Maine’s highest court has supported a cyclist who appealed a traffic citation he received for not moving into a single-file line while riding with his friend.

Christopher Ray, 62, was ticketed by Cumberland police Chief Charles Rumsey in July 2023 and has been fighting the $151 fine ever since. He contested the violation in Portland District Court last year, and a judge upheld the ticket.

But the Maine Supreme Judicial Court overturned that decision in a ruling Thursday, saying the state’s law is too ambiguous to enforce.

“Because the statute leaves it entirely up to a cyclist to determine how far to the right it is safe to ride, it becomes unenforceable against a cyclist who claims it would have been unsafe to have ridden any farther to the right,” the ruling reads.

Ray and a friend were riding side by side on Tuttle Road when Rumsey arrived behind them in an unmarked police cruiser, according to court documents. Ray was riding to the left of his friend, and his bike was slightly to the left of the fog line, the solid white line painted along the right side of the travel lane.

Rumsey pulled up beside the cyclists, who were traveling at 17 mph, and told them to ride single file. Ray yelled a profanity at the police chief, who then activated the blue lights on his cruiser and issued Ray a violation summons for failure to keep to the right of the road.

Maine law says cyclists moving slower than the normal speed of traffic must move to the “right portion of the way as far as practicable except when it is unsafe to do so as determined by the bicyclist.”

The law does not explain, however, how far right that should be. It could be as far right as the shoulder of the road, or even within the fog line. The justices urged the Legislature to clear up this ambiguity.

Ray said he’s ecstatic about the decision. He said he’s biked since he was a child, both recreationally and in competitions, and has never experienced a similar confrontation with a police officer.

He said he felt that Rumsey was too close and too aggressive, and he was unaware Rumsey was a police officer. Although he said he shouldn’t have sworn, he believed he was riding safely, lawfully and at the normal speed of traffic for that area.

“In my opinion, Mr. Rumsey shouldn’t have been trying to pass me at more than 17 mph in a pedestrian and school zone to begin with and should not have ticketed me for riding on the white fog line,” Ray wrote in an email. “I didn’t like what the trial court’s unfavorable decision might mean for me, other bicyclists, and other road users (including pedestrians that walk in that area) in the future.”

Rumsey said in a phone interview Friday that he believes that cyclists must ride single file for motorists to safely pass them. He said law enforcement will need clarification on the law, and he expects to speak with other agencies and prosecutors to understand what this decision means.

He said his department doesn’t give out violations like this often. But in this case, he said it was important to ticket Ray to ensure the cyclist would ride single file in the future. He said Ray swearing at him didn’t impact his decision.

“I never suspected if I was involved in a case that went to the law court, it would have been for traffic violation involving a bicycle,” Rumsey said.

Though he believes it’s safest for multiple cyclists to ride single file when passing vehicles are around, he doesn’t hold it against Ray to have fought the ticket.

“This isn’t something that’s going to raise my blood pressure at all,” Rumsey said. “I find it fascinating and I think we’ll move on and see what the future holds for us.”

RAISING PUBLIC AWARENESS

Paul Drinan, the active transportation director at the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, said in a phone interview on Friday that the court’s decision gives cyclists more power to determine where it’s safe to ride.

He said the issue is especially relevant given the state’s uptick in pedestrian deaths and some municipalities’ attempts to roll out “Vision Zero” plans to stop them.

Lauri Boxer-Macomber, the Portland attorney who represented Ray, said although the Supreme Judicial Court did not take up some of Ray’s other arguments (such as whether 17 mph was a “normal speed” for the area with its school and pedestrian zones), she said this decision is still a victory for all road users.

She doesn’t agree that the law is ambiguous and suggested that if lawmakers wish to clarify the law, they could better define the “right portion” of the road to be within the marked travel lane, not including the shoulder, sidewalks or parking areas.

“I expect that the decision will help to raise some public awareness about the bicycle rider safety statute and the many reasons why it is lawful for bicyclists to ride in places other than paved shoulders,” she said in an emailed statement. “Hopefully, the decision will also be taught at the Maine Police Academy and brought up in continuing education and training programs for district attorneys and law enforcement officers.”