26 KC area bicyclists ticketed for running stop sign

The KCStar reports:

Twenty-six members of the Brookside Weekly Ride club were ticketed Thursday evening for allegedly zipping through a stop sign at 69th Street and Oxford Road.

Having received complaints, two police squad cars and a motorcycle officer were waiting for them.

“They not only have the same rights as vehicles on the road but also the same responsibilities, including obeying red lights and stop signs,” said Prairie Village Police Sgt. James Carney. . . .

He said two members of the Brookside club were cited last week by a traffic officer, and one of them promised to spread the word among other members.

Then on Thursday, “lo and behold, all 26 of them went right through the stop sign,” Carney said.

Riders who were ticketed could not be reached, but other bicyclists acknowledged the importance of obeying traffic rules.

“My initial reaction is that we definitely, as cyclists, should follow the laws,” said Mitchell Williams of the Kansas City Metro Bicycle Club. “I’m sort of disappointed that so may people got ticketed, but from what I understand, the police were probably justified.”

Eric Rogers, executive director of Bike Walk KC, said his group works to educate cyclists and motorists about sharing the road safely and is organizing classes for ride leaders this fall.

An article in the Prairie Village Post has a few more details.  News of the incident spread far and wide on internet discussion forums. (Note that some links may be NSFW in the various ways that internet discussion forums often are.)

Prairie Village ticketed 17 cyclists in a similar incident in 2009 involving a different area bicycle group, the Prairie Village Yacht Club.  That incident led area cyclists to sit down with the police officers involved to work out an agreement for large group rides proceeding through stop signs in the area.