Another Appellate win for bicyclists in Pima County
We won another appeal last week of a traffic citation for not riding “as close as practicable to the right-hand side of the roadway.” This was a much more difficult case than the similar appeal we won last month, and I was concerned after our oral argument that we would not win this case. But I received the order today and Judge Borek found once again that cyclists may ride two abreast in lanes that are not wide enough to accommodate a cyclist, a patrol car, and the statutory three-foot passing distance.
I am very pleased that Pima County cyclists chose me to make these arguments, and that we won! I hope this puts a stop to all those tickets that cyclists have been getting for not riding “as close as practicable” to the right-hand side of the roadway.
–Erik Ryberg
January 18th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Rock the hell on, man!!! Way to go!!!
January 18th, 2010 at 7:10 pm
This is fantastic news.
When precedent like this is established, does it filter down to the officers who are doing the ticket writing or does it just make it easier to get them tossed afterward?
Thanks for making it happen!
January 19th, 2010 at 7:13 am
Good Job Erik. BUT, May I read between the lines here for a moment. First off, a police officer wrote a cyclist, for what he thought was a violation, the cyclist took it to court and lost his case,bringing about the appeal. What bothers me Erik, the police still seem to have a thing for going after bike riders, and the city court judges still seem to be rubber stamps for the police. You know this will happen again ! Can we use this case as president and cite to a city court “rubber stamp” details of this appeal? What are the case numbers we can cite to the “rubber stamp”? Again , thanks for the work you do in this arena. We need all the help we can get.
January 19th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
[...] a third win, see Another Appellate win for bicyclists in Pima County [...]
January 21st, 2010 at 5:51 am
Any way we could see the actual decision? It could be helpful for those of us with our own similar legal battles.
Thanks, and keep up the good work.
Jeff
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:57 am
Hi jeff,
I have them here, thanks to Erik:
http://azbikelaw.org/blog/take-the-lane/
There are a total of three similar ones linked there, the other two (Piscopo, and Goren) are further down the page.