If you're pro-active and reasonably adept with your web-fu there are plenty of sources to educate yourself on Austin/Texas bicycle laws, but the vast majority of people out there seem to know little beyond hearsay and the occasional warning shouted from a car or passing biker to "get a light!" or "stop at the sign!". Ignorance is no defense (unless it's the cops ignorance), and if you're pulled over it looks like they will ticket you if they actually carry enough knowledge about the offense with them to do so. Watch your 6, and if there's a cop, for the love of God, STOP! They've already got enough of our money in their grubby little hands, no reason to hand over any more of it.

Speaking of "money" and "fines", here's a complete schedule of the City of Austin traffic fines for your perusal:

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/court/fine_sch.htm

Thanks for forwarding that, Adam! I'd like to point out that the threat of a $500 fine from yesterday's posting was nothing but that, a bullying threat from a thug trying to strike fear in the heart of a biker. Only difference between this and one of those assholes threatening us from their SUV is that this bully was wearing a badge. The worst the cop could do over a light is an "Equipment Violation", which is only $155 at the most. What really pisses me off about looking at this is the number of times I've been struck by a driver who was obviously in the act of a "moving violation" at the least, that have gotten away scott free with not even a warning! If the cops can ticket us for doing something that affects NO ONE, why not ticket drivers who are actively affecting us by hitting us with their cars? I guess this just brings me right back around to my charges of discrimination and prejudice amongst the APD, to go alongside my accusation of a lack of education.

Ok, Chief Acevedo, it's high time to send your gang in blue back to school, Rodney Dangerfield style! If they don't know the law how can any of us expect them to effectively enforce it, and if they're just pulling people over for what they "think" is a law or for their own personal reasons, then what's the point in having the "law" at all? This just looks embarrassing from my point of view. Maybe if you spent more money educating your officers and less harassing cyclists, EVERYONE would be better off.

I should probably stop now before I get myself in real trouble, but I'm pissed. THANKS COPS! This morning was so beautiful until you got in the way.