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Pedaling westward on Jayhawk Boulevard Thursday morning, the last thing Max Kozak, Anchorage, Alaska, junior, expected to hear was a high-pitched siren burst from the KU Public Safety officer’s car behind him.

Straddling his bicycle with one foot on the curb in front of Bailey Hall, Kozak was dumbfounded when Officer Todd Carpenter asked for his identification and informed him that he had just run two stop signs in a row.

“I’ve worked in a bike shop for six years, and never in my life have I heard of this,” Kozak said after Carpenter returned to his patrol car to fill out a citation form. “I slowed down. I yielded.”

But cyclists like Kozak are learning, in increasing numbers, that simply yielding at a stop sign doesn’t mean they’re obeying the law. According to statute, cyclists have the same rights and responsibilities as motor vehicle operators, including coming to a full stop at stop signs and red lights.

Stop signs, and their perceived relevance to cyclists on campus, have become an increasingly important issue this semester after four new stop signs were erected on KU property in August. The KU Public Safety Office issued a statement announcing the signs in August, describing their purpose as “regulating traffic” and “increasing pedestrian safety.”

Running a stop sign, a violation of Lawrence traffic ordinance 59B, carries a penalty of $120 composed of a $68 fine and $52 in court costs. Court costs are incurred whether or not an individual challenges a ticket in court. When asked about the number of citations issued to cyclists on campus this semester, Captain Schuyler Bailey of the KU Public Safety Office said the department had issued warnings to about a dozen cyclists as of Thursday morning.

Kozak, however, wasn’t so lucky. Officer Carpenter, returning from his patrol car, handed Kozak a citation for one stop sign violation.

“You’d think a cop would have something better to do than ticket somebody on a bicycle,” said Kozak. “Does KU really need the money? It’s absolute bullshit.”

Alan Schurle, Manhattan junior, who said he used his bicycle as often as possible, said he felt that most of the traffic signs weren’t really designed to handle bicycle traffic in the first place.

“I figure the reason they put these signs in is to stop cars at the kiosks, which isn’t an issue for bikes since you don’t need a pass,” Shurle said. “That’s how I rationalize it in my mind, anyway.”

Though most of the cyclists interviewed expressed a dismissive attitude toward obedience of the signs, the location of two of the signs in particular — one at the Chi Omega fountain, and the other placed north of the four-way stop at the intersection of Sunnyside Avenue and Sunflower Road. While the former struck some as simply unnecessary, the latter proves especially challenging to cyclists already fatigued by Sunflower Road’s steep incline.

“It’s pointless. I have to keep going,” Andrew Blann, Stillwater, Okla., senior, said. He said stopping once at the intersection was enough to lose all momentum, and a second stop only further defeated a cyclist riding northward.

“I don’t see a problem with going through the stop sign,” Blann said. “As long as you’re slowing down and paying attention, I don’t think you should have to stop.”

Debbie, a KU employee who works in the traffic booth near the Chi Omega fountain who declined to give her last name in accordance with University policy, said that cyclists rolling through the stop signs, especially when motor vehicles were near, were in more danger than they may realize.

“It’s dangerous when people in cars stop at the stop sign and cyclists pass on the left,” Debbie said. “Sometimes, I have to turn motorists around, and the cyclists throw them off. There’s been a time or two when someone almost got hit.”

According to statistics released by the Kansas Department of Transportation, 840 people were injured in traffic-related accidents in 2007, 66 of whom were pedestrians, a category that includes cyclists. Although no pedestrian deaths were reported within the city limits, Douglas County reported five pedestrian deaths out of 3,518 total accidents during the same time period.

Diane Novak, a member of the cycling organization KanBikeWalk, which promotes bicycling safety and environmental issues, said the issue was black and white for her.

“The rules of the road are the rules of the road,” Novak said. “They’re rules for everybody.”

Novak, who identified herself as a 24-year cyclist who always stopped at stop signs, said that cyclists needed to obey traffic laws if they wanted motorists to respect their presence on the roads.

“It has to be a two-way street for everybody,” Novak said.

— — Edited by Kelsey Hayes

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