When I left my house at 7:42 a.m on a Tuesday morning, I had a good feeling that I would actually be on time for once. Getting onto my bike, I started biking the less than half a mile distance to school. My teal helmet sat in the garage collecting dust as it had been for the past three months.
But I didn’t make it to class by the second bell. After greeting my friend at the traffic light (her helmet dangling off of the handlebar of her bike), we crossed the street only to be met by a sheriff’s deputy waiting to hand us yellow slips of paper.
Though failing to wear a helmet and jaywalking are technically against the law, it is unreasonable for policemen to wait near the back parking lot to ticket unwary students. Especially here in Saratoga, where the crime and serious automobile accident rate is negligible, ticketing students is both unnecessary and ineffective.
Although some argue that officers are enforcing safety, those who jaywalk are usually smart about it, given that pedestrians aren’t being run over left and right. Most people who do jaywalk cross the street at the same time as those who use the crosswalk, just not at the crosswalk. For walking a few yards outside of an officially designated rectangle, a fine of over $100 is a bit excessive.
The fact that Saratoga was named the safest city in California by safewise.com in November 2013 further shows that safety is already well in hand in this neighborhood. This also makes it seem as if sheriff’s deputies have nothing to do, given that they have resorted to ticketing students.
While it could be argued that Saratoga is only safe because police have been successful in deterring infractions, several students have been caught more than once for jaywalking, showing the ineffectiveness of ticketing. Even so, most people who bend the rules have their own safety in mind and assess their situations accordingly.
Additionally, although people may have a vague understanding that jaywalking is illegal, many are unaware of the high penalties. According to the LA Downtown News, the LAPD has been more stringent about jaywalking, and fees reach as high as $250. In Saratoga, some cops have instead handed out $100 seat belt tickets for jaywalkers, resulting in a possible citation for the parent of the jaywalker as well.
Even more ridiculous are the tickets given to bicyclists who bike without a helmet or ride across the crosswalk. With no fines, biking tickets instead require people to attend a two hour session of traffic school. Although not a great hassle, forcing students and their parent to attend such classes is more annoying than anything else, as no new information is provided to ensure safety.
Given that in some instances, such as mine, it takes longer to put on a helmet than to actually bike to school, is it really imperative to ticket people who bike such short distances to get to school?
As necessary as some cops may find it to make almost late students even more late, ultimately their efforts are futile as most students are undeterred by the possibility of getting another ticket in the future. Although this negative reinforcement will make students more wary, students will only be wary of cops and will thus continue jaywalking as long as police are not around.
Whether or not cops have been pulling over students to ensure safety, doing so does little to hinder a late student. Personally, I have indeed been more late on a regular basis, but this is due to the fact that my bike is broken rather than any ticket I have received. In Saratoga, we’ve come to value our education a little more than the safety we take for granted, so let students run along to class: They don’t need any more tardies, nor do they need fines.