Ben Nielsen was riding his bike along Tyler Avenue around 7 p.m. Monday, July 20. He slowed near each stop sign, looked for cross traffic, then pedaled through if the coast was clear. "I ran three of them before I got pulled over," he admits.

"He saw me roll through the stop sign on Ninth Street," Nielsen said. "Granted, it's a busy street, but there were no cars except for one a block away. (The cop said) 'I saw you blow that one.'"

Nielsen said the incident was polite if tense until he saw that the ticket was for $242 - the same as if he'd blown a stop sign in a car. "I said, like, are you kidding me? Come on! … I mentioned the legislation (that was) trying to treat stop signs for bicyclists like yield signs, and I got home, and I was really ticked off."

The legislation was House Bill 2690, which proposed to allow bicyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs. It's been a law in Idaho for 20 years. The bill had died in committee without a hearing.

Nielsen said he expects to see it back again in 2011. He plans to work for its passage.

An engineer, Nielsen maintains that it makes no sense to consider a bicycle the same as a car in this context; the mass and velocity are not comparable. Recently laid off from work, he found the $242 fine unfair as well.

He wrote a letter to the editor saying so. It was published July 22. As of Thursday, the Gazette-Times published 27 letters in response. Nine basically said you break the law; you pay the ticket. Five referenced the letter when addressing related bicycle issues. But 13 letter writers agreed that bicyclists shouldn't need to stop at every stop sign in residential areas.

On Aug. 3, two weeks after getting his ticket, Nielsen appeared before Municipal Court Judge Mark Donahue, who allowed him to enroll in a bicycle safety program. If Nielsen completes it, he won't have to pay the $242.

Shortly after getting the ticket, Nielsen, 32, sent officer Andrews an e-mail, apologizing for giving him a hard time. Andrews graciously accepted the apology.

Nielsen said he's kind of looking forward to meeting Jerry Rooney, one of the nine letter writers critical of him. Rooney teaches the bike safety class that Nielsen will attend in September.

Does he still roll through stop signs on his bike? He paused. Yes, he admitted.

Who doesn't?

Theresa Novak is the city and opinion page editor at the Corvallis Gazette-Times.