Student outraged with bike ticket

On Tuesday October 29th, I was riding my bike to class when I was pulled over by Officer Fenton of the Stanford Department of Public Safety. I was written a ticket for riding my bike while wearing headphones, a violation of Section 27400 of the California Vehicle Code.

There are several reasons why I’m so outraged by this frivolous case of law enforcement. First, I find it amazing that the Stanford Sheriff’s Department and the Palo Alto Police have so little to do that they spend time writing tickets to students for riding their bikes. According to the crime statistics published on Stanford’s website, there were 262 robberies and 4 forcible sexual assaults on Stanford’s campus in 2005. I would think that the Police Department’s time would be better spent solving and preventing these types of crimes rather than ticketing me for what amounts to an infraction based on a technicality.

The second reason that I’m upset is because of the severity of the penalty. For my egregious infraction, I was fined what I consider to be an excessive $118. To some, this may not seem like much, but to me, a student at a very expensive university, $118 is quite a lot of money. Since getting the ticket, I’ve had to get a job in order to earn the money to pay for the fine. This has taken time away from my studies, time I truly cannot afford to lose. I find it disappointing that the officer who wrote me the ticket didn’t take into consideration what I’d be penalized — to me, it shows a lack of judgment and compassion. I’m sure some would argue that the officers are just doing their job — they are responsible for enforcing the law, not interpreting it. However, I would hope that our police officers are more than just thoughtless robots, mindlessly going about their jobs. I would hope that they execute some judgment while practicing their profession. In my situation, however, it appears that this was not the case.

Finally, I’d just like to comment on myself as a cyclist. In the three years since I’ve started riding, I’ve traversed over 25,000 miles on my bike. That is just over the circumference of the earth (24,900 miles). In all of those miles, I have never been in an accident or had any problem with cars on the roadway. And, for each one those miles, I have worn headphones. I love listening to music while on the bike because it helps break up the monotony and loneliness of a long ride. This is the first time anyone has ever said anything to me about the headphones, and unfortunately, it has cost me quite a bit. It is my hope in writing this letter that someone in a position of authority can realize that this issue is not worthy of the limited time and resources of the police. Actions such as this, in my opinion, trivialize the work of the police department, which is, needless to say, anything but trivial. Please, direct your efforts elsewhere — there are much more important things for you to do. Thank you.

Daniel Rothschild

Junior, Biological Sciences