Editor:

About Mike Paulus' letter concerning UAPD writing his friend a ticket for running a stop sign while riding a bike. Your friend was wrong, was caught, and was properly cited. You make a comparison of your friend's infraction (let me repeat your exact words) with that of a "5-year-old on a tricycle in the pedestrian-only area," and the UAPD does nothing to the child. Grow up Mike and quit whimpering!

Daily, I see hundreds of students riding bicycles on campus. Most obey the traffic laws (yes Mike, bicycle riders are subject to Arizona traffic law) and stop at the posted stop signs. On the other hand, there are some like your friend, who blow right through stop signs without so much as looking for traffic. With your attitude, that should remind you of your days as a rug rat bolting right out into the street without looking. Daily, I see bicyclists coming very close to colliding with a car because the bicyclist runs the stop sign. Sometimes they do collide, and it doesn't take a college education to figure out that 180 pounds of bicycle and rider is no match for 2000 pounds of car. Your friend was "busted," deservingly so. Maybe your friend has learned a valuable lesson that will keep his/her head from being turned into the consistency of Jello. I hope so.

To the officers of the UAPD: Keep doing your job. As a matter of fact, this particular infraction needs to be answered with more vigorous enforcement. I don't want to have to explain to a UAPD officer why I hit a bicyclist who ran a stop sign and then have to defend myself in a lawsuit.

Ric Ruiz
optical engineering sophomore