The Boston Police Department ticketed more than 75 bicyclists for traffic violations at the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and the Boston University Bridge on Thursday, BPD officials said.
BPD issued the $20 tickets between 7:30 a.m. and 3:50 p.m., BPD spokesman Eddy Chrispin said.
Nicole Freedman, the appointed bike czar of Boston, said the tickets were part of an agenda to inform new riders in Boston of bicycle safety.
"We wanted to make sure that everyone is educated about the rules of the road," she said.
Freedman said the need for bicycle education became especially clear this year after the deaths of two bicyclists.
"Obeying all traffic laws and regulations of the Commonwealth" is listed as one of the responsibilities people have as cyclists in the state of Massachusetts on the City of Boston's website.
Chrispin also emphasized the need to promote safe riding habits.
"Part of the city's over all goal is to insure bicycle safety and one of the ways to do that is to insure that bicyclers follow the rule of the road as well as the people driving cars," he said.
Both Chrispin and Freedman said the BU Bridge was specifically targeted for the high numbers of riders and accidents.
"When we look at streets that have the highest incidents, Comm. Ave. is one of the highest in Boston," Freedman said. "It's one of the highest area of cyclists in that area. It's also a very complicated intersection."
"I know in that area there have been quite a few incidents involving bicyclists," Chrispin added.
BU Bikes president John Blackler, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, said he had mixed feeling about the mass ticketing.
"I feel like it's a good way to promote safety among all people, not just bicyclists, but it's possibly an over aggressive step," he said. "A warning would be better suited."
However, though Blacker believes that a $20 ticket may be a bit extreme, he said he is against "red bussing," a cyclist term that means blasting through red lights.
"It's not good for the people on the bike or the people around," Blackler said. "If there's a red, bikers should just use their head."
On a Sept. 23 post on the BU Bikes blog, members advised the BU community to "pull over if a cop tells you to."
"Otherwise, he'll tackle you to the ground and rough you up, even for just running a red," it said.
CAS junior John Shin, the treasurer of BU bikes, said he was pulled over by BPD at about 10:30 a.m.
"I know it's not very good, but I normally run the light," he said. "I stopped and looked both ways and the coast was clear so I go through the light."
However, Shin said he wasn't too upset about the fine.
"It's a trade off to having more bike rights in the city," he said. "The cops will protect us in turn, and we get bike lanes and also more added bike infrastructure. But the trade off is we are also treated like cars and we have to obey the same traffic laws as them. We can't get all these perks and then continue doing whatever we want and not getting punished."
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