Cyclists on the Shootout should expect the presence of more Sheriffs during upcoming rides.
The stop sign violation tickets issued during last week’s ride were a result of a what the Sheriff’s Department calls Mission Oriented Policing according to Pima County Sheriff’s Department public information officer Courtney Rodriguez.
She said a Mission Oriented Policing mission is created when the department receives complaints from Pima County Residents.
In the case of the Shootout, Rodriguez said the department has been receiving complaints from people about the ride including failing to stop, taking up the whole lane and crossing the double yellow line.
She didn’t know how many complaints had been made, but said it was enough to prompt the MOP, which typically last a month and sometimes more.
Given that this was the second week the deputies were on the route issuing citations, it is likely they will be there for at least two more weeks.
Cyclists often point out that riding two abreast and having each individual cyclist stop at a stop sign like on Duval Mine Road is unrealistic and would actually create more of a hinderance for motorists in the area because it would take so long to get everyone through the intersection.
Rodriguez said while the department can appreciate the challenges of moving a large group through the area, but they still have to do their jobs.
“We don’t make the laws, we just enforce them,” Rodriguez said. There are complaints of cyclists breaking the law and we’d be blatantly be ignoring them. We can’t make exceptions.”
Ralph Phillips said the route for 35-year-old ride was specifically chosen to reduce the number of conflict between cyclists and motorists.
This isn’t the first time the ride has caught the eye of law enforcement. Check out the archives.
Check back for a story about some infrastructure improvements that might help alleviate some of the problem.
I’d love to know how many complaints need to be received for law enforcement in this town to take traffic violations seriously. It probably would not take very much organizing to get a lot of cyclists to call the cops on red light runners, cars parked in the bike lanes, and drivers blowing through HAWK lights. Not to mention the various assaults that we experience all too frequently
But I still doubt the cops will aggressively enforce traffic laws broken by motorists
Mike, are they planning to enforce something against “taking up the whole lane”? Wonder what that might be…
Not much has changed since the early 80’s when my son was a bicy me riding student at Virginia Tech and was run off a country road by “motorists” in a pickup. When he and companion reported to the Sheriff the response was: “you boys should stay on the sidewalk”. (There was no “sidewalk” where they were riding) and the sheriff let them know that contrary to VA law he considered motor vehicles had exclusive use of the road and upity college students should stay on campus.
I rode down Mt. Lemmon today. I was twice passed illegally (the cars crossed the double yellow each time) and each were speeding. One of the cars aggressively honked at me as it passed (as a way of stating their complaint that I was riding my bike on the road). That’s an illegal use of the horn.
I was also subject to an unsafe pass by a truck while i rode west on Snyder. It was too close (probably within 3 feet) and crossed the double yellow line.
Should I call the Sheriff’s office to complain?
arsolot Yes. Convert the rhetorical question (the device) to a real question and pose it to the Sheriff’s office. And do get back to us on findings…