"Stunt riding is not permitted on campus"
 

So Sshock4 and i were riding Princeton University yesterday when a campus policeman pulls by in his Ford explorer and tells us we cant jump off something. So we go to the other side of campus, haha! And we ride this nice flowing stairset line, and at the bottom we pedal up the street (just riding, not doing crazy jumps or anything) and this cruiser starts to follow us, and we co around a corner and look back, and its taken some obscure rout to follow us even farther. So we think we've finally gotten off of campus, and then my friend's chain snaps so we stop to fix it, and another cruiser pulls up and says "You guys know stunt riding is not permitted on campus, right?" (He then added the boundaries of campus, which turn out to be approximately 1/2 of town... Do they have ANYTHING better to do than hassle bikers. So come and share your your anger with me, who has a good story?

He can't really do anything to stop you unless you're tearing something up. The cops around here will just run you off but they can't really do anything to you. This was told to me BY a cop :D

Considering its Princeton I could understand why. Go to a less-prestigous school Im sure they wont care.

Isn't Princeton a private university? If they own the property and they have their own rules for what can and cannot be done, you need to skee-daddle yourself on out of their campus and head off to some public college where you can do your stunts. :D

The cops at Univ. of Wash. campus ASKED us to ride some stairs and walls. when I was attending UIC many many many years ago... before they tore down all the concrete walkways (we called them aquaducts), we had a grand time using the campus for urban assault riding. The trick is not to harm anything or anyone. The campus cops (who were actually Chicago PD) never hassled us.

Yea true, P-ton is private, and about campus cops not being able to do anything, someone I know got some pinkslip that gives them the authority to turn him over to the Princeton PD if he comes back for like 6 months or something.

Man this soo sounds like a fun evening / afternoon waiting to happen. Dood get out there and do some Urban assualt riding. Just dont let those rent a cops catch ya. Makes for an interesting night / day. You will find when being chased that you will get just mad crazy ...hehe.

Well good luck... Heck does P-ton have any biker cops riding campus? Talk to them sometimes you can get a good foot in the door with them and get around some of these other idiots. I know we did that the police department in the town i went to college in. The Lt. told us if we had any issues to give him a ring. So we could continue to ride our parking garages, hit some stairs. etc. all around downtown after hours w/o hassel.

lostinthewoods- that sounds awesome, but biker cops @ princeton? These guys are way too high matinence, i swear, their cruisers must have leather seats. But yea princeton is a great place to ride, just like abny good campus, lots of stairs and drops and interesting land features

ya...the cops suck..

campus is getting boring anyways, im so sick of all the dorps to flat and stuff like that

You should just let them know that you are not "stunt riding". You are riding freestyle and a bit of urban assult.

Security can get to be a problem at some places so we usually just hit up a campus quickly then move on and then go back. That way you are not in one place to long.


Slainte

Isn't what you are doing against the law? And if it is does this thread belong on the bikeforum?

The cops harassed me even though I was doing nothing wrong on Saturday night. Had the proper lights, and was even wearing my full face helmet. They gave me a hard time about wearing the full face because they said it "Obstructed my view" :rolleyes:



I was stopping at a stop sign, didn't realize they were behind me (they were obviously trying to be sneaky and crept up behind me) and then they honked the horn and scared the **** outta me. Then they claimed they "Almost ran me over" even though they would have had to stop at the intersection for the stop sign, not to mention the campus wide speed limit is 20 MPH. :rolleyes:

I just got back from johns hopkins campus in baltimore, and I didnt have my bike but there are some beautiful stairs and features there. B-E-A-utiful. But I bet they would totally burn you at the stake if they caught you riding there.

No. If you hurt yourself on campus, eg come off your bike, they are liable. These are the things you dont think about before you complain about people doing their jobs.

It's not their job to harass me to stupid stuff, either. Like I said.. the police personally told me that they were unable to stop us and couldn't ticket us for "stunt riding." You won't hear me *****ing about that.

Exactly the point. People sue each other so quickly these days that any property owner, including universities, would be mad to allow people to cary on any activity that could be seen as dangerous.

If it's their property, they have that right to decide what goes on there.

I wouldn't expect to be able to come over to your place and do whatever I want in your yard or your house and you can't expect to do whatever you want on someone else's property.

Exactly. If you're on their property, you play by their rules. My guess is, if you severely injure yourself by riding on campus and spend several weeks in intensive care and then a rehab hospital, you (or your parents) will certainly attempt to make the school pay the thousands of dollars it would cost to regain your previous level of function, regardless of the posted rules. They're simply attempting to avoid that risk. So quit whining about your eviction and go ride where it's allowed. Simple.:)

My college IS public. Hurting myself on the sidewalk anywhere in town is no different than hurting myself on campus. UF is a public campus.

Liability sucks. If you are taking the risk it should be your fault. Trying to pass the buck is just wrong and one of my biggest complaints about the legal system. If I am doing a stunt and I screw up or even if the stair rail breaks it is my responsibility. It is not their responsibility for putting it there. Too many childish people playing to many men's sports.

Yep, I won't be suing anybody anytime soon for the consequences of MY actions, reguardless of my injuries. I have the adequate medical insurance, and realize the consequences of my actions if I am careless.

NO, but your parents might sue!!!

I'm 20.

I'm 28..and my parents would have laughed at me for thinking of it. It was my responsibility, my stupidity. Hell with the number of bones I broke playing street ball in a school park I would have been rich if I had been a big wimp like most people tend to be today. You play the game be prepared to pay otherwise get the heck out of the sport and take up bowling or something your grandparents would play (not referring to you directly just ranting to the wimps in general).

Take for example a recent suit against Whistler mountain and the school. On a school trip a kid thought he would be cool an hit a 4 metre gap on his snowboard. He was on a well marked double diamond trail with LOTS of warnings (on the trail head, head of the runup to the stunt AND at the base of the jump) as to injury including right on the back of the week pass he had. He asked the teachers if he was allowed to go for it. The teachers said it was a safe jump to hit as long as he was capable. He missed and ended up with a tragic injury, now left parapalegic (sp). I do feel for the kid and I feel really bad for him and his family. However he sued and won a liability suit. The mountain settled out of court and the court ended up stating that the mountain was 70% responsible (with the out of court settlement the mountain pays less), school 15% and the kid 15%. This is so not right on so many levels. Why is this. Because the mountain is offering a service to the people who are capable. I know I am not a double diamond capable rider and I would not go for something like that. This type of thing frustrates me greatly. I can see some issue with the school as they should not have allowed students to run on something even remotely difficult as it is just a school. But the kid is only 15% responsible...I call bullcrap. The school is only 15% responsible. I call bullcrap. Liability laws suck and people generally abuse them. How much more should the mountain do to warn people of the dangers of the trails.....wow long rant.

Agreed Maelstrom - but unfortunately the universities don't know who'll sue and who won't so they have to ban everyone.

We have the ridiculous situation in Australia where a woman has sued a surgeon for the cost of bringing up her child because the surgeon had clamped her tubes. Don't tell me that child isn't going to grow up with some issues. Imagine knowing that your folks sued someone because you were born.