Ok, Laugh at me...

[ejmarkow]

As I'm utterly embarrassed, you might want to know that I was riding my
mountain bike back home at around 11:00 pm last night with some friends, and
the police from Ciężkowice stopped us on the main road in their civilian
automobile in the village of Faściszowa, near Siemiechów. Out of three
bicycles, only one had the proper 'lights'...mine unfortunately didn't (I
don't even have mud guards on mine for that matter). I had to sit in the car
with another friend of mine, while the third was waiting outside of the car.
Their first comment was, "Your bicycles should have lights for the evening,
don't you know that?" Defensive me responded, "In the USA, that type of law
isn't enforced too strictly." Well, ummm ... yes, but I'm in Poland (smack
smack!). The two police officers immediately told us that fines would be
issued. We didn't have our Dowód Osobisty's with us, so they had to obtain
our ID numbers via radio from the central authorities. Well, the two of us
received fines of 50 zlotych each, and the police told us to 'walk home our
bikes' from that point on (about 3 km), and they even let the air out of my
friends tires. I slept well last night from all of that walking!

[usenetposts]

I'm laughing, but at your local police. In Warsaw the police would be doing
little else but stop bikers at this time of the year. In fact bikes are treated
pretty much with impunity.

However. I will say that as a car driver I get a bit upset with people sharing
the road unlit after sundown out in the country, where theroad is unlit and
there are sometimes bends in the roads. I would like to have a fighting chance
not to kill some other human being, and then have to bear the consequences for
the rest of my life.

[varsovian]

I know of a bloke who rode his bike home from a friend's house after a few
beers, got stopped by Bolek i Lolek, breathalysed and lost his driving licence.
He'd have been OK if he'd passed a bicycle test, cos that'd have been taken
away instead.
Be warned - perhaps you were lucky ...

[varsovian]

And by the way - hilarious story!

[usenetposts]

www.yes-but.net/cycling_is_1dangerous.html
It can be no laughing matter....

[minimus]

Surprisingly good work by the Polish cops. No bribing, safety conscious. Wow!

[kylie1]

> Surprisingly good work by the Polish cops. No bribing, safety conscious. Wow!

I wonder if there is a coffee and donut joint around when the night is slow...

[ejmarkow]

I got what I deserved! However, I never knew it wasn't allowed to ride your
bicycle without a light. I applied USA laws to Poland. I learned a lesson.

Eugene

[kylie1]

Eugene, I think it was pretty funny! Three brave musketeers walking their bikes
back home. Fifty zl. is like $18 Canadian so it's noty too bad. We have so many
drivers here with burned out front or rear lights and no one says nothing...
Vancouver city cops are after jay walkers right now but people still walk like
they are in the middle of a cow pasture.

[ejmarkow]

kylie1 napisała:

> Vancouver city cops are after jay walkers right now but people still walk
> like they are in the middle of a cow pasture.

Siemiechów and area are one large cow pasture.

[esk16]

Well, mabye I'm wrong, but I think that you had to pay the fine only because of
beeing a foreginer... That's Poland! Probably the guys from the Police wanted
to show who rules

[ejmarkow]

esk16 napisała:

> Well, mabye I'm wrong, but I think that you had to pay the fine only because
> of beeing a foreginer... That's Poland! Probably the guys from the Police
> wanted to show who rules

As I mentioned, 2 out of three of us (myself and a local Pole) received the
fines. What ticked us off was after we got our fines and the police left the
scene, while walking our mountain bikes back home, two older women with
backpacks and no lights on their bicycles passed us by on the main road. They
didn't get caught.

[esk16]

Sorry, but I've never heard aboute fines given because of a missing light in a
bicycle. So my conclusions might be a big misteake. But I live in a village
mysealf and although I can see the Police officers quite often- none of them
ever bothered me or my friends.
Frankly speaking, your situation was very weird.
PS. Please, forgive my misteakes in English, I've just started using it after a
year.
esk16

[ejmarkow]

esk16 napisała:

> Sorry, but I've never heard aboute fines given because of a missing light in
> a bicycle. So my conclusions might be a big misteake. But I live in a village
> mysealf and although I can see the Police officers quite often- none of them
> ever bothered me or my friends.

I found that sort of fine to be odd as well. It isn't normal in the USA. The
police there can't be bothered with such a minor infraction, if it can even be
categorized as such. By the way, my father was NYC Police officer (NYPD) for 38
years. The police here stopped us on the 'main' road, which is quite busy with
automobiles and large vehicles, and not on some 'side' road. The main road
seems to be inadequately lighted and somewhat dark.

> Frankly speaking, your situation was very weird.

Indeed it is. Here is what they wrote on my 'Mandat Karny':
"Jazda rowerem w porze nocnej bez oświetlenia - zł. 50", along with my name,
parents names, address, and Pesel number. I paid it in full on Saturday at the
post office in Zakliczyn.

> PS. Please, forgive my misteakes in English, I've just started using it after
> a year.

It's quite all right.

> esk16

[mala_obludnica]

Be glad !
I live in Belgium in Flanders and here the fine for cycling after dusk without
a proper light is 50 euros! (although the lack of lights is altogether less
dangerous than in Poland, since Flanders is rich in bicycle roads, bicycle
traffic lights etc)

My friend from Gdansk had an adventure that was even more exciting. He's a big
cycling fan, rides a bike all year long. During a party he and his companions
ran out of vodka, so he jumped on his bike to get to the nearest 24h shop, two
streets away. Suffice to say that the next day an article appeared in the local
newspaper, with "Supercyclist" as a headline. It described a case of my friend,
who happened to break 4 laws at a time : riding a bike on the zebra,on red
light (it was in the middle of the night and no cars on the road - apart from
the police car apparently ) ) talking on his mobile whilst cycling and - yes-
having almost 1.5 o/oo alcohol in blood ( it's 2 that's already deadly outside
Poland, isn't it? )
As a result, he had his driving licence taken away, had a law-suit, "criminal"
pictures taken and "supercyclist" has become his nick-name

[ejmarkow]

mala_obludnica napisała:

> ...and "supercyclist" has become his nick-name

Damn hilarious story! I guess you can call me "semicyclist" as I haven't even
come close to resembling such mad recklessness. How about this? Riding a
mountain bike in the (1)nude, (2)partially drunk, (3)on the left side of the
road, (4)cd player mounted blaring the 'Benny Hill' theme song, (5)waving the
confederate rebel flag with containing the phrase "Join Now: FLIP Forum on
Gazeta.pl", into Warsaw, (6)circling the Palace of Culture, then off to some (7)
presbytery in the Old Town, if you could even get that far? I wonder how much
that fine would be? Any takers? It would be a great publicity stunt.