Despite a shortage of bike racks on campus, Mississippi State police are cracking down on cyclists who do not park their bikes in designated racks on campus. MSU Police Chief Georgia Lindley refused to speak to The Reflector, but dispatcher Tina Enlow said that due to a request made to the MSUPD, bicycles not parked on designated racks can be confiscated.
If a patrol officer finds a bike that is chained anywhere other than a bike rack, including trees, handrails and poles, the bike will be confiscated.
Enlow said a student can pick up his or her confiscated bike at the MSUPD the night it is confiscated, Enlow said.
No fee is currently being delegated to bike violators, but that could change if the problem continues to grow. “The lock will be damaged but that’s not a fine. You just have to replace your locks,” she said.
Harris said one reason campus police are cracking down now is because the administration has made a financial investment in installing the racks.
“The university has spent thousands of dollars putting in racks around campus and all bikes are expected to be parked at the bike racks,” said Mike Harris, director of parking services.
Sophomore communication major Cameron Spann, who said he rides his bike to school every day, said parking his bike on the racks comes with a whole new set of problems.
“One time, I came back from class and the bikes were so cramped that a girl had chained hers to mine and I had to walk home and come back later that evening,” Spann said.
Spann said he thinks the problem could be easily solved with the installation of new racks, which Harris said are on the way.
Sophomore communication major Rita Lockwood said the crowded racks can cause damage to students’ bikes.
“Last year when I lived in the dorms, a lot of people had bikes and mine would always get clipped by other bikes and paint would get scratched up,” Lockwood said. “It was annoying.”
She said she would like to see more racks closer to buildings for easier access and an awning for bike racks on rainy days.
Regardless of rack inconvenience, Harris said all bikes should be properly locked to a designated rack and registered with the university.
Students can register online and receive a sticker to put on their bikes for safety’s sake.
“It’s totally free and if a bike is confiscated or stolen it is easier to find and identify a registered bike than an unregistered bike, unless the student knows the bike’s serial number off hand,” Harris said.
Registering a bicycle does not open students up to tickets or fines, unlike parking registration, he said.
Julie Berry, assistant dean and director of student support services, said another reason for students to chain their bikes to racks is to ensure the safety of others.
“I have noticed that around Montgomery Hall, there have been bikes that are chained to the railing and a person with a visual impairment could easily get hurt,” Berry said.
Bikes left out to block campus ramps also provide a frustrating issue for students in wheelchairs, she said.
“When bikes are bottlenecking the ramp, a person with a wheelchair doesn’t have enough room to maneuver into a building,” Berry said.
She said most students are not being malicious or lazy, they simply do not realize the hazard they are creating when improperly chaining their bikes.
“If I see a student that is in the process of chaining their bike up, I will say something to them and they are usually embarrassed of what they are doing,” Berry said, “They just don’t think about it and I understand that.”
Senior communication major Sarah Ellis, who does not ride a bike to campus, said she finds it frustrating when riders leave their bikes chained in undesignated spots.
“The school didn’t plant trees so bikes could be tied to them,” Ellis said.
Lockwood said campus police probably will not confiscate as many bikes once the additional racks are installed.
Ellis said she supports campus police in adopting the confiscation policy and believes cyclists should be held responsible for their parking habits.
“You’re going to get a ticket on your car if you pull into a parking space you should not,” she said. “The same should go for bikes because the bike rack is the parking space for you bike.