Begin forwarded message:

> Police Ticket Cyclists, Some in Charity Event, for Running Stop Sign
> Posted by: "Lanny Lambert" llambert@...   llambert1958
>
> Tue Jul 7, 2009 5:58 am (PDT)
>
>
> More than 700 cyclists were on the roads of Loudoun County over the
> weekend, some pedaling up to 150 miles, trying to raise money for a
> debilitating disease, multiple sclerosis.
>
> But as they made their way Sunday in the untimed event, several rolled
> into an obstacle few foresaw: the long arm of the law.
>
> According to cyclists and Loudoun authorities, several cyclists failed
> to come to complete stops at some intersections, and a county
> sheriff's
> deputy was waiting to pounce. Eight cyclists were ticketed for running
> stop signs that day in the Lovettsville and Purcellville areas,
> authorities said.
>
> To several who took part in the annual event - which is estimated to
> have raised more than $700,000 for research and assistance for those
> with the incurable illness - the tickets were poor form, even if
> cyclists had rolled through the signs. To authorities, who said they
> received numerous complaints from motorists about cyclists crowding
> the
> roads and running stop signs, the citations were necessary to ensure
> safety on the roads.
>
> "After I picked my jaw up off the ground, my feeling was, 'You've got
> nothing better to do at 10 o'clock on a Sunday morning than sit there
> and wait for people to run a stop sign?' " said David Jennings, 47, of
> Vienna, a cyclist who did not ride for charity but was ticketed in
> Lovettsville while out with his biking club.
>
> Jennings said he and another cyclist, a charity participant, slowed to
> about 1 mph before proceeding through a stop sign in Lovettsville,
> only
> to find a sheriff's deputy nearby, who flagged them down.
>
> "What was amazing to me was it seemed to me they were there because of
> the MS ride," Jennings said. "They've donated their time and all their
> money, and they've donated to a charity, and you've got the Loudoun
> County Sheriff's Office just sitting there waiting to hand them a
> ticket. It didn't seem right."
>
> Loudoun Sheriff Stephen O. Simpson said raising revenue had nothing to
> do with the citations. He mentioned two cyclists who were killed
> within
> days of each other in summer 2005 and said rolling through a stop sign
> on a bike can have the same consequences as doing so in a car.
>
> "They forget the fact that they're sharing that road with motor
> vehicles, and by not respecting the rule of the road, they're putting
> themselves in huge danger," Simpson said. "They get into a collision
> with a motor vehicle, they're going to come out the loser in that
> deal."
>
> "Bike MS: Beyond the Beltway" was organized by the National Multiple
> Sclerosis Society's National Capital Chapter and took place mostly in
> Loudoun on Saturday and Sunday, said chapter President Chris
> Broullire.
> The two-day course totaled 150 miles, but not everyone rode the entire
> length, he said.
>
> Broullire said safety precautions were taken, including motorcycle
> escorts and reminding riders to obey traffic rules. He declined to
> comment on the citations, saying he was looking into them.
>
> Cyclist Bill Dwyer, who received a ticket near a square in
> Lovettsville,
> said he thinks the citations were emblematic of a larger tension
> between
> motorists and cyclists.
>
> "The fact that there were people in that square running stop signs
> isn't
> the problem," said Dwyer, 53, of Alexandria. "The finger was unfairly
> pointed at the MS bike riders and myself in particular. . . . But I
> got
> a ticket. It's not a big deal. I'll pay it."
>
> Another ticketed charity rider, Charles Rothrock of Oakton, said he
> agrees that safety is paramount but that authorities could have taken
> better steps to "proactively warn cyclists" to obey road signs.
>
> The tickets carry a prepayable $30 fine and a $61 fee. If someone
> chooses to fight the charge, a judge can raise the fine to as much as
> $250.