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[Kentagious]

On Fri 1/2/09 I got approached by an Austin bicycle cop and was asked to pull over. Since my passenger and myself weren't wearing helmets, he wanted to see my certificate of rider course. I didn't have it on me. He proceeded to write me and my passenger tickets even though I showed him my medical insurance card from my work. I should be able to get these dismissed once I show proof of rider course certificate, but I'm sure there will be court costs involved anyway. I've posted a link on info from DPS website about riding without helmets. I would also suggest getting the exemption sticker to place on plate.


http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/msb/helmet.htm
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/msb/helmetlaws.htm

[Dusty]

That's one ticket that I would not have signed.
I havn't seen my course cert. since the day it was handed to me. God help me if they ever ask for a SS card because I washed it several years ago and it's unlawful to laminate one and a PITA to get a new one. 
If your ins. met the minimum then he should have not written the ticket in my opinion. I hardly ever wear a helmet and have been stopped for speeding a few time and once because my tailight bulb had burned out. Most stops were by the DPS with a couple by local LEO and the subject of helmet has never come up.

I have more than the min. ins. and just for jollies, I got the tag for the plate a couple of months back for cops like the one you had the pleasure of meeting. He was probably pissed because he had to wear one on his bicycle (OSHA) and you don't.

[BigDaddyTy]

I put mine in a ziplock bag with the insurance card inside the so called tool box in the side covers,I guess I still need to get a sticker it's only $5 bucks,for the one cop in Austin...

[Snake Doc]

I lost my proof of the motorcycle safety course so I emailed the DPS.  The next day I had a reply with a .pdf of my card. 

Try this link to click on the email link: http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/msb/msbcontact.htm

[RocknRoll]

Man - You couldn't out run a bicycle cop?



You need an orange bike!  Guaranteed to out run Murry, Schwinn and all PlaySkool!!!!!

[Chad]

 Was this the guy who pulled you over??

[sheen]

he probably just wanted to check out your rider

[Kentagious]

Follow up:  Since I left my credit card at Antones Fri night, plus my lady friend from Florida wanted to go back to a store on 6th st to buy her friend a gift, we went to Austin on Monday to try to get the tickets dismissed. So we went to Austin's municipal court. To start with the tickets weren't in the system yet, so a clerk entered them in. I showed him the sheets I had printed out from the DPS website about requirements when not wearing helmets. He looked for an e-mail the courts had gotten about that, but couldn't find it of course. Since he didn't know the law, he couldn't dismiss the tickets, but he did set me up to talk to a judge. A city prosecuter did end up dismissing the tickets at no cost to me. She admitted that there was a sting operation going on during the holidays. She made a big thing about me not having the decal on my plate. I explained to her that the DPS website clearly states that showing the safety course certificate OR proof of insurance is all that is needed to ride without helmets and that I should've never been given the ticket. She still went back to the decal issue. I explained further that the police confusion on this matter would cause a lot of inconvience to law abiding citizens. Guess what? She didn't care and wouldn't admit that the tickets should never had been written. Moral to the story....... send $5.00 and get the decal, it may not be a sure thing, but it can't hurt. Lucky for me I had to go Austin anyway, but anyone else might have had to take a day off. What really rubbed salt in the wound for me was the at least 20 times bums asked me for money while walking around 6th st. I guess this is acceptable, but not out of town bikers spending hard earned money in Austin. Lucky for us here, there are plenty of places other than Austin that would welcome us.

[snake]

The bad part of it is, they don't say on the DPS website that you need a permit on your bike, they say if you have one you will not have to be pulled over to see if you are legal, LOL They are in effect saying the permit is voluntary, but expect a little AppleSauce now and then if you don't have one and ride without a helmet. That's the jist of the law, .

[sherri]

Man - You couldn't out run a bicycle cop?



You need an orange bike!  Guaranteed to out run Murry, Schwinn and all PlaySkool!!!!!

ditto hehe

[bayou-biker]

Ken - glad you got it dismissed, and that I'm not the only one who's having fun with the POPO's   

[hobo]

Sometimes it's hard for me to listen to a lecture from someone half my age who has never ridden and thinks I need the benefit of their vast knowledge, so I've been known to kindly tell them to write the ticket and keep their opinions to themselves. Sometimes this doesn't work out like I would like it to...

I saw getting the sticker as a good way to avoid the kind of BS that always gets me in trouble, so I got it as soon as I took the course...

[Dusty]

Sometimes it's hard for me to listen to a lecture from someone half my age who has never ridden and thinks I need the benefit of their vast knowledge, so I've been known to kindly tell them to write the ticket and keep their opinions to themselves. Sometimes this doesn't work out like I would like it to...

I saw getting the sticker as a good way to avoid the kind of BS that always gets me in trouble, so I got it as soon as I took the course...

Man can I relate to that statement. I got lite up here in Lumb.,(in my truck) I put my blinker on and proceeded to the place of business that I was going to in the first place. He followed me in, I had no idea as to why he was stopping me. He got my license & ins. and ask if I still lived at the address on my license. I was already pissed because he had yet to tell me why I had been stopped so I politely told him that yes I still lived there and had been living there longer than he had been alive. Well, he appologised for stopping me and admitted that he had stopped me because he misread my registration date. The truck was 4 months old.  Then, he ask if I worked at the place of business where I had stopped. At this point I'm aggravated and told him "Officer, that is none of your business and if you will excuse me, I'm going in to take care of what I came here for, you have a good day. I locked my truck and walked off.

[hipshot]

Sometimes it's hard for me to listen to a lecture from someone half my age who has never ridden and thinks I need the benefit of their vast knowledge, so I've been known to kindly tell them to write the ticket and keep their opinions to themselves. Sometimes this doesn't work out like I would like it to...

I saw getting the sticker as a good way to avoid the kind of BS that always gets me in trouble, so I got it as soon as I took the course...

Man can I relate to that statement. I got lite up here in Lumb.,(in my truck) I put my blinker on and proceeded to the place of business that I was going to in the first place. He followed me in, I had no idea as to why he was stopping me. He got my license & ins. and ask if I still lived at the address on my license. I was already pissed because he had yet to tell me why I had been stopped so I politely told him that yes I still lived there and had been living there longer than he had been alive. Well, he appologised for stopping me and admitted that he had stopped me because he misread my registration date. The truck was 4 months old.  Then, he ask if I worked at the place of business where I had stopped. At this point I'm aggravated and told him "Officer, that is none of your business and if you will excuse me, I'm going in to take care of what I came here for, you have a good day. I locked my truck and walked off.

And that's how I met Bill..............

[jmdaniel]

$5 for a sticker you don't need? Not on my bike. The guvmint has its hand deep enough in my pocket as it is.