Onslaught Of Biking Tickets Causes Complaints
Many USC students biking to class Monday morning were not very happy. Those rolling through stop signs half asleep were soon awakened by loud police sirens.
As many as four LAPD motorcycle officers were giving out tickets to students who weren’t stopping at stop signs.
Zach Genduso was on his way to class on his bike when he was pulled over, "Just happened ya know… I guess you violate traffic and you get a ticket, what are you gonna do?"
When students asked the officers how much the tickets were, their answers were unclear.
"He says $25," Genduso said, but it wasn't the USC student's first time receiving a ticket for biking through a stop sign. "The first time was a lot more than that… Like $100 or $200, something like that."
But an official at the Metropolitan Courthouse today says it's a $490 dollar fine for a person who rolls through a stop sign on a bike -- the same as it would be for a driver.
Some students feel the fine is doesn't match the violation.
"It's such a minor offense that's really affecting nobody, and there's so many greater crimes happening in this area," Danny Conner said.
As students went by on their way to class and saw the officers giving out tickets, they shouted things at them like, "Go find some real criminals to give tickets to." However, one officer said the tickets were actually precautionary measures and are meant to encourage students to be more safe in the future.
Cameron Quon, a USC student, agreed with the LAPD's motives. "I understand the importance of having safety concerns… especially to make an example so others can see that they should be following the rules," said Quon.
The USC Department of Public Safety says there were 71 reported bicycle-vehicle collisions in their response area in 2013. Since the ticket enforcement, that number has been reduced to 55 collisions in the last year.
Officers aren't only targeting peopling running stop signs; they even got students for talking on their phones while riding. According to California law, the same rules apply to bikers as they do drivers.
USC students biking to and from campus can avoid collisions and hefty ticket fines by making complete stops at stop signs and using a headset when talking on the phone.
Many of the officers also lied to students by telling them that the tickets were only "$25" or "$30" when in reality the tickets would range from $234 to a little less than $500.