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With the start of the new academic school year, University of Arizona Police Department will once again begin their “bicycle and pedestrian education and enforcement” campaign.

According to UAPD they will begin their operation on Monday Aug. 31 and continue throughout the month of September.

In the past officers have setup at stop signs around campus and stopped bicyclists who fail to stop or pedestrians who walk without a signal at stop lights.

Here’s a snippet from the announcement:

Every week day there are several thousand bicyclists, pedestrians, and vehicles on The University of Arizona campus. For your own safety and that of others, please familiarize yourself with all laws as they apply to bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorists. Beginning August 31, 2015 and throughout the month of September, The University of Arizona Police Department will conduct a period of heightened education and enforcement directed at bicycle/pedestrian violations. We encourage your support and participation during the Bicycle/Pedestrian Safety and Education Campaign.

The Bicycle/Pedestrian Safety and Education Campaign is designed to educate community members on University regulations and enforce Arizona State laws related to bicycle and pedestrian traffic while also providing important tips for safeguarding bicycles against theft, and how to share the road with the Sun Link streetcar. The University of Arizona Police Department would like to remind everyone to be mindful of their surroundings and to obey all rules of the road.

7 thoughts on “UA Police targeting bicyclists and pedestrians as semester starts”
  1. Is there a car enforcement campaign as well or is this just harassment of non-fossil fuel transportation students?

  2. I’ve been crossing 6th Street at Fremont for a few weeks now. Nearly every single time I’m at the crosswalk, I get the green walk sign and some f***ing driver runs the red light. 

    How about you enforce that, UAPD?

  3. AzZenCyclist
    I’m thinking the program is geared to the common mishaps that first time bicyclist students make near the UA area, like not stopping at a stop sign or not using lights at night.
    A lot of university students never had to rely so much on bicycle travel until they came to a large university campus setting, so its not entirely unheard of for them to not know what laws they need to follow.
    When I was a UA student, I  had no idea that I was not suppose to ride on the sidewalk, had to always stop at a stop sign and needed lights when riding at night. Thankfully, the officer that pulled me over informed me and let me off with a warning.
    I would have prefer even getting a ticket at that time if it meant that I would be educated on those rules. I wouldn’t want to risk getting into an accident during some other time in the non-UA area part of Tucson while riding around.
    Of course, this is all based on my own experiences and how I interpreted the above article. It may be very well that UA Police just wanna milk money off these already poor undergrad students for what little they already have while tuition rises.

  4. Brian Le AzZenCyclist Not sure how one gets to college without knowing that you need to stop at a stop sign.  But, I’m glad you figured it out. Be safe out there!!

  5. It’s not only UAPD. It’s also TPD Midtown/Traffic quota workers. Surprise, surprise as they feed off the benign 3rd and Treat intersection that COT DOT just can’t seem to correct. Because of a neighbor, because of a “clerical error” by the bicycle cooridinator, because of turgid and process-bound TPCBAC. Rational traffic officer deployments at other, truly dangerous locations just don’t seem to happen.

    There’s a difference at 3rd and Treat, of course. That is TPD/FOP Land and City of Tucson Land. At least UAPD tries to serve and educate its customers. City of Tucson, the intersection is a fail.

    http://nsn.soaz.info/incidents/zsamhughes.html

  6. If only TPD would put a nano particle of effort into going after reckless and aggressive drivers. How about some traffic enforcement on Sunrise or Oracle?

  7. Brian Le AzZenCyclist 
    The irony is that you can ride on sidewalks on UA campus (state property). City of Tucson has an ordinance against sidewalk riding, but Phoenix doesn’t. 
    Anyway, that’s not one that they enforce.

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