GOOCHLAND, VA - A U-turn in Goochland County is stirring up controversy in the cycling community. Bike riders said they felt targeted after the Goochland Sheriff's Department issued tickets to several riders along West Creek Parkway, just off of Patterson Avenue.
They got a chance to sound off Wednesday evening.
The controversial area is an industrial park area, also an ideal area for riders. The roads are well paved and well lit.
"This is the only safest place out here in the West End," said Oliver Dujua, a cyclist who uses the area about three times a week. "I'm not sure of any other areas that you can actually ride your bike and be safe in this area because there's not a lot of cars out here."
For competitive riders, it's an ideal ride, one that has developed into a popular training circuit, but then the Sheriff's Department started issuing tickets to riders rounding the entrance to the park, without stopping at the stop sign.
"We've been seeing a lot of police cars out there. maybe I would say in the past month," said Dujua.
"We weren't targeting bicycles. we were targeting traffic related problems at West Creek," said Goochland Sheriff James Agnew. We're told three tickets were issued to bike riders. Tickets were also issued to speeding cars.
The Sheriff told cyclists at the meeting- the issue at the circuit U-turn is one of safety.
"People westbound would see the cyclists approaching the stop sign and when they didn't stop at the stop sign," explained Agnew. "They started to take evasive action because they didn't know where they were going and thought they might be coming into oncoming traffic."
After an explanation, cyclists said they would stop at the sign, putting at least one foot down.
The sheriff also acknowledged that drivers don't always share the road well, but pointed out- no matter who breaks the law, the cyclist always carries the greatest risk in an accident.
"Even though you might be within the law, you have to ride very carefully because there might be some very bad drivers out there," said Agnew.
Several other rules came up during the meeting. Bike riders say they learned that it doesn't matter how many lanes of traffic there are, if a car approaches from behind, cyclists have to move into a single file line as quickly as possible.
And the cyclists say, with the World Championships coming to Richmond in 2015, it's important that both drivers and cyclists know the rules of the road. It's likely many of those prepared to compete in the race, will arrive early to practice on our roads.
"I think a lot more people are going to be on the road and if they're going to be on the road cycling, they need to be educated and know the law, so that they can protect themselves," said rider, Ethan Seltzer.
Copyright 2011 WWBT NBC12. All rights reserved.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2012 WorldNow and WWBT, a Raycom Media Station. 