Despite recent efforts made by DOTS to make the campus more bike-friendly, many cyclists still complain about overly stiff fines they have received for their traffic violations.

Student cyclists have received fines for running stop signs and riding with headphones. The fines — typically $80 to $90 — are basically the same for cyclists and motorists, University Police spokesman Paul Dillon said.

Although University Police Sgt. Robert Jenshoej, who is working with the Department of Transportation Services to educate cyclists about safety, said he didn’t know exactly how many tickets and warnings officers have issued to cyclists, he said police did monitor bicycle behavior more closely this month during the DOTS observance of Bike Week.

While University Police were allowed to issue citations to cyclists during the Share the Road Campaign, which saw the sharpest increase of students being stopped by officers, police only gave student cyclists written warnings, Jenshoej said.

“It’s not aimed to be a punitive thing in nature, it’s aimed to be educational,” he said. “During the week of the Share the Road Campaign, a bicyclist hit a shuttle bus … and had to be transported to the hospital. What we want to emphasize is that if bicyclists are in the roadway, they have to behave as if they’re a motor vehicle.”

Some cyclists said following certain traffic laws is unnecessary and sometimes downright dangerous.

David Yarborough, a senior mechanical engineering major, said he was fined $140 for running a red light on Route 1 earlier this school year after he made an illegal turn. Though he admits he was legally wrong, Yarborough said he felt he had to get out of the highway.

“The bottom line is either be safe or stand in the middle of Route 1 and not be safe,” he said.

Other students complained that police have been issuing heavy fines for running stop signs even when there was little to no traffic.

“A cop pulled me over, almost ran me up the road and [he said] I ran two stop signs,” senior electrical engineering major Ben Chang said. “This happened over spring break, and no one was there.”

While students recognize following bike laws is crucial to safety, they said they were unfamiliar with many cycling traffic regulations.

“Instead of being intelligent about the way they inform students about biking laws, they’re threatening people,” junior mechanical engineering major Bob Hayes said.

DOTS Assistant to the Director of DOTS Beverly Malone, who spearheaded the recent Share the Road Campaign — a week-long event that aimed to educate students about bike safety — said her department has not been involved in the bike ticketing.

“Our goal was to start with education,” Malone said. “It is so important that cyclists stop at the signs. If I had a dollar for every time a person did not stop at a stop sign, I could quit my job.”

Many students agree with safety initiatives that DOTS and the University Police are trying to enforce, but the expensive fines and hassle from police caused some student cyclists to ride on the sidewalk, despite the increased risk to pedestrians, Chang said.

“I’ve started riding on the sidewalk because I got a ticket,” he said. “They won’t hassle you there.”

korkut@umdbk.com