A one-man Critical Mass...
Local police have stopped Tulsa’s peripatetic Paul Tay more times than I can remember. He’s a one-man Critical Mass. Through the Christmas season, he rode around town dressed as Santa. Or was that REALLY Santa? I don’t know.
Regardless, Paul is locally notorious for riding his bicycle along the shoulder of area expressways, often with a trailer in tow. This is entirely legal. The trailer sports various signs that have included his campaign for mayor, protests against the war, quirky humor, and a few things that won’t be mentioned here. Let’s just say he ran afoul of the ‘outraging public decency’ laws, and let it go at that. There’s a lot more of his stuff on Tulsa Indy Gazetter.
Paul has been stopped again for impeding traffic just recently. He’s been charged with making an illegal left turn, since Tulsa law has no provision for legal left turns by cyclists. He enrages both local motorists and law enforcement, and he’s a regular subject for ranting comments on morning chat radio.
Make no mistake about it – Paul Tay angers motorists and cops with his in-your-face antics. But as far as I’m aware, most of his actions have been legal. His biggest crime is simply being Paul Tay.
A judge overturned the ‘outraging public decency’ charge. While what he did may be offensive, he still has a first amendment right to do so.
It’s legal to ride a bicycle on the shoulder of expressways here in Tulsa. Paul was stopped for that when a police car blocked the shoulder, forcing him onto the roadway in order to pass. He was then cited.
Police officers have told him he cannot ride his bike in rush-hour traffic, or that he’s required to ride it on the sidewalk. Again, his only crime is being Paul Tay. It would seem these officers are ‘enforcing’ their personal biases against cyclists, rather than the law.
I can’t support Paul’s confrontational approach to road rights, but I fully support his right to ride on our roads, even if he’s a pain-in-the-ass while doing it.
Regardless, Paul is locally notorious for riding his bicycle along the shoulder of area expressways, often with a trailer in tow. This is entirely legal. The trailer sports various signs that have included his campaign for mayor, protests against the war, quirky humor, and a few things that won’t be mentioned here. Let’s just say he ran afoul of the ‘outraging public decency’ laws, and let it go at that. There’s a lot more of his stuff on Tulsa Indy Gazetter.
Paul has been stopped again for impeding traffic just recently. He’s been charged with making an illegal left turn, since Tulsa law has no provision for legal left turns by cyclists. He enrages both local motorists and law enforcement, and he’s a regular subject for ranting comments on morning chat radio.
Make no mistake about it – Paul Tay angers motorists and cops with his in-your-face antics. But as far as I’m aware, most of his actions have been legal. His biggest crime is simply being Paul Tay.
A judge overturned the ‘outraging public decency’ charge. While what he did may be offensive, he still has a first amendment right to do so.
It’s legal to ride a bicycle on the shoulder of expressways here in Tulsa. Paul was stopped for that when a police car blocked the shoulder, forcing him onto the roadway in order to pass. He was then cited.
Police officers have told him he cannot ride his bike in rush-hour traffic, or that he’s required to ride it on the sidewalk. Again, his only crime is being Paul Tay. It would seem these officers are ‘enforcing’ their personal biases against cyclists, rather than the law.
I can’t support Paul’s confrontational approach to road rights, but I fully support his right to ride on our roads, even if he’s a pain-in-the-ass while doing it.
posted by Ed W at 1:04 PM
1 Comments:
What about the injunction against him? Or is that what was overturned?
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