ASU police issued warnings to bicyclists, skateboarders and in-line skaters Thursday as part of a campaign to enforce transportation rules on malls throughout campus.
Sparked by the need to make ASU sidewalks safer, the campaign allows police to not only enforce regulations, but also educate the malls' users.
"We are doing education right now and warnings are a part of education," ASU police Lt. John Sutton said.
Police are not issuing citations, only warnings at this time, Sutton said. Violators will receive citations ranging from $15 to $30 or $60 depending on the offense when the warning phase ends.
"We haven't decided on how long we will stay in the warning phase," Sutton said. "There would be a lot of resentment if we started with citations that they (students) had to pay for."
This enforcement comes after much planning by ASU police and a mall transportation code that was passed last November.
ASU police decided to inform faculty and staff before beginning the actual enforcement on the malls.
Police did enforce the rules for vehicles traveling on the malls somewhat last fall, but relaxed enforcement when mall users began to comply with the new regulations.
Now police are monitoring dismount zones, areas where students must dismount and walk with their bikes.
"We put off enforcing it (the code) until the fall semester when we had new students who were going to be here a whole year," Sutton said.
Many students were surprised by this new enforcement.
Nick Doyle, a business sophomore, was stopped by Sutton for riding his bike in the dismount area surrounding Cady fountain and said the enforcement was unnecessary.
"I saw these signs (dismount signs) at the beginning of the school year but this is the first time I have seen it enforced," Doyle said. "We are not hurting anyone. It's pointless unless people are getting injured every day."
Samantha Hagberg, a political science sophomore, was not stopped but witnessed Sutton stopping students at Cady fountain. "This doesn't make sense," Hagberg said. "I think cops should have better things to do with their time."
Pedestrians agreed that strict enforcement is not needed.
"I don't think it's necessary to get the police involved," Susan Cook, a philosophy senior who used to bike on campus, said. "It's not that big of an issue."
Reach Kristin Koch at kristinrose79@asu.edu.
