Cyclists pedal into arms of the law

Cambridge riders find rules of road apply to them, too

Mike McCaw, 29, of Somerville, received a warning from Officer Oswaldo Ortiz for riding through a red light. (ARAM BOGHOSIAN FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE)

CAMBRIDGE - He looked as carefree as can be, pedaling on his silver 18-speed mountain bike, wearing designer jeans and a black sport coat, a butterscotch leather handbag in his bicycle rack.

He had no idea that two Cambridge police officers were watching him from the side of the road with pads of tickets in their hands, waiting for him to break the law.

When the cyclist cruised through a red light, Officer Susan Kale stepped into the street, thrust out a hand, and waved him to a stop. Looking stunned, the man apologized and said he was new to town. Kale nodded and handed him a ticket - just a warning this time, though she could have slapped him with a $20 fine.

"Now you understand the rules of the road," she said firmly.

Many cyclists assume that they are exempt from the laws governing their motor-driven colleagues and have no cause to fear the officers who enforce them. The rules of the road, they say, are merely courtesies to be observed, or suggestions to keep them safe. Not so in Cambridge, where cyclists are increasingly being cited for any of dozens of violations, from running red lights or failing to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks to riding at night without a headlight.

Cambridge, which has built 37 miles of bike lanes, is contending with the flipside of its success in encouraging cycling. As the number of cyclists increases, police say they see more bikers blithely unaware that they are beholden to the same laws as drivers. The city has ticketed 952 cyclists this year (most of them warnings), up from 529 in all of last year and 718 in 2006.

Police say the unusual enforcement effort is an attempt to calm a war among cars, pedestrians, and cyclists, in which every side feels aggrieved.

"It's very frustrating for the officers because if you stop a bike, they say 'Why don't you stop a car?' " said Sergeant Kathleen Murphy, who commands the city's nine-officer bike unit. "If you stop a car, they say 'Why don't you stop a bike?' It's like 'Why me?' It's like children."

In 20 minutes on a recent afternoon, Kale and her partner, Officer Oswaldo Ortiz, ticketed 12 cyclists - roughly one out of every two that passed by them - for running a red light on Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square. They gave them each a warning, and reminded them that they have to obey the same laws as drivers.

"Just making sure you are aware," Ortiz said, handing a ticket to a young woman and advising her that she was wearing her helmet backward.

"Oh, yeah. Thank you," she said, before snapping it on properly and pedaling away.

Cyclists said they try to ride safely. But the notion of stopping at every red light, of observing every traffic law, flies in the face of the freedom that some say is inherent in taking two wheels instead of four.

"Obviously, you have to be courteous and responsible" and it is a "fine idea" for police to warn cyclists who skirt the law, said Mike McCaw, 29, who was ticketed for running a red light on his 1971 road bike. But fining cyclists could discourage them, he said.

"The traffic lights," McCaw said, "are there for cars."

Jack McCambridge, ticketed near MIT for running a red light on his bicycle, agreed, saying he brakes only in heavy traffic.

"I go through stop signs all the time and down one-way streets, but I certainly wouldn't want to be ticketed," he said. "Most Cambridge cyclists are much more responsible. I have my own rule of thumb, and that is: I ride safely."

McCambridge said police should focus elsewhere. "Get the Harvard and MIT kids who are jaywalking," he said. "They're much more dangerous."

Cambridge police are targeting bicycle "hot spots" where they receive the most complaints from residents. Central Square, home to the city's senior center, is one such locale, where bicycles are not allowed on the sidewalk. Some riders ignore the rule.

"Some of them cut right through" lines of seniors who wait on the sidewalk outside the center for buses, said Erna Benjamin, using a cane outside the center. "They're not supposed to be on the sidewalk, especially here where they could knock us over."

Cara Seiderman, the city's transportation program manager, said the number of cyclists on Cambridge streets has increased 70 percent between 2002 and 2006, the last year for which data are available.

Most cyclists, she said, ride safely and obey traffic laws.

"Ninety percent of the people are doing the right thing," Seiderman said. But, she said: "People notice the people who are doing something wrong. They don't notice the 90 percent or more of people who are doing things right."

City data show there were about 80 crashes between cyclists and drivers a year between 2004 and 2007. Seiderman said two-thirds of the crashes were caused by drivers failing to yield at turns and opening doors into a cyclist.

Cambridge started ticketing cyclists in 1996 to send a message that "bicycling is being taken seriously as a form of transportation," Seiderman said. Cyclists can be fined $20 for violating state traffic laws or a series of local codes, such as riding on sidewalks in neighborhoods at speeds "greater than a normal walk." The vast majority of cyclists were ticketed for running red lights, police said. The rest were mostly for riding at night without a light and failing to stop for pedestrians at crosswalks.

New York City, Davis, Calif., Eugene, Ore., Burlington, Vt., and Tallahassee, Fla., also ticket bikers, Seiderman said. Boston, which is trying to become a more bike-friendly city, has not targeted scofflaw cyclists because police say they are not a major problem. Most cities that lack the resources to devote officers to ticketing cyclists, and the ones that don't see bikes as a concern, look on with a mix of envy and amusement, said A. Wayne Sampson, executive director of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association.

"Only in Cambridge," chuckled Sampson, the former chief of the Shrewsbury police.

Cambridge police said they prefer issuing warnings and mostly reserve fines for the rude riders, like those who say: " 'You've got to be kidding me,' " Murphy said. " 'Why don't you get a real job? You're not the real police, right?' "

Most, she said, apologize and promise to ride more safely. She hopes they tell their friends to obey the law.

"People have said, 'Oh, yeah, when you come to Cambridge, you've got to watch out,' " Murphy said. "But some people don't care. They're going to take their chances, look out to see if there's an officer, and then they'll just skedaddle."