Austin Police Ticket 47 Campus-Area Cyclists on 'Bike to UT Day'

[TexasTowelie]

Bicyclists heading to campus this morning as part of Bike to UT Day received breakfast and the chance to win raffle prizes.

But 47 bicyclists also received something else: a ticket.

This morning, multiple Austin Police officers were seen pulling over bicyclists heading toward campus on Speedway Avenue, just south of the intersection at San Jacinto. The ticketing occurred just blocks north of Speedway Plaza, where a Bike to UT Day party was scheduled to begin at noon.

Police tell KUT the action was part of a "special assignment bike initiative" that began in early February, and focuses on enforcing pedestrian, biking and driving safety near campus. The crackdown is part of the same traffic initiative that lead to the controversial arrest of a jaywalker in the West Campus area back in February. Police are now focused on moving violations in the north campus area.

More at http://kut.org/post/austin-police-ticket-47-campus-area-cyclists-bike-ut-day .

[mike_c]

1. speaking as a lifelong cyclist and a university prof...

...hardly a day goes by that I don't wish campus cops or the local police would enforce rider laws more regularly. Blowing through stop signs, weaving on and off sidewalks, and turning without signalling are only a few problems that I see every day. Too many cyclists think they're pedestrians. On the other hand, more cyclists need to learn how to command their place in traffic when necessary so they don't have to cut across traffic from the right shoulder to make left turns, and so on. But yeah, cycling is a mess on most campuses I've ever seen.

[Niceguy1]

2. good they deserved it

according to the article the tickets were for running stop signs, and riding the wrong way on the street.

as a bicyclist I have had more dangerous run ins with idiots on bicycles breaking the law than with cars. I wish our police would start writing tickets to unsafe bicyclists