Police to begin enforcing bike, skateboard dismount zones on campus
With the updated bicycling and skateboarding rules now in place, enforcement will begin soon as University Police attempt to ensure the safety of pedestrians in heavily traveled areas of campus.
Police will begin enforcing the campus walk zones on Jan. 19 after ramping up their educational efforts for the next couple of weeks. A grace period will be in effect while officers hand out fliers and talk with bicyclists and skateboarders about the rule changes.
The applicable codes require that bicycles and skateboards be walked in designated areas of campus between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., University Police Chief Randy Stegmeier said. Even at other times, officers will cite riders who put pedestrian safety at risk, he said.
“We’ve had several near-miss collisions recently,” Stegmeier said. “These rules are in the interest of public safety.”
The code also states that bicyclists and skateboarders must observe a maximum speed limit of 3 miles per hour when sharing a path with pedestrians and 7 mph at all other times on campus.
"You definitely need to be cautious if there are people around," Stegmeier said.
According to the university’s rates and fees brochure, fines may be given for failure to use due care and caution, failure to stay in control, failure to obey the dismount policy, failure to yield right of way to pedestrians and riding on lawns or other restricted areas.
A bicyclist will be fined $15 for the first offense, $20 for the second and $60 for every violation thereafter. Skateboarders and inline skaters will see $15 fines for the first violation and $60 each for subsequent transgressions.
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