BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

From http://www.dot.state.pa.us/bike/web/bikelaws.htm:

"Section 3507. Lamps or other equipment on pedalcycles.

(a) Lamps and reflectors. -- Every pedalcycle when in use between sunset and sunrise shall be equipped on the front with a lamp which emits a beam of white light intended to illuminate the pedalcycle operator's path and visible from a distance of at least 500 feet to the front, a red reflector facing to the rear which shall be visible at least 500 feet to the rear, and an amber reflector on each side. Operators of pedalcycles may supplement the required front lamp with a white flashing lamp, light-emitting diode or similar device to enhance their visibility to other traffic and with a lamp emitting a red flashing lamp, light emitting diode or similar device visible from a distance of 500 feet to the rear. A lamp or lamps worn by the operator of a pedalcycle shall comply with the requirements of this subsection if the lamp or lamps can be seen at the distances specified.

Comment: Many car-bike crashes occur at night and involve a poorly illuminated bicyclist. Bicyclists should understand that headlamps serve two purposes: a) primarily, they advise other road users of their presence (vitally important to prevent unsuspecting motorists from cutting across the paths of cyclists they cannot even detect), b) secondarily, illuminate the bicyclist's path."

In short:

If you are riding a bike anytime between sunrise and sunset on a Pennsylvania road, the bare minimum is a front headlight (white light, visible from 500 feet) plus a rear red reflector and two amber side reflectors.

The amber side reflector law is an anachronism. Most bikes now come stock only with white side reflectors. Reflective tire sidewalls are mostly silver. Reflective tape mostly comes in white, red and black. Just do the best you can given how products have changed. The only amber reflectors I see are on pedals. White headlights are mandatory and easy to find. Red reflectors are necessary in the back but we highly recommend using a red taillight/blinkie in addition to the reflector.

DUI on a bike... no lights... yoi. Well, at least he's getting lights for himself. Hope he has a helmet, too.

Yes but if he didn't have a light, you could barley see him...

If you have lights do you think you still need reflectors. I took my front and rear ones off and just left my ones on the wheels I figured the lights would do the job. Am I wrong?

I use lights only. Reflectors are a joke and only work well, IMHO, when it is too late. And then, when you are in the path of the car, the reflectors don't often work too great either. Lights are a proactive way to be seen. The cheapest of blinkies works significantly better than any reflector.

I doubt that any law enforcement officer would cite you for lack of reflectors if you have a working blinkie. Are reflectors really visible for 500 feet? Of course the law reads that blinkies are to SUPPLEMENT reflectors....which seems crazy.

+1 on front lights. The closest I've come to being left-crossed were when the light failed in some way. I do have a reflector there, but it is inadequate.

Reflectors are best on something that moves, such as pedals & spokes, and do a decent job of making you visible from the side.

I don't feel it necessary to make major changes in the law, though it does have some inadequacies, as Scott mentioned. I would rather put the effort into educating cyclists and drivers alike on best practices for avoiding car-bike collisions. (That, and I don't trust our elected officials to do the right thing if they do decide to change something.)

Ah, yeah, Scott, I wasn't even thinking about that when I posted that (late night / brain off, hah). My bike has exactly what you're describing - tiny amber reflectors on the pedals, white reflectors in the spokes.

I have left my reflectors on up to this point, but I'm considering taking at least some of them off (especially the front one - I want the handlebar space for more lights!). From my perspective, if I'm driving, reflectors are *barely* better than nothing if you're wanting cars to see you: I can usually vaguely see them, but it's not enough visual info to accurately track the speed and location of whatever they're attached to. And that's under ideal conditions - if it's raining, no chance. And when I'm on a bike, I usually can't see the reflectors on other bikes at all (or maybe all these lightless salmoning-prone riders that make my rides home from Oakland so exciting have also removed their reflectors to be extra stealthy? I'll never know)

My inexperienced opinion would be that front and rear reflectors are going to go unnoticed anyway if they are next to lights. (I guess if you're worried about your batteries dying mid-commute or something, then you might want the reflector there as a backup, but at that point, I would just carry spare batteries.) On the other hand, I do feel like it's worthwhile to leave the side/wheel reflectors unless you've got something else for side visibility. Since my bike is black, I feel like I disappear too easily from the side. I've started using spoke lights sometimes, but even with that I don't plan on removing the side reflectors.

If you're concerned about batteries dying, some lights (CatEye LD500-R, f'rinstance) are built with an integrated reflector. (Spare batteries are a better bet IMHO, but I thought I'd throw the option out there...)

I do dig reflective sidewalls on tires...I prefer 'em to spoke-mounted reflectors, as they're equally visible when still and when moving.

I always thought the trouble with pedal reflectors is that you could only see them from the front or back, and shoes etc. could get in the way. And, of course, modern clipless pedals don't have them. However, a great substitute is some highly reflective velcro bands attached around the ankle.They are visible from many more angles and they are moving around like crazy as you pedal. Much more likely to be noticed when they reflect someone's headlights.

I recently picked up the new CatEye TL-LD 570 Reflex auto rear bike light/reflector. It has built in optic and motion sensors that turn it on & off automatically. The light sensor was not turning on the light as soon as I preferred so I placed a small piece of black electric tape over the optic sensor inside under the lens. Now it's motion activated and turns on and off whenever I'm on the bike.

http://www.rei.com/product/807255/cateye-tl-ld-570-reflex-auto-rear-bike-light,-red?preferredSku=8072550018?cm_mmc&mr:trackingCode=50475D8C-2DE1-DF11-B41F-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA

I ride with spare batteries for the tail lights. A cheap front blinky as a back up might not be bad.

I'm sure 99.9% of police will allow rear blinkies to be used in the place of rear reflectors. Just keep the battery fresh. Not all rear blinkies have built-in reflectors. I have red reflective tape on my rear rack just for added precaution.

my pedals have dynamo LEDs in them, white for front, yellow for side, red for rear. They flash when I'm moving or have recently moved. They aren't enough to satisfy any law, but they're moving flashy things that look different from anything else and thus make me slightly more interesting and eye catching in the dark. And I can't forget to turn them on or forget them at home or forget to swap out batteries or something.

reflective tape works better than reflectors, I'd rely on tape before reflectors to both keep me visible and legal, but I'm assuming reflective tape counts as "reflectors"?

Yes but if he didn't have a light, you could barley see him...

i hope getting some new lights raised his spirits...

I use lights in the rear. They aren't nearly as effective as good reflectors, but they work.

I remember reading a study not too long ago that looked at bike lighting, and determined that the association of movement to the light source was as or more important that the amount of light being emitted when it comes to night time visibility of cyclists. it's just human (and animal) behavior to be attracted first to movement, and then to stationary sources of light. I'll post a link to the Study, if I can find it.

My big take away from the Study on first read? The author's discussion with his teenaged daughter, after she passed him on the road, her in a car, he on his bike.

Author: So, could you see me ok? Was I visible?

Daughter: Yep, saw you just fine.

Author: What was the first thing that you saw, or waht made me notice me?

Daughter: Those stupid reflective pants bands you wear. They were going up and down, up and down. It would have been impossible to miss them.

That might not be an exact reproduction of the story the author portrayed, but it is pretty close.

id be very interested in hearing more of the details surrounding the pull-over. in my experience, police seem to ignore bicycles for the most part, so it surprises me to hear that they pulled him over solely for lacking lights (especially because he had reflectors). was it 'closing time' in a neighborhood with lots of bars? was he riding erratically?

Best writeup on the subject:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/reflectors.html

Forgive my speculation here, and I know none of the specifics, but my guess is that if you've been "pulled over" by a police officer and charged with DUI, you must have been making quite a spectacle.

"Yes but if he didn't have a light, you could barley see him...

i hope getting some new lights raised his spirits..."

Nah, distill seems to be an issue.

They sell white reflective stickers for numbering mailboxes at home depot. I think its less that $1/letter. I bought a "." because it had hardly any ink on it.

Rear visibility: Bike has a reflector. Helmet has a blinky.

Back to the 3M reflective tape... The stuff works well in all colors. You can wrap it around tubes and on curves to maximize the exposure from all angles.

Wait a minute, I can NOT be the first one to ask:

DUI on a bike?

Guess I'll have to start taking the bus when I leave the bar at 2am. Oh wait

DUI is illegal on a bike. On the other hand, you aren't gonna hit a buss fulla schoolkids and wipe them all out or anything.

I guessing to get busted for it, you have to be an obvious hazard to yourself and those around you. Either that, or dumb enough to mouth off a cop.

Yeah but... what if Bikey McDrunkard goes wobbling down the street, and a bus comes up and has to swerve to miss him, crashes and kills all aboard... DUI on a bike still ok?

What if all those people on a bus get killed?

Same as whena drunk bicyclist smashes over the edge of a bridge an d lands in the control room of a barge which then hits a dam and wipes out a large part of a major city, I'd guess.

Mick, I don't think I understand your point. And I don't think your suggestion that a drunken bicyclist poses no threat to a bus is valid. My point is exactly that a drunken vehicle operator - car, bike, bus - is a threat to other vehicle operators. And it is not that much of a stretch that a vehicle could swerve to avoid an erratic drunken cyclist and crash.

So, DUI on a bike is as un-funny as any other DUI.

My post was kind of facetious and moreso a dig on PGH's inadequate public transit and cab service, yet prolific bar culture, which encourages drinking and driving (or biking).

...and when times were better, we had a thing called the UV Loop, whose purpose was to shuttle people from the late-night bar scene to the population centers in other parts of the city. Got cut in the 2007 axe swing.

As to drunk cyclists, yes, a weaving cyclist can cause an accident. OTOH, a 200 pound object moving 10 mph is a couple orders of magnitude less likely to do damage than a 2000 pound object moving 50 mph.

DUI on a bike?

ive heard from more than one source that you can lose your driving license for getting a DUI on a bicycle, but i couldnt easily find a concrete answer on this. it may vary by state/municipality or other circumstances of the incident.

I guessing to get busted for it, you have to be an obvious hazard to yourself and those around you. Either that, or dumb enough to mouth off a cop.

i sure hope thats the case. there have been a few times when ive been biking home after a few pints and wondered what would happen if i came across a DUI checkpoint: would they ignore me? would they wave me through? would they make me do the breathalyzer? would i be able to avoid interaction by walking my bike through? would i be chased down if i turned around after recognizing the checkpoint? (i presume a car would be chased, but trying to escape would be far more obvious than a bike)

And I don't think your suggestion that a drunken bicyclist poses no threat to a bus is valid.

by that token, a drunken fool can go stumbling or crawling into the street and create an almost identical situation. i think we can all agree that public drunkenness does not equal DUI, but where does the line get drawn?

I've hear of someone getting a DUI on a riding mower. I think it was on an episode of COP'S

Thank you all so much for all this good info,,,

DUI on a bike is way more benign than DUI in a car. Sure, you can invent scenarios where it "causes" an accident, but it's a stretch. For cars there's no need to come up with anything farfetched - the usual stat I've seen is 1/3 of all fatal crashes involve DUI which is something north of 10,000 deaths a year.

I don't think it's a good idea, and I generally take the bus and/or walk home when I've been drinking, but Mick's point is completely valid. Put it this way, if everyone who drove home drunk in a car rode a bike home instead, do you honestly think it would result in anywhere near 10k fatalities?

No, but it would result in over 10k youtube videos of mass drunk cycling hilarity. Oi.

I also knew someone who got a DUI on a bike. But he was also swerving all over (I believe) Forbes avenue in Oakland. Definitely not safe for multiple parties involved.

Semi-related: I wonder what the comparison would be of the time required to sober up post-bar, between driving, biking, walking and bussing. No where near a safe study to perform in the real world. I just always feel much more with it and alert when I get home, post buzzed cycling (which is a rare occurrence, but, it happens. I certainly won't fight a cop who would give me issue over it.)

So, if you wer riding after a few pints, has has been suggested happens from time to time, and you come upon a DUI checkpoint......assuming you were not in a business district, would moving onto the sidewalk make you no longer subject to the checkpoint?

If you are so drunk that you are a danger to yourself and others around you is what they are really looking for when they stop a cyclist. If you are on foot as a pedestrian its called public intoxication, if you are operating anything from a car, bike mower or even a horse its DUI.

dude, props to anybody who actually CAN operate a bicycle drunk (though yeah, it's an unsafe thing to do). In college I tried to drunkenly walk my bicycle home once, and that was really difficult. Just couldn't manage to coordinate all my limbs and the bike's moving parts into meaningful motion in a single direction. Then again, sometimes I have trouble with that sober.

So, assume you have a pump with you. You've had a few, and are cycling along when you spot a checkpoint. Dismount, let some air out of one tire enough to make it appear flat, & push the bike through the checkpoint. Point at the tire. I don't think they'll say boo to you.

Once safely past and out of sight, pump back up and be on your way, provided you don't weave about stupidly.

I dunno, if I get caught cycling drunk, I'm ripping off my shirt, putting the bike on my shoulder, and running like hell while yelling "you don't know me!". If I'm going to end up on "COPS - Pittsburgh", I'm doing it right.

Did he get pulled over by one of the bike cops or a car?

@edmonds: Ha ha!!

It occurs to me that this bicycle/dui story would make a really interesting case study. wish there was some way to get full story.

I would really like to hear (all) the story(ies) of bicycle DUI cases, as well.

Maybe I'm just oblivious, or not out at the right time of night, but I've never seen a DUI checkpoint anywhere while I've been biking. Do they have them in the city?

This summer an intoxicated cyclist was hit by a car on ELB. Got his leg broken

First of all, I am not a lawyer. Second, I do NOT believe everything I read on the internet. But, a google search did turn up some interesting items.

1. In WA state, a cyclists cited for DUI successfully beat the citation in State Supreme Court based on inconsistencies in the use of "motor vehicle" and "vehicle" in state statutes.

2. I found this story -

Pennsylvania's DUI Laws Apply to More Than Just Motor Vehicles

A Montgomery County, Pennsylvania resident convicted of Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol a few years ago, traded in his motor vehicle for a bicycle; to prevent himself from receiving any future DUI related charges. He never anticipated being charged with a second-offense for Driving Under the Influence, while riding his bicycle.

On July 4, 2007, he was riding his bicycle from a holiday party in Narberth, PA to his home in Havertown, PA, when he was struck by an automobile. He was treated at the scene, and taken to the hospital, where his blood alcohol content was tested. Testing resulted in a BAC reading of 0.155, nearly double the legal limit of 0.08. He subsequently was arrested for drunken bicycling; an offense punishable by the same penalties as Driving under the Influence.

The prosecutor, a Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney, explained that Pennsylvania law considers a bicycle as a vehicle, and that riders are subject to almost all of the same rules as drivers of motor vehicles. “Here, the statute is clear...Someone on a bicycle is subject to the DUI statute and he was pedaling his bicycle while under the influence on a roadway.” The bicyclist was sentenced to 15 consecutive weekends in jail, or 30 days, and 22 months of probation for a second DUI offense within 10-years. He also was ordered to pay a $1,500 fine and court costs, ordered to complete an alcohol-related highway safety program, and must follow any other recommendations after being evaluated for alcohol abuse. His driver’s license has been suspended for up to 18-months.

Pennsylvania law states that “Every person riding a pedalcycle upon a roadway...shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle.” Pennsylvania statute defines a “vehicle” as “every device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway.” Pennsylvania law mandates minimum sentences for DUI and DUI related crimes. Penalties are determined according to elements of the crime, as well as other factors such as prior convictions within the past ten years.

3. However, I also found a website for a PA attorney serving DUI clients. Their website stated:

Pennsylvania DUI cases involving motorcycles, boats, planes and bicycles are similar in some regards to driving under the influence cases involving vehicles, but there are also key differences. A skilled PA DUI attorney from Levow & Associates is experienced in fighting charges of motorcycling, boating, flying or bicycling under the influence.

Boating, flying and bicycling while under the influence are all covered under separate Pennsylvania statutes. Each carries substantial penalties, but some or all of these repercussions may be avoided by aggressively fighting the charges with the help of an experienced Pennsylvania DUI attorney.

Several paragraphs later, they state:

Cycling under the influence (CUI) is a less-serious charge than Pennsylvania DUI, but still carries significant consequences. Bicycles aren't vehicles under Pennsylvania law, so the DUI statutes that govern passenger cars don't apply to cyclists. However, bicycles are covered under a separate law.

I wonder if the discrepancy between 2. and 3. regarding bicycles as vehicles is determined by whether the cyclist is operating in the roadway or not (roadway=DUI, sidewalk=a somwhat lesser CUI).

Interesting question. However, please let's not have any personal examinations of this question after the Flock tonight, or any other time.....please......

Dismount, let some air out of one tire enough to make it appear flat, & push the bike through the checkpoint.

hah! stu, i was thinking about something slightly different -- if they stop you and give you a hard time, volunteer to let the air out of your tires and walk the rest of the way home as penance.

wish there was some way to get full story.

shouldnt we be able to get a copy of the police report? i wouldnt take it at face value, though, and id like to hear the perps side of the story too... however, theres a part of me doesnt want to dig too deeply for fear of 'waking the bear'. id rather the the cops didnt pay any special attention to bikers who might be pushing the legal limit for BAC.

Yeah, the cop can write a ticket for whatever they want, but I would be interested to see if a bicycle DUI stands up in court.

BTW, flying while intoxicated is a federal offense. BAC limit is 0.04 and no flying within 8 hours of drinking alcohol.

From the google machine:

"Pennsylvania law considers a bicycle as a vehicle, and that riders are subject to almost all of the same rules as drivers of motor vehicles. “Here, the statute is clear...Someone on a bicycle is subject to the DUI statute and he was pedaling his bicycle while under the influence on a roadway.”

And as we know from other threads:

"Pennsylvania law states that “Every person riding a pedalcycle upon a roadway...shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle.” Pennsylvania statute defines a “vehicle” as “every device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway.”

And finally:

"Pennsylvania law mandates minimum sentences for DUI and DUI related crimes. "

So even though some don't take DUI on a bicycle seriously, it certainly seems the Commonwealth does.

Who's gonna be the designated biker at the Flock ride.

A friend of mine said that their boss was arrested for DUI while sleeping it off in the back seat of his car with the keys in his pocket. The way it was explained is that the keys need to be beyond the drunk’s control i.e. outside the car. This happened in Maryland so I don’t know if it applies to PA, but MADD has made the alcohol law maddening all across this country.

how about people just act responsibly when ingesting alcohol?

unfortunately, you can act responsibly yet still be in violation of the arbitrary and subjective legal limits

However, I also found a website for a PA attorney serving DUI clients. Their website stated:

Besides their claim that bikes aren't vehicles under PA law, which is contradicted by PA's own web sites, their claim that PA has a separate CUI law also seems questionable. If so, it doesn't seem to be in Title 75 with the other statutes relating to bikes and to drunk driving. Perhaps they made their web site while under the influence.

To the one who asked,,it was a cop car that got him,,,it happend in avalon / next to bellvue and he was blocks away from his home and was comming back from a 20 mile ride,he had a few beers sometime on his ride,im not kidding they beat him up a bit and spent 6 days in jail over this,since this story has some input i should get the complete story but he was pulled over because he had no lights on his bike and it was late night

To the who asked,,it was a cop car that got him,,,it happend in avalon / next to bellvue and he was blocks away from his home and was comming back from a 20 mile ride,he had a few beers sometime on his ride,im not kidding they beat him up a bit and spent 6 days in jail over this,since this story has some input i should get the complete story but he was pulled over because he had no lights on his bike and it was late night

It's a good thing this guy didn't get hit by a drunk bicyclist or it would have been a lot worse. Oh, wait - no, that's not true at all.

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2011/09/person-on-scooter-struck-by-vehicle-in-rockville-66891.html

I broke my hand a few weeks ago and have been driving until I can ride again.

The thing I've noticed the most are pedal reflectors honestly.

That and the amount of people riding on the sidewalk on the wrong side of the road almost getting killed constantly.

RE: Using reflectors or not.

I really see no point in using rear/front reflectors in addition to lights. A reflector will be useless when you encounter a driver who doesn't have headlights (a common occurrence at dawn/dusk).

Besides, aside from decreased battery life, I can't think of a good reason NOT to have your lights on at all times. It only increases your visibility at the cost of a few $ per month. Daytime lights are something I use with my car and some manufacturers have them by default.

@ chemicaldave everyone is blow away by how much I paid for my front and rear lights, but my reasoning is I wanted something that gives you day and night visibility. Cars use lights during the day to make themselves more visible I think we should do the same. It has worked out very well cars have been giving me lots more room day and night and I feel safer..... Well I was rear ended by a rocket the other day ;p

It's also why I love my generator hub. Never have to be cautious about batteries, just keep rolling (...with more resitance. Meh)

+1 wojty. Genny hubs are, indeed, all that and a sack of chips.

Mr Marv...

What people don't realize is that their headlights, even using eBay as a guide, generally cost $500+ to replace, minus the power supply. The taillights can cost just as much. I upgraded the lights on one of my previous vehicles and the cost for HID's was $1500. OEM HID's are often times an upgrade (but should be standard) that is buried in a $2995 package. They have no perspective.

@ Mrmarv: "Well I was rear ended by a rocket the other day"

That's a little personal for a message board, isn't it?

^ Maybe I should rephrase that..... A rocket crashed into me... no, how about I was shot by a rocket.... um..... none of that sounds right.

The rear-ending occurred shortly before the gang bang. (Not that this clarification helps Mr. Marv's situation much...)

@ reddan Shhh I still haven't told my wife about the gang bang yet.

I've personally met at least a half a dozen people that have had a DUI on a bike. They were big on enforcing it in Davis, CA.

From the CA vehicle code:

Notwithstanding Section 21200, it is unlawful for any person to ride a bicycle upon a highway while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or any drug, or under the combined influence of an alcoholic beverage and any drug. Any person arrested for a violation of this section may request to have a chemical test made of the person's blood, breath, or urine for the purpose of determining the alcoholic or drug content of that person's blood pursuant to Section 23612, and, if so requested, the arresting officer shall have the test performed. A conviction of a violation of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred fifty dollars ($250). Violations of this section are subject to Section 13202.5.

If you are 21 or older, the BAC limit is 0.08; if you’re younger than 21, the BAC limit is 0.01.

The consequences for a BUI are a fine (up to $250) and documentation on your driving record. If you are under 21, your driving privilege will be suspended for 1 year or delayed for one year once the person is eligible to drive.

on the visibility issue: I got these spoke stickers for my front wheel and red reflective rim tape for my rear wheel and it seems to work pretty well. I've had it on there all summer - I'm sure if the reflective quality has diminished over time.

or under the combined influence of an alcoholic beverage and any drug

This made me chuckle, it sounds like they added it on after a cyclist said "but judge, I was drunk AND stoned and the statute says OR..."

Otherwise, I think that's pretty reasonable - fantasy situations aside, the risks to other people from BUI are much less than DUI, so it makes sense that there are penalties but they are not as severe. If someone does cause an accident while BUI, they almost certainly violated another statute in the process.

They are less, but still pretty crazy. $250 is just the fine, there are all kinds of other costs, and it goes on your driving record. If I understand it all correctly (I may not), you'll also have a misdemeanor criminal record. Not exactly a speeding ticket.

For a 20-year-old biking home from a frat party, one drink puts him or her above the limit, and he or she will lose driving privileges for a year. Makes me wonder how a person can plow someone over in a flip-flop-mobile, stone cold sober, and still wake up and drive the next day. I'm not saying the punishment for a BUI is too strong, but instead I'd argue all the other laws and punishments should be adjusted to be more in line with the BUI law above. We need MADD type lobbying for cyclists and pedestrians injured/killed by any negligent driver, not just the drunk ones.

The 20 year old losing their license for drinking has absolutely nothing to do with BUI though, it's a generic underage drinking penalty that applies whether they're driving or walking or just sitting on a couch when the party gets busted. Biking drunk might draw more attention to yourself but otherwise it's unrelated. We have the same law in PA, I believe. Not to say I agree with it, but...

I also completely agree that the focus should be on the negligence and not the drunkenness.

Any underage drinking leads to loss of driving? I thought only driving drunk while underage did that?

I have ridden through DUI checkpoints on bikes twice and both times no one checked me, also both times the officers make jokes about me being drunk, also once I had been drinking (probably would've passed the test though).

dan - it's 90 days for the first offense in PA, otherwise what I said is correct: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=611975&mode=2#PUR

In CA there's a whole list of other offenses in (d): http://dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d06/vc13202_5.htm

I looked some of them up and saw buying or possessing alcohol, using a fake ID, drug violations, etc. I didn't see consuming alcohol but I didn't look all of them up but you definitely don't have to be driving or biking.

@spak - agreed about the pedal reflectors. after the last "riding at night with no lights" thread i started paying more attention to what i usually noticed first when following a bike (either from my bike light or a motorcycle/car light) and the pedal reflectors are definitely it. so i decided to install the ones that came with my pedals that were sitting in a bag for a few years doing me no good - why not?

i also have reflectors on the back of my shoes and panniers but i keep thinking i should put more reflectors on my bike, especially a red rear reflector (especially since i may technically be riding illegally without one). when my last taillight gave up the ghost, i didn't notice until i got home and i had been out riding at night on 5th ave of course...

Salty,

That is pretty cool. Program should be expanded to those above the age of 21!