PROVIDENCE, R.I.: Bicyclist pulled over and told "You shouldn't be on the road"

[froglegs]

I ALWAYS carry identification with me--driver's license and insurance card. After my accident when I did not have any ID (had to be helicoptered to a trauma center), and the resulting confusion for everyone, as I was not in talking condition, I'm sure to carry ID.

I carry my license, my insurance card, and a card with various family phone numbers. They are paper clipped together and I store them in my jersey pocket. I shudder at the thought of ever having an accident so serious that I couldn't provide all of this information myself, but that's a risk I take when I cycle, so I carry the info with me.

[IFjane]

I shudder at the thought of ever having an accident so serious that I couldn't provide all of this information myself, but that's a risk I take when I cycle, so I carry the info with me.

I agree, FL!

Soon-to-be-DH and I carry license, insurance card AND wear Road ID when we ride. We have been very lucky around here - the police cruise the roads we ride and wave at us as they go by - it gives us a feeling of safety, but who knows what is around the next corner?


Good luck out there, indigoiis. Be safe!

[kat_h]

I'm seriously tempted by these - https://www.roadid.com/Common/default.aspx - so I'll always have ID with me.

On the topic of ignorant cops, I'm quite lucky to live in Calgary. The police department's personal trainer is an absolutely fanatical cyclist. All of the new cops get to know him well and as a by-product of that learn a good respect for cyclists.

[OakLeaf]

License, insurance card, credit card and organ donor card.

G*d forbid, but better to have it and not need it than vice versa.

I keep those four cards and about $20 in a small ziploc bag that goes in my jersey pocket when I'm cycling, dry bag in the 'yak, fanny pack when I'm hiking, or just gets jammed in whatever purse I'm carrying. That way I don't have to pull them out every time.

RoadID seems like a good idea, but I'm just not convinced of the security of their data. I know they make all the right noises, but still. I doubt they have the same kind of computer security techs that, say, a bank or insurance company might have, and yet they want me to entrust them with the same data that I give my bank and insurance company.

[kat_h]

Next time I'm at the mall I'm going to check if the engraver there can make something similar to the Road ID, then just ask my mother-in-law to sew it into a velco strap for me. I don't really need to have a lot of info on there, just my name and my hubby's cell phone number.

[CyclaSutra]

Or just engrave the $5 dog tag from petco and wear that around your neck ... I got the dog bone shape because I like to brag about being a bargain shopper!

[smilingcat]

If I were the one who was pulled over, I think I would be writing several complaint letters to city of Providence.

letters to:
public relations officer of the police dept.

• ask whether the dept has bias against cyclists?
• is it dept. policy to search bicycles when there is no cause?
• is it a normal procedure to intimidate private citizen by asking if they don't like police?
• is it normal to have 6 officers show up in force against a plainly visible unarmed cyclists? Again a form of intimidation?
• is the dept. under the impression that cyclist do not have the right to ride their bike on the street?
• or is it the departmental policy to ignore state law as fit?
• is it also a dept policy to deliberately intimidate private citizen when the officer feels like it. e.g. deliberately driving so close to the cyclist when there was an ample opportunity to avoid conflict.
  
  or worse to jepardize the very lives of people they are entrusted to save and to serve

similar letters to the head of the police department.
and to the mayor/city attorney/council members...

I think they will get the tone of the letter and no city mayor nor council members want a lawsuit. I'm sure the officer will have a bit of talking to. He may not like it but deliberately jepardizing someone's life is no excuse.

Smilingcat