By John Allen

What should you do if a police officer pulls you over when you are riding your bicycle?

A Waltham resident was riding his e-bike early Sunday morning, September 17, when he got pulled over by a Waltham police officer. This cyclist knows to stay out of the door zone of parked cars. And this year’s amendments to the traffic law clarify that cyclists may use the entire lane as needed. Motorists are now allowed to cross the centerline to pass bicyclists when safe. Unfortunately, the officer believed that a bicyclist should always keep right to allow motorists to pass in the same lane. The cyclist was running front and rear video cameras on his bicycle and recorded the entire encounter. He shared the videos with me, though he wishes to remain anonymous. I have synchronized the videos and added narration and text comments. The video is here:

The cyclist is writing a letter to the Waltham Chief of Police and I’ll be showing the Chief the video. Except for the misunderstanding, I think that both the cyclist and the officer handled the situation pretty well. Keeping the discussion polite and cooperative is most likely to lead to a positive turn of events. There's more than one type of safety to consider in an encounter with a police officer.

The encounter raises a few more issues which I highlighted in my comments:

 the importance of indicating that you are recording – which applies to you also if you are a motorist with a dashcam.
 how Massachusetts traffic law is disorganized and confusing, no favor either to public safety officers or to citizens. (Look in vain in the Statutes for rules applying to traffic lights: they are separately in the ordinances of the 351 cities and towns, State Highway, Massport and Department of Conservation and Recreation regulations...)

 that several motorists including the officer committed minor violations of the letter of the law, and they are generally taken to be normal. Crossing the double yellow line; rolling stops at stop signs... What do you think of the riding? How the cyclist and the police officer handled the situation? Those minor violations? What would you do if you found yourself in a similar situation? It’s worth thinking ​about because it could happen to you, and it might create an opportunity to improve the climate for bicycling in your community.

Comments are welcome. I might respond to them with the article, or next month.