Bicycle parts not considered weapons or at least not brass knuckles
Court Rules Bike Pegs Don't Count As Brass Knuckles
Posted: 6:36 pm PST February 8, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO -- The California Supreme Court ruled Monday that a bicycle footrest doesn't qualify as illegal metal knuckles under state law.
The court's seven justices issued a unanimous ruling in San Francisco in the case of a Los Angeles County teenager who was found to be carrying a metallic bicycle footrest in his pocket in 2007.
The youth, identified as David V., was 14 and was riding his bicycle on the afternoon of Aug. 21, 2007, when he was stopped by an officer for failing to wear a helmet.
After the teenager agreed to a search, the officer found a hollow metal footrest that was 4.5 inches long and 1.5 inches in diameter in his pocket. The devices are intended to be installed on bicycle wheel hubs, but the officer later testified that he couldn't find a place where the item would attach to David V.'s bicycle.
The officer also testified that gang members sometimes hold footrests in their fists to increase the impact of punching.
David V. was judged in juvenile court to have violated a state law that forbids the wearing of metal knuckles, also known as brass knuckles, "in or on the hand" for purposes of offense or defense. He was declared a ward of the court and placed in a community camp for six months.
In his appeal, the youth argued that he wasn't wearing the device and that the law applies only to objects that can be affixed to the hand.
The high court agreed, in a ruling written by Justice Carol Corrigan.
Corrigan wrote, "We conclude that a cylindrical object that cannot be worn in or on the hand does not qualify as 'metal knuckles'" under the law."
But Corrigan added that the law could encompass a variety of devices in addition to traditional brass knuckles.
"The statute is flexible, and implements that are fitted to the hand, or wrapped around it, may qualify as metal knuckles," the court said.
Bike Lanes get show and tell
So February started off with a bang for cyclists. Well when one thinks of cycling you don’t think of February for an awe inspiring time. But it was. On February 1st the city released what it hopes Toronto will look like in 2010-2011.
The meeting was held at Metro Hall, you know the ugly one down on John Street where no one knows where it is. The meeting was well attended with interested cyclists wanting to know what was what. Of course I arrived late thinking that it was just another one of those wander around and look at the pictures on the wall. Well it was, but it seemed that there was a lot of talking and asking of questions first.
What I heard was questions on Bloor Street, the fact that there is going to be a study done about bike lanes on Bloor Street that will not be finished until 2011. That would mean that any kind of painting on Bloor will not happen until probably 2015. There was an interesting question about how many people took canbike and when was the city going to force everyone to take a course.
The highlight of the night was when Hamish Wilson took the city to task of why there will be no bike lane through the Yorkville area and it would only be sharrows. My first thought was because Holt Renfrew bought the block with their $20 million dollar donation and there was no way in heck they were going to allow dirty post and rings let alone a bike lane to go through their block.
After the talking was done, I wondered around and marvelled at the maps with their crayola coloured lines. To me it looked like there was going to be a bike lane on every street. The highlights was connecting the Harbord Street bike lane from Spadina to Bathurst as well as the gap that exists on the College Street bike lane west of Manning Street.
Was all of this for real, could this be happening? Well it could be because a lot of its easy and there are huge holes in the plan. At first what I thought were markings designating Queen and others to have bike lanes were actually sharrows. The proposed bike lane on University ends at Adelaide, just a few hundred feet of linking up with a bike lane on York, the extension of the College Street bike lane were also Sharrows.
It is to early to say exactly what is going on with the whole plan. I only had a cursory look at things and the whole plan should be on the city’s website tomorrow. I still think there is room on College for a bike lane, but according to city cycling officials the TTC will never allow it to happen.
What Councillor Joe Mihevc said at the end of the question period is true, that if we want this stuff we are going to have to fight and fight hard. This is going to be a tough political year for everyone, especially with people like Rocco Rossi running for Mayor.
Cyclist Memorial Held in Mississauga
Six cyclists from the organization ARC, Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists set out early this morning to lay flowers for a dead cyclist. The cyclist was killed last week. Little is known about the tragic event. What is known is that it was around 6:30 at night. The cyclist was coming home during a busy rush hour when he was hit from behind and then hit again by another car. He died that night. Both drivers involved in the accident remained at the scene. The cyclists name is unknown as is his name as the newspaper and the police have not released this information.
News reports commented on how the cyclist seemed to have swerved out into the path of the first car that hit him. As always the only witnesses to the accident seemed to be the drivers involved.
Regardless of what happened, a bike had to be painted white and delivered to the scene of the cyclists death. The white bike, known as ghost bikes, are a symbol that according to the website, ghostbikes.org originated in 2003 in St Louis, Missouri. Since their first appearance they have appeared in over 100 cities. Ghost Bikes are small and somber memorials for bicyclists who are killed or hit on the street
Junker bikes are painted white and delivered to the site of the death scene, flowers are laid and a minute of silence is given to the memory. ARC has been doing cycling memorials since the mid nineties and have began putting ghost bikes in the Toronto area around 2005.
The ride began at Bike Pirates on Bloor at 8am. The group headed west and took Bloor street all the way to Mississauga. On the way the group tried to take one lane for safety sake.
Remarkably there were only two interactions with angry drivers. The first was at Royal York and Bloor where a driver took umbrage with the cyclists taking the lane. He seemed not to notice that there were several other lanes he could have driven in and that the light was red. The second was in Mississauga proper where a van driver roared past the cyclists trying to get ahead of the pack.
The ride to the site took around abouts an hour and a half. The site was a suburban waste land with a mix of single occupancy homes, strip malls and high rises. The road was straight and wide with unused sidewalks.
The ARCista's took the bike from the cargo bike that had brought it to that place and locked it around a utility pole. There were already flowers at the site which was why the cyclist found where the site was.
The chain used to secure the bike was to short so two of the cyclists donated their locks to make sure the ghost bike was not easily removed by the city or neighbours. Flowers were laid and a minute of silence was given.
The ride back was punctuated by the strains of a cyclist singing, They never walk in Mississauga, sang to the tune of It Never Rains In California. As always, or so it would seem, the ride back was faster then the ride there.
The cyclists ended their trip at a local Breakfast place called Yasi's in the west end and ate a well deserved meal. It was a beautiful day for a ride, but a horrible reason to go.
Many thanks to Ainsley, Martin, Geoff, Vic, Scunney and Derek for making the long trip out.
Caught in the bike lane
Undercover cop reading a book caught in the bike lane
So i was toiling away in yeah olde bike store on Friday, when I glanced outside and noticed a car parked in the bike lane. I thought nothing of it. A lot of times cars park for a couple of minutes to answer a phone call or pick up a son or daughter from the local high school. I have learned in the past that by the time I get out there to tell them to move, they have already moved on. I usually give them a couple of minutes before I ask them to move on.
Well this feller was taking his good old time getting the heck out of the lane so i decided to take action. I have also learned from past experience that getting angry with people never works, so I put on my best pleasant face, the one that I keep behind the counter for bike lane parkers and went to have a chat.
He rolled down and looked at me with disinterest. The first thing that I noticed was that he was reading a book so I knew that he was going to be there for a while.
"Hi, you're parked in a bike lane, would you be able to move."
"No"
"Do you really have to park here?"
"I am working," he said. It was then that it donned on me that he was an undercover cop.
"What you working at?" I asked.
He wrestled around in his seat until he was able to liberate his wallet from his pants and flipped me his badge.
"Well do you have to park here?" I asked, knowing full well he could park anywhere he wanted.
"I'm working."
So I left it at that. I walked back into the shop with visions of me pounding his head off his steering wheel, screaming, "Fucking pig fucking pig!!!" over and over again. I have no idea what he was working on except getting through the next chapter of his book.
So I could only do what anyone could do on these occasions. I got my camera and took a couple of pictures. If you notice the second picture has a cop car in the background. For a few seconds I thought about calling him over, but I knew he would be just as disinterested as the first cop.
Infuriating is not the word that I could describe at how I was feeling, but I did get some satisfaction of knowing that I could at least put his car on the Interweb and hopefully some kids who might be busted for smoking weed would see him first and get away.
The worst part of this is that it was two days after the Police Service Board considered Allen Heisey's deputation to enforce the bike lanes more as well as double the fines for parking in the bike lane.
Fucking pigs.
The National Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims in Canada
is a day set aside to remember those killed or seriously injured on Canadian roads, often in avoidable collisions, and those left to deal with the sudden and unexpected loss of people they love.
This year's theme is "Raising awareness of the number of deaths on Canadian roads."
The good news is that we can save lives. In 2008, one life was saved every day because Canada is:
- Increasing enforcement
- Introducing new policies
- Building safer vehicles
- Changing road user behaviours
- Improving our roads
But, even though the number of deaths on our roads is going down, there is still a great deal of work to do.
November 18 is your opportunity to remember the victims, and to express your support.
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- No public Twitter messages.
Puff the Magic Dragon
Where did I put those socks
- Jane’s dad
- Bike Bike Volunteer Call Out
- MECfest
- Oh yes, this post needs a title!!
- Bicycle parts not considered weapons or at least not brass knuckles
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