With the weather becoming warmer, more students are riding their bikes. But some may not know the rules and regulations they have to follow.

"We have gotten a lot of complaints at [State College Borough Council] meetings about students riding their bikes on the sidewalks," said Robert Keen, a State College Police Department officer. "As the weather warms up, the problem with students riding their bikes [illegally] gets greater."

A state law says bikes cannot be ridden on the sidewalk in a business district. In addition, State College Borough forbids them from being ridden on sidewalks.

"We have signs on the sidewalks and on the light posts on College and Beaver Avenues," Keen said.

Violators can receive a $74 ticket for going through a red light, running a stop sign or riding the wrong way. A $59 ticket is issued for riding a bike on a sidewalk in a business district. Problems arise when students are riding on the sidewalks of business districts or are riding the wrong way on one-way streets, such as Calder Way, and not stopping for red lights and stop signs, Keen said.

Many may not know where the business districts are downtown.

"Anything between College Avenue to Foster Avenue and High Street to Buckhout Street is part of the business district," Keen said.

Adam Tarosky (junior-journalism and political science) recently received a $59 ticket for riding "a pedicycle on a sidewalk in a business district" on Burrowes Street.

"In my situation, had I known there was a problem and a hefty fee, I wouldn't have ridden on the sidewalk," Tarosky said. "If I knew where I could legally ride and where the business district was, it would have been easier for me to follow the rules."

This was the first time Tarosky was stopped while riding his bike illegally. "A warning would have been more suitable for the first time," he said.

State College police do not have the technology to tell whether a warning was given to an individual, Keen said.

"We try to warn students when they first get back here in the fall, and then we start enforcing it," he said.

Wyatt Dunn (senior-geography) also recently received a $59 ticket for riding a bike on a sidewalk. In his case, two beer trucks were blocking Calder Way and his only way around them was on the sidewalk, he said. That is when the police stopped him.

"My bike wasn't fast enough to ride away because it is too old and rickety," he said.

When a ticket is issued, the violator has the option to pay the fine or go to court.

"I decided to go to court and plead not guilty in my case, because trucks were double-parked and there was nowhere else that I could go," Dunn said.