Got "pulled over" by the police!

[Catlord17]

Tonight, I ended up at City Center again for practice.  During my first major loop around the area, I heard a car coming behind me, so I pulled off to the side where there were parking spaces, and waited.  The car crept up to me, but I could not see if it was a police car or not.  Then out stepped a police officer, who said, "I just stopped because I was wondering, what is that thing?"

It was a positive encounter during which I introduced him to the concept of an EUC, explained that I had head lights, tail lights and turn signals, and that I go there every night to practice.  I asked if it was okay for me to do that.  "Technically," he said, "this is city property, and you can't come here at night.  But I'm not interested in running off people riding unicycles, I'm trying to protect the businesses.  So I don't care."  Then I told him he might see my girlfriend when he looked at my car.

Then he asked me where I got it, how much it cost, etc.  Finally, he asked which car was mine, and when I told him, he said, "Okay, I'll just ignore that one then."  He drove off to go find my car, and when I caught up to him, he was having a conversation with my girlfriend, and she was being positive and enthusiastic, so I knew it was another positive encounter.

So I have now had two positive encounters with the police regarding it, and I have permission to practice there at night!  Woohoo!  Hopefully the police will end up coming to know me, and I will be able to befriend some or all of them.

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

That's pretty cool.    I have to say though that we seem to have a rash of semi-misleading thread titles!  I thought I was going to read about a trip to the station in the back of a cruiser to get processed!  

You should have offered to see if he wanted to give it a try on an off duty day.

[Marty Backe]

1 hour ago, Catlord17 said:

Tonight, I ended up at City Center again for practice.  During my first major loop around the area, I heard a car coming behind me, so I pulled off to the side where there were parking spaces, and waited.  The car crept up to me, but I could not see if it was a police car or not.  Then out stepped a police officer, who said, "I just stopped because I was wondering, what is that thing?"

It was a positive encounter during which I introduced him to the concept of an EUC, explained that I had head lights, tail lights and turn signals, and that I go there every night to practice.  I asked if it was okay for me to do that.  "Technically," he said, "this is city property, and you can't come here at night.  But I'm not interested in running off people riding unicycles, I'm trying to protect the businesses.  So I don't care."  Then I told him he might see my girlfriend when he looked at my car.

Then he asked me where I got it, how much it cost, etc.  Finally, he asked which car was mine, and when I told him, he said, "Okay, I'll just ignore that one then."  He drove off to go find my car, and when I caught up to him, he was having a conversation with my girlfriend, and she was being positive and enthusiastic, so I knew it was another positive encounter.

So I have now had two positive encounters with the police regarding it, and I have permission to practice there at night!  Woohoo!  Hopefully the police will end up coming to know me, and I will be able to befriend some or all of them.

Great story and thanks for sharing it with us 

[Jrkline "Wheel Whisperer"]

1 hour ago, Catlord17 said:

So I have now had two positive encounters with the police regarding it, and I have permission to practice there at night!  Woohoo!  Hopefully the police will end up coming to know me, and I will be able to befriend some or all of them.

I have come to find that if I refer to the EUC as an "Electric Donut", I get a positive responce from law enforcement.

[Dingfelder]

Good story!  And I like that it was a positive one involving police.  There seems to me to often be a feeling in the forums that the best thing to do with police is avoid rather than engage them, so it's nice to see cause for optimism to offset that once in a while.

 

 

 

[johrhoj]

Great story Marty, tx for sharing.

Let me tell  you of my last encounter with the Police:

I was riding on a seperate bikelane, along a normal road, on my way to work. Two policeman on motorbikes stopped (at a busstop) and then stopped me. "It is not allowed to ride that on public road", was what they told me. I know they are technically right about that (Dutch traffic law).

Some while ago, when I started riding EUC's I mailed a "government traffic authority" whether EUC's were allowed. The response I got was that an EUC is not a vehicle according to Law, because all vehicles are categorized, and the one-wheel category simply does not exist. Therefore I was just a pedestrian with a moving aid, and needed to go where pedestrians go. This includes bike lanes when there is no pavement for pedestrians. 

So I told the policemen this, in a very friendly way of course. They then said something like this: "There is a motor in there isn't it? And that motor does all the work?".

According to Dutch Law that is more or less the definition of a motor-vehicle. And this definition does not mention a number of wheels. I admit I knew that at that time. All sorts of regulations then come into play for motor-vehicles, including insurance, license, and official vehicle approval.

I played it stupid. I said that they were absolutely right and showed them how the motor reacted to leaning forward and backward, I answered as if it was just a question of someone interested in the workings of the EUC. The policemen looked interested, did not make any more fuss, and let me go on my way.

Since that time I have seen many policemen in cars and on motorbikes. I am sure I have been spotted several times. I have not been stopped by any of them again. 

[Mono]

56 minutes ago, johrhoj said:

I played it stupid. I said that they were absolutely right and showed them how the motor reacted to leaning forward and backward, I answered as if it was just a question of someone interested in the workings of the EUC. The policemen looked interested, did not make any more fuss, and let me go on my way.

Nicely played, actually. Pretty far from stupid.

[Rehab1]

Great story! Thanks!

Police have been portrayed in the news as uncompassionate, militant pigs. It's disgusting!

I love talking to police and they in turn like the opportunity to communicate with every day citizens. I hope these organized anti police groups halt their barrage of negative narratives as it directly affects the moral of our men in blue! 

 

[WARPed1701D]

I passed two cruisers (actually one was a Polaris ATV which I was sure would stop) downtown yesterday while riding into work. I was on a mixed use sidewalk at the time and probably only doing 7-8 mph. Both just kept going the other way. So far no issues getting pulled.

[Michael Vu]

I was riding home from work on a neighborhood street with a speed limit of 30 mph. It's a road with a single lane in each direction and no bike lane. However the road is very wide so I usually just ride off to the right side as cars can comfortably pass me. I was crossing a 4-way stop intersection when I noticed a police car stuck a few cars back. I heard him honk his horn in short bursts and thought that he was getting the attention to the car in front of him or something. Like maybe the car in front of him wasn't paying attention and didn't move up the line or something. But about a half mile later the cop stops me on the side of the road with sirens on, his gun drawn, yelling at me to get on the ground and put my hands up.......

 

I'm just kidding, the cop was very nice and was so fascinated by it. Another cop car with two cops pulled right behind us too. I also told them how one of their fellow members also rides. What's very funny is that after we parted ways, I crossed into them again at an intersection near my house.

Police for the most part don't care or have positive feelings about EUCs. It's only 10% or so that I've had negative encounters with which seems to be the case overall with or without an EUC. There are always going to be bad apples in a group and we cannot take those few bad apples and try to apply their behavior to everybody else.

[Bob Eisenman]

So..it was about 6:00 pm on Thursday when my EUC and I got back to Salem after a long series of Ninebot rides and charges at the mall. I had enough 'good' battery to get home but traffic near the Salem Depot (and crosswalk) was bumper to bumper with several state police traffic officers taking charge rather than allowing the Stop lights to dictate the flow. I decided to go another block to a different crosswalk where a traffic officer also stood next to the 'walk button' affixed to the pole. He had watched me decend the hill and stop next to him . 'That thing must require good balance?' he said. Then he said he'd try to get me across the intersection. I responded 'I'm right behind you' as we walked halfway across the traffic jam before sprinting on foot the rest of the way on my own. One car did move another half length into the crosswalk during the transit but then stopped to allow me to cross. Traffic , as the officer said 'gets really bad at this time'.

[novazeus]

Ur nicer than me. Back in 2008 I was fairly new to motorcycle riding and I bought a ktm superduke r as my third motorcycle, quite different from my screaming eagle road king, so I'd take it out late at night when traffic was almost nonexistent except for young kids with their dropped rice burners which would harass bikers, and I have a car roll up next to me in the right lane and put his left fender close to my rear tire. On a multi lane highway bikers ride in the wheel rut made by cars closest to the centerline so he was close. I slow down to let him pass, he slows down, I speed up, he speeds up, etc etc. it was very scary. When I finally turned right, which was difficult with him dogging me, I saw it was a pasco county sheriff. I went inside and called and complained about what happened. He was probably just checking out my ride but I had no idea. Being on the road with cagers is scary.

[electricpen]

I just started learning last Tuesday and I've been practicing in a parking garage that is long term permit only parking for a university. I have been going roughly twice a day, the second session pretty late at night. On Wednesday I was there after midnight and a cop car pulled into the garage while I was practicing. He just asked if I was trying to learn to ride "that thing" and I said I was and that I choose to come later after everyone left since I fall a lot and didn't want to get in anyone's way. He just laughed and told me to stay safe and drove away. He didn't really have any questions about it but he was relatively friendly anyway. I was technically trespassing since I think the structure is supposed to close at 10 pm.

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

Remember to watch out for falling cars.

Lady is now suing parking garage owner stating that the parkade wasn't designed safe enough to prevent people driving off upper levels.  

 

[Rocky Romero]

On 8/12/2017 at 6:23 AM, Bob Eisenman said:

One car did move another half length into the crosswalk during the transit but then stopped to allow me to cross. Traffic , as the officer said 'gets really bad at this time'.

I like to nod and acknowledge police officers and sometimes we pass each other when they are on bicycles.

As I wear a silver helmet with black clothing, I approached Trump Towers in Chicago riding on the sidewalk.  Three of the officers eyed me closely as I passed by.  I never know when it's protestors time around that area.

They take it seriously.

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