Students argue against unreasonable bike tickets

By Ashley Han,

A student riding his bike on Oak Street quickly pulls his hood over his bare head.  He is not wearing a helmet and a police officer, wearing a motorcycle helmet, is watching the road near the football field.  He lets the student pass. This time.

According to the Davis Police Department 2011 Annual Report, 54 collisions involved bikes and 93 percent of those bicyclists were injured.

In response, police officers are on the lookout for unsafe biking.

Officer Alex Torres fined Davis High senior Brendan Chen for a stop sign violation on the intersection of Loyola and Tulip. Chen must pay a $200 fine for his aggressive biking and go to court.

“Is biking 25 miles per hour aggressive biking? …I know it’s not over the speed limit in Davis,” Chen said.

Junior Paul Kim got a citation of $150 for speeding on his bike near the Memorial Union.

Sophomore Enoch Lin also got a stop sign violation of $200 for not stopping at the intersection on Loyola near Holmes Jr. High.

Chen and Kim think it’s unnecessary for the police to give out so many tickets to high school students. However, students are not the only targets.

“Just as many, if not more, parents and even teachers are stopped and cited for unsafe driving or riding,” Motor/Traffic Division Officer Nick Doane said.

Lin thought his ticket was unreasonable because he had to commute from one school to another, had a time limit and there were no cars around. Chen also thought the same because students were rushing to get to school and many in front of him and behind him did not get a citation when he did.

But officers say tickets are necessary to enforce the law.

“The law says that at a stop sign all vehicles must come to a complete stop prior to proceeding to the intersection.  There are no provisions in there about being no surrounding traffic or the lack thereof,” Glasgow said.

The Davis Police Department (DPD) allows police officers to use discretion according to Glasgow.  This means police officers can make up their own mind whether or not the violation meets a citation.

“Since Davis is a very pro-bicycle town, a lot of citations do involve bicycle traffic as well,” Doane said.

“One of the things that we also preach our officers is education.  There’s three E’s to traffic enforcement,” Glasgow said, “engineering, how the roadways are constructed, education and enforcement.”

In the 2011 annual police report, there was an increase of complaint from the public about bicyclists breaking the law, so the Davis Police Department identified the need for more street-level education and better enforcement.

The Bicycle Safety Education and Enforcement Operation began in Jan. 2012. This program educates the public about safety and lawful use of bicycles.

“Our officers can give people warnings for driving without bicycle lights on […] if they bring that citation to a bicycle store, we have several that participate, they actually get 10 percent off of bike lights,” Glasgow said.

“For some people, receiving a citation, or multiple citations, is the only thing that encourages them to obey the rules of the road,” Doane said.