Missouri Bicycle News Article

Is it the same ticket? 307.193. Penalty For Violation

Any person seventeen years of age or older who violates any provision of sections 307.180 to 307.193 is guilty of an infraction and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than five dollars nor more than twenty-five dollars. Such an infraction does not constitute a crime and conviction shall not give rise to any disability or legal disadvantage based on conviction of a criminal offense. If any person under seventeen years of age violates any provision of sections 307.180 to 307.193 in the presence of a peace officer possessing the duty and power of arrest for violation of the general criminal laws of the state or for violation of ordinances of counties or municipalities of the state, said officer may impound the bicycle or motorized bicycle involved for a period not to exceed five days upon issuance of a receipt to the child riding it or to its owner.

In CoMO:

Any person sixteen (16) years of age or older who violates any provision of this act is guilty of an
infraction and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than five dollars ($5.00) nor more
than twenty-five dollars ($25.00). Such an infraction does not constitute a crime, and conviction shall not give
rise to any disability or legal disadvantage based on conviction of a criminal offense. If any person under
sixteen (16) years of age violates any provision of this act in the presence of a peace officer possessing the duty
and power of arrest for violation of the general criminal laws of the state or for violation of ordinances of
counties or municipalities of the state, such officer may impound the cycle involved for a period not to exceed
five (5) days upon issuance of a receipt to the child riding it or to its owner.

"Is it the same ticket? 307.193."

In short, no.

The state of MO and **most** cities in the state--and **most cities & states in the U.S.--have a similar situation.

That is, there are a few specific bicycle regulations, like you must use lights/reflectors, you must keep as far right as safe (except in certain situations), don't ride abreast when impeding traffic, don't carry passengers if there is no seat for them, to grab onto cars & skitch a ride--those types of things.

And those are the ones that are $25 fine, no crime or criminal type consequences for conviction.

BUT--in every case as part of those same regulations a big caveat, that in addition to these special bicycle-only laws, the bicyclists **must obey all other traffic laws** just as all other vehicles do.

(Except those that don't even make any sense at all--say the requirements for airbags or safety glass.)

And generally when you get a ticket for those general offences, the officer can write it under the same statute and the same penalties as apply to motorists.

(Now it may be that the officer/court would take mercy on you and write it up under the bicycle-specific statute. But that is **their option** and they can certainly write it under ordinary traffic law and make it stick.)

As with all of these legal issues it is never completely cut & dried. Certain police forces may typically handle the issue one way or another, certain judges might handle it one way or the other, etc.

But as a rule they certainly **can** and **often do** write bicyclists tickets under the same traffic law & penalties as for motorists.

I am tempted to blatantly run a lot of stop signs near the police station until I get ticketed just to find out. But that would set a bad example to other cyclists and make all cyclists look bad to motorists, and that is too high a price to satisfy my curiosity.

I think that if a citation were written for violation of the law requiring bicyclists to comply with "all other traffic laws", it would have to cite that law (the one requiring compliance) rather than, or in addition to, the law which the officer claims said cyclist failed to comply with.