Yesterday afternoon I was riding home from work, as I do most days when it’s not raining. As I was making my way into Sausalito down South Street and onto 2nd I was stuck behind a driver who was concentrating on everything other than looking straight ahead – either a tourist or someone lost, both of which I regularly have to deal with near the Sausalito waterfront. On the downhill section of 2nd Street the erratic driver came to an almost complete stop for no apparent reason – there was nothing in front of his car, nowhere to turn, and no immediate impediment to his passage along 2nd. I noticed the guy was looking up the hill into the neighborhood along Valley Street so, as I’m sure most cyclists would have done, I veered around the left side of his vehicle to continue on my way. In doing so I crossed the center solid line on 2nd Street for what must have been a few milliseconds.
As I was happily continuing on my way down Bridgeway I was surprised to hear a police siren behind me. I looked over my shoulder and to my surprise discovered that I was being pulled over. I was ticketed with a California Vehicle Code infraction of law 21460(a) for crossing over the double yellow line! The officer – Sergeant William (Bill) Fraass, pictured here giving some other unfortunate peddlers a ticket – was not in the slightest bit interested in the fact that the vehicle I passed came to an almost complete stop for no apparent reason, that there is no bicycle lane on 2nd Street in which to pass, or that the driver of the vehicle was driving erratically and thus endangering my safety. I have been warned about rolling through stop signs and crosswalks before, which is fair enough, but actually being ticketed for 
avoiding a tourist who almost completely stops in the middle of the road, that is just ridiculous. So Sergeant Fraass, if you ever Google your name and come across this post, how about you spend your time and my tax dollars on dealing with issues that are pertinent to the community rather than targeting innocent cyclists who are simply concerned with their safety. Stinging cyclists like this is nothing more than an excuse to drum-up money for the City of Sausalito which, as one of the most affluent areas in the country, I can’t imagine is really hurting for funding…
As you can tell, I’m quite perturbed about this whole saga. Fortunately, California allows one to contest traffic infractions such as this via trial by written declaration. Police in California get paid overtime for attending court when people contest in person, but they are not paid anything extra for the paperwork required to respond to a trial by written declaration. So Sergeant Fraass, I hope you enjoy paper work because some is coming your way!
Sargeant Fra ass is just and ordianry joe blow doing his job, trying his best to get by one day at a time in a job that acts so serve and protect the community. If you did’nt break the law he would be just another stranger on the street. Hats off to you sargeant, another criminal dealt a fair punishment.
Tom, if you knew Fraass like I do you’d know the guy is a real bastard. The kind of guy that gives old ladies tickets for walking across the crosswalk too slow…
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Privately owned and operated cycles need to pay thier fair share into the Sausalito income streams.
Rental bikes ridden by tourists are no longer being harassed at the the same levels as “locals” or “privately owned” cycles. Apparently the dogs were called off after a negotiated agreement sends protection money across the bay from the SF bike rental magnates/mafia to the city god fathers in exchange for ……… bicycle rack spaces???
I have spoken to the City council in 2008 about the tourist trap and profitability in officers self authorizing themselves then issuing a ticket, going to court for an average of 1.5 hours per case. If you were a cop and you could choose the easiest 4 cases together and spend 6 hours in court to earn 18 hours straight time pay…. would you do it???
This is Capitalism at work folks and we all play our part. I personally know this individual, ( William Fraass ), and agree he is power hungry, willing to break any “Law” to prove his power and on more than one occasion I and several others have actually heard this man proclaim, ” I, am the Law!” indignantly asserting his ego to the crowd.
Good job for pointing out that people do not have to show up in person to contest a ticket and that it makes the officer do paperwork without pay…. yet I wonder??
Do you realize that the ticket is actually more appropriately referred to as a Contract. That is why the officers say signing it is not an admission of guilt; rather, it is a creation of an open ended contract. It is not about “Law” or “Justice” it is just business, and look how at each depression of the nation prison guard unions flourish, inmates generate revenue too.. Something to consider for all who see this posting to which I enjoined.
Peace, N8.