Well as I have to see in the local paper comments section online, people jump to whatever conclusion they want to. I have not seen Bob's response, or obviously the police report. When I worked in an area that covered crashes with forest rats. I personally did not cite unless the driver/rider did something overt like speeding that contributed. Not saying Bob was doing anything wrong, but the nature of this ride would indicate he MIGHT have been going a bit fast.
Just my .02
I am not a fast rider, and the citation is a citation given for *any* accident in that county. If you slide off the road because of ice, if you hit an animal, anything that doesn't deserve a larger ticket or where blame can't be placed on another road user. At least that is what the officer told me. If I were to guess, this is a way for the police to 1) make a little money to make up for the time spent on the accident scene and 2) To ensure at least something gets put in your record for the police to see for future stops. Get a lot of these kinds of tickets and maybe something is up with the way you drive.
Automatic tickets are not unusual in police departments around the country. More often than not, the officer is required by the Chief or department policy to issue the ticket. Why would he want to get himself in trouble for you?
He did say that since I was very cooperative he would put that in the report and maybe that would help get me out of the ticket, but as someone here said, is it worth the fight? I don't believe the ticket would go on my NH record, and a long distance fight is a PITA. I will write letters etc, but doubt that will do anything.