[Originally published at datelinedecatur.com, Sept. 2011. I recently learned that Decatur, Ga., attorney and tireless safe cycling advocate Ken Rosskopf died in a bike accident. Ken was a source for subsequent reporting and a beloved Decatur resident and he commented on the original post. May his memory be a blessing.]
I had my first contact with Decatur’s law enforcement community this morning. I wasn’t working on a story; I was cited for violating §40-6-72 of the Georgia Code: I failed to stop at a stop sign.
Under Georgia law, bicycles are considered vehicles and bicyclists must adhere to the same rules of the road as drivers. When police officers observe violations, like my failure to stop at the intersection of Oakview Road and Adams Street, they are required to enforce the code. It doesn’t matter that I was wearing a helmet or that I am a Decatur resident who pays Decatur taxes. I broke the law in Decatur and I am now $212.50 poorer because of it.
I am a strong advocate of multi-modal transportation options and I avoid driving my car when walking or biking will get me where I need to go. Before this morning I knew that bicyclists are subject to the same laws and enforcement actions as drivers but I irregularly applied that knowledge while biking.
R. Lindsey, the traffic officer who saw me run the stop sign and who issued the moving violation, agreed to be interviewed after he finished generating my citation. “I can understand their frustration but also they also have to look at it’s a state law,” he said as he tore the ticket from the thermal printer mounted on the back of his motorcycle.
In his decade on the Decatur force Lindsey has witnessed a lot of cyclists riding unsafely, as I was this morning. “I’ve seen bicyclists running red lights, running stop signs,” he said. There are ways around that in the sense that when it comes to taking different routes or just taking the time to stop and make sure you are looking.”
I asked Lindsey what my take away from our encounter should be. “That’s really up to you. That’s not for me to decide,” he replied. “We know what we are supposed to do and not supposed to do. I wouldn’t want to put my life in jeopardy — Just because a bicyclist is not seeing anything, it doesn’t mean there’s not something there. Just the same with a car driver.”
He added, “Even if you go through a stop sign or a red light, you don’t think it’s horrible but if a car does hit you, when you committed the violation, that person’s never going to forget that.”
After discussing my infraction and bike safety in general, Lindsey told me that Decatur police officers will be getting some training on bike safety issues. I contacted his supervisor, Sgt. Tim Karolyi, who said that Decatur officers will be attending sessions where they will discuss some of the common violations cyclists make and where experts will clarify gray areas in older laws as well as the new law requiring motorists to pass cyclists at a safe distance.
Karolyi was unable to identify the advocacy group working with the city and he referred me to Lt. Maddox, the force’s training officer.A call to Maddox was not returned in time for this post. Stay tuned for a follow-up on the Decatur Police bicycle safety training.
Updated (9/21/2011): Read the follow-up to this post on the October 11, 2011, Decatur Police Department cycling training session.