My encounter with Bhams Finest

On my ride home today, the weather was particularly harsh looking, and with guests coming for dinner, I decided to take the shortest way home. Coming up the hill on Greensprings Hwy, I encountered a police car blocking all traffic and sending them back the other direction, on the other side of the road. Several hundred yards farther I could see a bunch of police cars with lights flashing etc. I asked the officer directing traffic if there wasn't any way I could continue up Greensprings, because to go around would add several miles and 25-30 minutes to my ride, and I really wanted to get home before all heck broke loose weather-wise.

The officer told me to go ahead. "You can get through, you're on a bike". So I went around his car and up to the other emergency vehicles in the road. Looking for a way past, I settled on going around the left side of the gaggle of police cruisers. Several officers were standing there and I could see a bicycle, circa 1970 something, all bent up and laying in the road. A car with a broken windshield was also sitting there. Obviously someone had hit a cyclist. (For my non-cycling friends who read this, that is a bad thing).

One of the police officers then offered this opinion: "If I were you", she said to me, "I'd find a sidewalk to ride on and stay off the roads." I was dumbfounded. This is an officer who is supposed to enforce the law, but she doesn't know the law. My response was "I appreciate your concern, but the law requires me to ride on the street, not the sidewalk, and even more, it protects my right to be on the road." Every one of the 5 officers that heard this looked as though it was their opinion that I was an idiot. Whatever.

It would be nice if our police officers, who we rely upon to protect us from the morons who think it's cool to run cyclists off the road, knew more about the laws they are supposed to enforce.