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Speak Up! - View Question #21434 |
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Question: I'm an incoming Freshman at ASU.Yesterday I was biking to school like I had been doing for a week prior,along with several other people, when I and a couple other people, not all of them, was stopped by police. They gave me a ticket for biking on the wrong side of the road and told me to bike across the street (jay walk) instead of bike to the nearest intersection and cross over. They didn't give me warning.No signs had been posted around and ASU didn't tell me either.Is this constitutional?Doesn't expostfacto prohibit them from giving out tickets without making it known that you can't do it
Answer: Ex Post Facto Law, according to Webster, is the creation of a law or raising the severity of the law and holding someone to that standard when they broke that law prior to its creation. Ex post facto laws do go against the "fundamental principles of a free government, and the States are prohibited from passing such laws by the Constitution of the United States."
The bicycle laws, though, have been established prior to the events that you describe. Unfortunately in this situation, it is an individual's responsibility to know the bike laws. Below are links to two of the laws that may have helped avoid the ticket. Other laws are also available for review on the Arizona Legislators' Revised Statute website.
28-815. Riding on roadway and bicycle path; bicycle path usage
28-812. Applicability of traffic laws to bicycle riders
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