UCPD to enforce dismount zones with tickets

The original version of this article contained an error and has been changed. See the bottom of the article for additional information.

Starting today, university police will give tickets to students riding bikes, skateboards or scooters in designated dismount zones on campus, such as Bruin Walk and Bruin Plaza.

In 2009, the university set up signs to mark different dismount zones – places where students are expected to walk – around campus, making it possible for police to cite or warn students not walking their bikes, skateboards or scooters in the zones.

UCPD rarely handed out tickets and issued warnings instead since the installation of the signs. University police recently decided to start enforcing existing safety policies after receiving many complaints from pedestrians about dangerous situations they have encountered, said Nancy Greenstein, a spokeswoman for UCPD.

Several months after the signs went up, a woman was hit by a skateboarder and broke her shoulder, said David Karwaski, director of UCLA Transportation. She later sued the university because of the incident, Karwaski said.

Frequent accidents such as this have caused UCPD to see a need to start ticketing students, since police have handed out many warnings but have not notice a change in behavior, Greenstein said.

UCLA is the smallest of all of the UCs, but is also the most crowded, which Karwaski said makes it hard for people to get around.

Phuong Nguyen, a third-year bioengineering student, said he has seen a student have to jump off his skateboard to avoid hitting someone because they were going so fast.

“Not only was it dangerous for the skateboarder, but it was also unsafe for those walking, as the skateboard could have hurt somebody,” Nguyen said.

It has not yet been decided how much each ticket will cost. Greenstein said police hope to use the citations to increase safety for people walking through campus.

“There is a real monetary cost to getting a citation, and is not something one would wish upon anyone, but it is important that people learn about the dismount zones and why they are there,” Karwaski said.

UCLA has about 2,000 commuter cyclists – not including Hill residents who own bikes – though UCLA Transportation does not know the number of people who ride skateboards or scooters on campus, Karwaski said.

In late November, UCPD observed Bruin Plaza for 90 minutes a day for three days, and counted 621 people with bicycles, skateboards or scooters. Only about 100 of those counted followed the law by walking in the dismount zones, according to a UCPD report.

Some students, however, said they do not see the need for UCPD to enforce their policy.

Jeff Cha, a first-year psychobiology student, said he lives off campus and uses his bike to cut his commute time.

“I have never seen students get hurt at my time here, so I see it as unnecessary,” Cha said. “With bike racks all around campus, do they expect us to just walk our bikes around everywhere?”

Maverick Padilla, a second-year geography student who skateboards on campus, said he is in favor of making stricter rules on how people maneuver through crowds on campus.

“It is my pet peeve to see pedestrians not getting the right of way and getting cut off. If it’s crowded you need to get off – it only takes 30 seconds to dismount,” Padilla said.

University police and UCLA Transportation hope the ticketing will ensure the safety of students on campus, and will hopefully change student behavior, Karwaski said.

Correction: It has not yet been decided how much each ticket will cost.