It was a Wednesday night, and Carla Reitan, who was riding her bike west on 13th Avenue near Hilyard Street, was about to receive a sudden, and expensive, lesson about Oregon bicycling law.
“A cop walked out from behind something and said, ‘You, stop,’” the junior music and biology major said.
Though Reitan had a red light on the front of her bicycle, the Eugene Police Department officer who stopped her issued her a ticket for insufficient lighting.
According to Oregon law, a bicyclist riding at night must ride with a white light visible for at least 500 feet at the front of a bike. At the rear of a bike, a red reflector or light must be visible for up to 600 feet.
Reitan said she was unaware of this law, and she felt it wasn’t fair for her to be ticketed for breaking a law she didn’t know existed.
“They never gave me a chance to explain myself and just gave me a ticket,” she said. “I make maybe $58 per paycheck. I’m a scholarship student, and I have to make all my spending money. [The $135 ticket] is a pretty big hit.”
EPD Spokeswoman Jan Power said police regularly ticket bicyclists.
“Enforcement has been consistent,” she said. “It’s just a matter of being at the right place at the right time, or at the wrong place at the wrong time, if you’re a bicyclist.”
But many bicyclists, such as Reitan, aren’t even aware of the laws they break.
“When you’re riding a bike out on the roadway, every law that applies to an automobile applies to a bicycle unless it’s logically or physically impossible,” said Peter Aguilar, an EPD officer assigned to campus.
Susan Kelley, owner of Blue Heron Bicycles, 877 W. 13th Ave., said many of her customers report learning about bicycling laws only after being ticketed.
“There seems to be confusion about what is the law,” she said.
For more information regarding these regulations, copies of Oregon laws are available at Blue Heron Bicycles. Also, more information about bicycle laws and safety are available on the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles Web site, www.odot.state.or.us/techserv/bikewalk/.