This morning I asked Traffic Division Commander Mark Kruger if he had any information he could share about the police presence at the Midnight Mystery Ride (MMR) and the Zoobomb ride over the weekend.
Here are his thoughts on the MMR:
“Friday night NE Precinct officers requested our assistance when a group of bicyclists was reported blocking traffic while riding through NE. We responded and issued a number of citations and arrested a bicyclist for DUII. My understanding is that the ride was largely broken up at that point. If we get complaints from citizens or requests from a precinct to assist because bicyclists are blocking traffic ala critical mass style, we will respond and take whatever enforcement action is needed to restore the traffic flow.”
And his thoughts on Zoobomb:
“Traffic officers worked large scale enforcement missions on Hwy 26 last Friday, Saturday and Sunday as part of our SAFE zone enforcement and because we have a grant from ODOT to conduct large scale missions on Hwy 26 (and other locations) over the summer. I was informed that the mission encountered the zoobombers on Sunday night and did issue 14 citations for stop sign violations. We issued another 187 citations to motorists.
We’ve been monitoring the zoobombers on Hwy 26 since last summer and we are seeing the same kinds of behaviors that caused us concern last year, namely riding out into the travel lanes instead of staying on the right shoulder as required. Last week we stopped a 13 year old boy who was riding with another 16 year old with the zoobombers. The boy had no lights, no brakes on his bike and no helmet while riding down Hwy 26 in the dark. We returned him to his parents.
We regard this zoobomber behavior of illegally riding on Hwy 26 in the travel lanes (sort of surfing back and forth across the travel lanes) during the hours of darkness to be very dangerous and careless. Often they have no lights. If we are out working the area during one of our missions and encounter the zoobombers under these circumstances, or preparing to make a run down the highway, and we observe violations, we will take enforcement action. My opinion is that this zoobomber behavior on Hwy 26 is a fatality waiting to happen and we won’t stand by and ignore it if we are present conducting enforcement.”