TO PROTECT AND SERVE?

(a warning, the following is long, but I believe worth the read)

This past Saturday, myself and 2 of my KC riding companions (Peter and Bob) were riding through the small town of Port Orchard. We had just started up from a red light in a 25mph zone when I heard the tell tale sounds of an exchange between one of my companions and a motorist. Turns out the motorist was a Port Orchard police officer (Barney Fife) in a PO Police SUV pulling a boat on a trailer. As it turns out, Peter was passing Bob and coming up to where I was and Officer Fife was unhappy about this. The exchange went something like this:

Officer Fife: "Pull over"

Pete: "What?"

Fife: "Pull over"

Pete: "Why?"

Fife: "I said pull the f*#k over!!"

Pete: "No"

Now, even I, a self-avowed Johnny-Scoff-Law, know that you should never say no to an officer of the law, so my immediate thought was, perhaps this was not Pete's best response.

Officer Fife really thought that because suddenly he flipped the lights on and proceeded to use his SUV and boat trailer to cut Pete off. Now during this time, Bob and I were slightly behind watching all of this with the boat on its trailer right next to us. I narrowly avoided getting creamed by the boat by maneuvering to the edge of the road while simultaneously cocking my head to the side (the edge of the boat missed me by less than a foot) as I came to an abrupt halt.

Officer Fife flew out of his vehicle and made a bee-line to Pete who asked Fife what his problem was to which Fife flew into some incoherent rant about how cyclists are required to ride as far to the right of the road as possible and Pete came out into the lane. Pete and I both responded that the law in fact gave us 3 feet from the edge of the road (this is actually not accurate as I had mixed up something in the Washington Driver's Handbook stating that motorists passing bicycles need to give 3 feet of buffer). Fife responded that we were wrong and that he could write a citation to which I replied, go ahead and make sure that you keep that court date free since we would be fighting it and told Pete to make sure that he got Fife's name and badge number. Fife then turned to Bob and I and told us to move along as this did not involve us and was none of our business. My response to this was that we weren't going anywhere and that he had made it our business when he almost hit us with his boat and trailer. Fife and Pete continued to go back and forth with the tensions and remarks continually escalating with Pete's responses to him ending up being "write the ticket, do it" (I think he said this about 4 or 5 times, it was fantastic). In the end, Fife did not write the ticket and continued to let his emotions control his behavior.

Eventually, Pete said if Fife was not going to write the ticket then he was out of there and started to ride away. Fife went to get back in his car and I told him I wanted to say something to which he replied "no". My response to this was that he was a public servant whose job was to protect and serve and that I had something to say to him. So, he came back over and I stated with all due respect, that he was wrong with his interpretation of the code and that we are allowed to ride out into the lane if we have to avoid road hazards, that we are not required to ride as close to the edge as possible at all times and that he had endangered us with his actions as his boat almost hit us. Bob and I then proceeded to ride away and Fife got back into his vehicle and speed around us in a right hand curve well over the speed limit while crossing a double yellow line into the left turn lane. Nice.

So, here is the Washington revised code:

RCW 46.61.770
Riding on roadways and bicycle paths.
(1) Every person operating a bicycle upon a roadway at a rate of speed less than the normal flow of traffic at the particular time and place shall ride as near to the right side of the right through lane as is safe except as may be appropriate while preparing to make or while making turning movements, or while overtaking and passing another bicycle or vehicle proceeding in the same direction. A person operating a bicycle upon a roadway or highway other than a limited-access highway, which roadway or highway carries traffic in one direction only and has two or more marked traffic lanes, may ride as near to the left side of the left through lane as is safe. A person operating a bicycle upon a roadway may use the shoulder of the roadway or any specially designated bicycle lane if such exists. (2) Persons riding bicycles upon a roadway shall not ride more than two abreast except on paths or parts of roadways set aside for the exclusive use of bicycles.

So, it appears as if both Fife and we were correct, except that we were more correct than he was. Now, I am no lawyer, but I would argue that since Pete was overtaking another bicycle proceeding in the same direction than he was in the right. Also, there are a number of potholes, cracks in the road and sewer grates on that section of road (as well as the occasional glass) so the language stating "as is safe" means that it is subjective as to how far out we can ride and is up to the rider's judgement as to what is safe. Also, we were going 18-19 mph in a 25 mph zone so that we were not traveling that much slower than the normal flow of traffic especially since we were going around a curve just a few hundred meters past a stop light.

The California revised code states this:

(3) When reasonably necessary to avoid conditions (including, but not limited to, fixed or moving objects, vehicles, bicycles,pedestrians, animals, surface hazards, or substandard width lanes)that make it unsafe to continue along the right-hand curb or edge,subject to the provisions of Section 21656. For purposes of this section, a "substandard width lane" is a lane that is too narrow for a bicycle and a vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane.

So I would infer that the language is similar enough to draw a comparison and even though the WA code does not specifically state "when - necessary to avoid conditions" the "as is safe" line could infer the same thing, thus meaning Fife did not know what the hell he was talking about.

My point in all of this? It is nice that in addition to all of the other moron drivers out there that we need to deal with that we can now add some officers of the law and it is nice to know that with all the meth use, domestic violence and probably 5 unregistered vehicles that passed us while we were at the side of the road, that Barney Fife had nothing better to do than hassle 3 guys minding their own business out for a bike ride. Idiot.