Bikes and cops...
Sep. 26th, 2005 11:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
senoritafishI am grateful to one of John's friends for putting him in an excellent mood for a few days last week. John had mentioned to him that he needed to renew his motorcycle license, but didn't have a full-size, gear-shifting type motorcycle to take the test on. The scooter is automatic. Jay (John's friend) offered to let him borrow his motorcycle for a couple of days to practice and to take the test. So John made an appointment at the DMV, and spent a couple of days using the big bike to run errands and such. We even took a couple of rides together after the kids went to bed - it was exhilarating being able to smell night-blooming jasmine from someone's backyard, the mudflats at the Talbert Marsh at low tide, the salt smell of the ocean, with the moon almost low enough to form a track on the water. Not so pleasant was being surrounded by exhaust every time we stopped at a signal and how numb my butt was when getting off the bike. Definitely not a vehicle for long trips, at least as a passenger.
Turned out they've changed the classifications of licenses, and an M license includes both big bikes and scooters, so John could have done it with scooter we have.
When he returned the bike, Jay gave him a ride home. As they were approaching our house, John took off his seatbelt as they were coming to a stop, in preparation for hopping out of Jay's pick-up. The police station is on the next block, and a motorcycle cop coming up our street pulled them over less than 50 feet from our house, and gave both of them tickets for John undoing his seat belt. At first the cop did not believe it when John said "That's my house, right there," until he looked at his driver's license. The kids were out in the front yard and of course came over to see what was going on. John asked if he could get out of the car to keep the kids from running out in the street and the cop told him "No, you stay in the car." Let me get this straight - you pull someone over practically in front of their house because unbuckling a seat belt slightly early is unsafe, but letting little kids run around in the street is perfectly ok? Luckily I looked out the window, saw what was going on and called them into the house until the cop left.
John looked at the ticket and noticed the cop wrote down an intersection two blocks away from where they were pulled over, and also noticed that there was a check box noting "Can be dismissed," so now he's trying to decide if he should fight it.
Turned out they've changed the classifications of licenses, and an M license includes both big bikes and scooters, so John could have done it with scooter we have.
When he returned the bike, Jay gave him a ride home. As they were approaching our house, John took off his seatbelt as they were coming to a stop, in preparation for hopping out of Jay's pick-up. The police station is on the next block, and a motorcycle cop coming up our street pulled them over less than 50 feet from our house, and gave both of them tickets for John undoing his seat belt. At first the cop did not believe it when John said "That's my house, right there," until he looked at his driver's license. The kids were out in the front yard and of course came over to see what was going on. John asked if he could get out of the car to keep the kids from running out in the street and the cop told him "No, you stay in the car." Let me get this straight - you pull someone over practically in front of their house because unbuckling a seat belt slightly early is unsafe, but letting little kids run around in the street is perfectly ok? Luckily I looked out the window, saw what was going on and called them into the house until the cop left.
John looked at the ticket and noticed the cop wrote down an intersection two blocks away from where they were pulled over, and also noticed that there was a check box noting "Can be dismissed," so now he's trying to decide if he should fight it.
