Fairfax Police Write Nearly 100 Bicycle Citations in Two Months

After hearing lots of cyclist-related complaints from Fairfax residents, the . And numbers show they clearly have.

Fairfax Police Chief Chris Morin told Patch Wednesday that officers wrote 96 bicycle citations since the beginning of July. Most of the citations were for stop sign runners, Morin said, but some may have been for other cycling violations.

By comparison, the number of bicycle citations the police wrote between Jan. 1 and July 1 was 20, although the officers likely issued three times as many warnings, Morin said.

Plenty of warnings were also issued in the last two months – as many as, if not more than, the number of citations issued, Morin said.

“It’s not that we want to write tickets, but we need to get the word out and re-educate cyclists,” Morin said, adding that the large numbers of cyclists traveling through Fairfax during the summer create safety issues.

Morin said the enforcement will continue, but it will be sporadic. Problematic areas the police are focusing on include downtown Fairfax, because of the sheer volume of cyclists, as well as people running signs on Lansdale.

“I don’t want this to be perceived as a knee-jerk reaction to some complaints,” Morin said. “We do care about the problem. We just want the cyclists to share the road with everyone else. We want them to comply with the rules of the road so everyone can be happy and safe.”

The number of cyclist complaints the police received dropped dramatically since July, Morin said. “We had a lot of complaints, even complaints in council meetings, phone call complaints and complaints to officers on the street.”

Morin said that since the police announced their increased enforcement, he hasn’t personally received any complaints.

ONE CYCLIST ARREST AFTER REFUSING TO SIGN A CITATION

There was one incident this month, , where a cyclist refused to sign a citation and was subsequently arrested.

If anyone refuses to sign a citation, no matter if it’s a driver of a vehicle or a bicycle rider, they will be arrested, Morin said.

“The ticket says you’ve committed a violation and the signature is your promise to appear in court,” Morin said. “If someone doesn’t sign the citation, they are not promising to appear in court and the law says they can go to jail.”

Morin said he doesn’t know what happened in the specific incident where the cyclist was sent to jail, but an individual can agree to sign the citation from jail. “It usually happens with motorists. They always seem to sign their ticket once they are in jail.”

Morin added that the police aren’t allowed to take someone to jail for committing an infraction, such as running a stop sign. But if an individual refuses to a sign a citation for an infraction, the police can then legally put them behind bars.

Don’t be left out of the conversation! Sign up for our free daily newsletter, “like” us on Facebook and “follow” us on Twitter to get news, blogs, announcements and events. Want to share your opinions with your community? Start your own blog here.