The city of Ceres green-lighted new bicycle ordinances after the police department said there have been a major uptick in illegal cycling group activity.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
The Ceres Police Department said this isn’t about banning bikes, but putting restrictions on riders who create safety hazards, something they say is happening in groups of nearly 100 children.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
“There are some bad kids who like causing problems, but all of us, we’re just regular kids trying to be outside,” said Matthew Vlarde.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We have been getting increased calls for service with groups of juveniles and adults that are riding their bicycles through the streets of Ceres in a way that is unsafe,” said Jeff Godfrey, a lieutenant with the Ceres Police Department.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bike takeovers are what Ceres police call large groups riding recklessly and blocking streets.<\/p>\n
“This isn’t unique to the city of Ceres,” Godfrey said. “Unfortunately, though, the city of Modesto, the city of Turlock, the sheriff’s office, jurisdictions are also going through the same problems.”<\/p>\n
Under state law, police can already stop and cite bicyclists. But police are only able to enforce violations, one biker at a time.<\/p>\n
“Because sometimes these groups get up to 50 to 100,” Godfrey said.<\/p>\n
That’s where the new city ordinance comes in, creating a definition for organized bike takeovers and giving police a way to step in when group rides turn risky. <\/p>\n
“Those are the specific people that we are targeting \u2014 for lack of a better term \u2014 the people who are instigating, the people who are creating the hazards,” Godfrey said. “In the ordinance, we not only gave ourselves an opportunity to impound these bicycles for up to 30 days, there is also an administrative fine associated with that impound.”<\/p>\n
Police say the first violation is $250. Each one after that increases by $250, up to $1,000. Violators must pay before getting their bike back. <\/p>\n
“You either have bikes or be boring,” Vlarde said. “There’s a lot of kids who get out of their house on bikes and they just want to have fun. There’s nothing else to do, I mean, people think kids are trying to be bad on bikes, but they’re really not.”<\/p>\n
“Parents need to educate their children about who they’re hanging out with, what they’re doing, and just encourage them to ride safely, ride within the law, and don’t put themselves in a situation where they could get hurt or somebody else could get hurt,” Godfrey said.<\/p>\n
Ceres police say another aspect of these ordinances is prohibiting bikers from riding alongside vehicles when the city shuts down roads for events.<\/p>\n
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