The University of Idaho Argonaut

In today’s gasoline driven world, the bicycle plays a crucial role in transportation for college students. What many riders fail to acknowledge are the city and state codes that exist for their safety.
According to Idaho law, the same traffic laws apply to bikes and other human-energy propelled vehicles that apply to cars and trucks. This includes the use of headlights after sunset. Bicycle lights must illuminate at least 500 feet ahead. Bikes also must have a reflector clearly displayed on the back of the bike.

“The law of gross tonnage says that the biggest object usually wins. So, between a three quarter ton suburban truck and a bicycle, right or wrong, the suburban’s going to win,” said Lt. Paul Kwiatkowski of the Moscow Police Department.

In order to prevent unfortunate accidents, he encourages riders to follow all city ordinances, wear reflective clothing as well as a helmet and practice safe riding techniques.
Many riders fail to realize that they are required by state law to use a headlight while riding at night. Local retailers sell headlights for as low as $15. In contrast, a citation for lack of a bike headlight is $46.50, as are all bike-related offenses.

“I think it’s unreasonable, being that there are streetlights,” freshman Kaleb Houck said regarding the headlight requirement. “For most cases, there is enough light to ride safely. You shouldn’t be riding there if there isn’t enough light.”

According to Kwiatkowski, this law exists for the safety of the bike rider and all other people who make use of the street. Often times the person riding a bike can’t be easily seen by a car at night. The hope is if the person has a headlight and tail reflector, the number of accidents can be cut down.

Another thing many riders don’t know is the law requires bikes to be registered with Moscow police. For a one time fee of $7, the police department will add a bike’s serial number, make, model, color and the owners personal information to its database.

Kwiatkowski believes this registration system is crucial when it comes to lost or stolen bikes. If the police locate a bicycle that is licensed, they can quickly return it to its owner. Many found bikes whose owners have not taken advantage of this licensing system are auctioned by the police every year.

“We usually have somewhere in the vicinity of 300 to 400 bicycles that are auctioned off every year since nobody has claimed them,” Kwiatkowski said.

This number could be greatly reduced if people would lock their bikes no matter where they are and license their bikes with the police.
Since Aug. 1, there have been 33 bikes reported stolen in the city of Moscow compared to one bike reported returned to owner. This is often due to people not locking their bike up.

Kwiatkowski once took a report from a girl who lost her $1,000 bicycle downtown. She left it unlocked outside of a coffee shop, and when she returned to it later in the day, it was gone. When he asked her why she didn’t lock the bike, she responded that this is Moscow, things like that don’t happen here.

“If you had $1,000 in cash, would you leave it sitting in the open? It’s the same way with a bike or computer,” Kwiatkowski said. “If you want something stolen, leave it unlocked. It’s unfortunate, but it happens in this community.”

The same goes for computers. The majority of computer theft on campus could be easily avoided if the owner properly locked it before leaving the room. A laptop lock can be purchased at office supply stores for around $30.

Students also are encouraged to register their computers with IT. If the person who stole a computer decides to log onto the schools wireless network, the police can track the computer using information obtained from the IT department.