This week, university police will start ticketing students who ride bikes, skateboards or scooters in dismount zones such as Bruin Walk and Bruin Plaza – a policy that seems gratuitous.
It has not been decided how much each ticket will cost, but when the no-wheels policy was first implemented in 2009, UCPD could fine students up to $202.
The big-picture issue with the ticketing policy is that it contradicts UCLA’s efforts to develop a bike-friendly campus.
Rather than ticketing students, the university could better promote alternate bike lanes that students could use to get to campus. Meanwhile, students should take the initiative to use these routes to avoid endangering pedestrians on Bruin Walk.
After all, there is good intention behind the decision to start ticketing students who ride in designated dismount zones.
Because of accidents and complaints from pedestrians about dangerous situations, UCPD saw the need to start ticketing, since other attempts to prevent students from riding in dismount zones did not create a change in behavior, said Nancy Greenstein, a spokeswoman for UCPD.
In 2009, the university set up signs to mark different dismount zones around campus, making it possible for police to cite or warn students not walking their bikes, skateboards or scooters in the zones. UCPD rarely handed out tickets since the installation of the signs, opting to issue warnings instead.
But there is another solution, hinted at by students who chalked a bike path on Bruin Walk when the no-wheels policy was first established.
Though a bike lane on Bruin Walk would be impractical, this board encourages UCLA to promote bike lanes leading to campus that students who cycle, skateboard or scooter can use.
Since dismount zones on campus were first created, new developments have been made for bicyclists and skateboarders, such as the addition of a designated bike lane in the Strathmore tunnel last quarter.
Signs could be set up that funnel bikers to the Strathmore tunnel or to Charles E. Young Drive.
UCLA Transportation has rightly focused on addressing the needs of bike users, including the finalization of a bicycle master plan in 2006. The plan outlines an objective to develop a campus bikeway network that minimizes conflict between bicyclists and pedestrians and vehicles.
Ticketing cyclists and others who ride in dismount zones would be a step backward from all of this.
Notably, while UCLA should make an effort to make these other paths visible for those who ride to campus, it is also up to students to utilize these routes. Together, the university and students can make Bruin Walk safer – and make UCLA more bike-friendly.
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the editorial board.
definitely needed. go to UCI and look at how they enable bikers to share sidewalks but give them their own lanes…
We definitely need to make this campus more bike friendly, but ticketing people that refuse to dismount on BruinWalk is still needed. I can’t tell you how many accidents and near-accidents I’ve seen from inept and entitled riders. That’s not to say that pedestrians also can’t be inept and aloof (visions of iPhone-enraptured walkers wandering into future bike lanes come to mind), but BruinWalk is without question a pedestrian route, and they do have the right of way.
Until the attitude changes from “I’m on wheels, so you should obviously move out of my path on this pedestrian walkway,” we need to have more than just signage to encourage riders to dismount.
I think the UCPD spokeswoman’s statement is clear on this issue “UCPD saw the need to start ticketing, since other attempts to prevent students from riding in dismount zones did not create a change in behavior”. How is this creating a hostile bike environment as this piece claims? It can’t get any more clear that students have chosen to disregard or not pay attention to the signs posted [since 2009!].
Bike lanes on existing campus streets will not be helpful, nor keep riders from getting to where they need or riding on pedestrian-heavy walkways, especially facilities located on the center of campus (Wooden, SAC, etc).
Whoever wrote this article has clearly never been hit by someone on wheels, has never had to dodge some idiot biker/skateboarder going 100mph at bruin plaza, or has never been to bruin plaza when there are people on wheels. I have almost been hit before. If someone hits me I will have to find it within me to keep my right hand making contact with that person’s face.
If I see someone getting ticketed I will tell them the authorities are just trying to protect people like me from people like you. No hard feelings.
UCPD *did* hand out tickets to people who didn’t get off their bikes, kick scooters and skateboards in 2009, so it sounds like UCLA is just publicizing a renewed effort to hand out tickets. I don’t think this is fun for anyone involved. The issues surrounding this route are not unique to UCLA; plenty of colleges have this issue too. It just feels acute here because the distances people have to travel here to can take a long time on foot. Also, it seems to contradict the message the University is attempting to project regarding utility cycling.
The University nor the UCPD are discouraging people to commute to campus on bike, scooters, etc. it’s just that they shouldn’t ride them onto campus using routes that were created for pedestrians. If someone wants to ride their bike, they’re more than welcome to– on the roadways. They’ll have to walk them, hence the dismount zone.
So let me get this straight. The DB Editorial Board doesn’t want UCPD to ticket students who violate the dismount zones *on*campus, and instead suggest the promotion of bike lines on streets leading *to* campus, and also even agree that bike lanes in these dismount zones (e.g. Bruin Walk) is “impractical.”
Considering the board already has the information from UCPD that other efforts to solve the problem in the dismount zone is unsuccessful, the least the board can do is, oh, I don’t know, suggest some relevant solution instead of throwing out their disapproval for no good reason, and suggest irrelevant actions?