Way too funny. I just moved to Loudoun County a few weeks ago! I'll have to watch my Ps and Qs.

On Jul 7, 2009 5:00pm, Tony G <tony.g@...> wrote:
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> Begin forwarded message:
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>  Police Ticket Cyclists, Some in Charity Event, for Running Stop Sign
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> Posted by: "Lanny Lambert"  llambert@...     llambert1958
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>  Tue Jul 7, 2009 5:58 am (PDT)
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>  More than 700 cyclists were on the roads of Loudoun County over the
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>  weekend, some pedaling up to 150 miles, trying to raise money for a
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>  debilitating disease, multiple sclerosis.
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>  But as they made their way Sunday in the untimed event, several rolled
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>  into an obstacle few foresaw: the long arm of the law.
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>  According to cyclists and Loudoun authorities, several cyclists failed
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>  to come to complete stops at some intersections, and a county sheriff's
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>  deputy was waiting to pounce. Eight cyclists were ticketed for running
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>  stop signs that day in the Lovettsville and Purcellville areas,
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>  authorities said.
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>  To several who took part in the annual event - which is estimated to
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>  have raised more than $700,000 for research and assistance for those
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>  with the incurable illness - the tickets were poor form, even if
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>  cyclists had rolled through the signs. To authorities, who said they
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>  received numerous complaints from motorists about cyclists crowding the
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>  roads and running stop signs, the citations were necessary to ensure
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>  safety on the roads.
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>  "After I picked my jaw up off the ground, my feeling was, 'You've got
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>  nothing better to do at 10 o'clock on a Sunday morning than sit there
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>  and wait for people to run a stop sign?' " said David Jennings, 47, of
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>  Vienna, a cyclist who did not ride for charity but was ticketed in
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>  Lovettsville while out with his biking club.
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>  Jennings said he and another cyclist, a charity participant, slowed to
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>  about 1 mph before proceeding through a stop sign in Lovettsville, only
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>  to find a sheriff's deputy nearby, who flagged them down.
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>  "What was amazing to me was it seemed to me they were there because of
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>  the MS ride," Jennings said. "They've donated their time and all their
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>  money, and they've donated to a charity, and you've got the Loudoun
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>  County Sheriff's Office just sitting there waiting to hand them a
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>  ticket. It didn't seem right."
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>  Loudoun Sheriff Stephen O. Simpson said raising revenue had nothing to
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>  do with the citations. He mentioned two cyclists who were killed within
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>  days of each other in summer 2005 and said rolling through a stop sign
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>  on a bike can have the same consequences as doing so in a car.
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>  "They forget the fact that they're sharing that road with motor
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>  vehicles, and by not respecting the rule of the road, they're putting
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>  themselves in huge danger," Simpson said. "They get into a collision
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>  with a motor vehicle, they're going to come out the loser in that deal."
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>  "Bike MS: Beyond the Beltway" was organized by the National Multiple
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>  Sclerosis Society's National Capital Chapter and took place mostly in
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>  Loudoun on Saturday and Sunday, said chapter President Chris Broullire.
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>  The two-day course totaled 150 miles, but not everyone rode the entire
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>  length, he said.
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>  Broullire said safety precautions were taken, including motorcycle
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>  escorts and reminding riders to obey traffic rules. He declined to
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>  comment on the citations, saying he was looking into them.
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>  Cyclist Bill Dwyer, who received a ticket near a square in Lovettsville,
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>  said he thinks the citations were emblematic of a larger tension between
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>  motorists and cyclists.
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>  "The fact that there were people in that square running stop signs isn't
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>  the problem," said Dwyer, 53, of Alexandria. "The finger was unfairly
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>  pointed at the MS bike riders and myself in particular. . . . But I got
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>  a ticket. It's not a big deal. I'll pay it."
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>  Another ticketed charity rider, Charles Rothrock of Oakton, said he
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>  agrees that safety is paramount but that authorities could have taken
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>  better steps to "proactively warn cyclists" to obey road signs.
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>  The tickets carry a prepayable $30 fine and a $61 fee. If someone
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>  chooses to fight the charge, a judge can raise the fine to as much as
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>  $250.
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