Reader Lauren Hudgins just sent in this account of a bizarre experience she had in Ladd's Circle:
I just biked through Ladd's Addition around 1am. Someone had set up clear tape like a trip wire across the road. Another biker and I stopped to dismantle it, assuming it was kids playing a prank and complaining about how dangerous it would be for someone on a bike, but not for cars. As we biked away, we heard a man's voice calling from the bushes in Ladd's Circle, "Thanks for stopping!"
Bikes not stopping at Ladd's Circle has been a vocal complaint of neighbors for years, prompting police stings of cyclists at the circle. Based on Lauren's account, the tape certainly seems like a vigilante bike-stopping effort. Has anyone else seen anything like this? Lauren went back this morning to snap this photo:
- See the offending piece of tape cut down and balled up on the right?
UPDATE: Reader @cobweb sent me a terrible/hilarious photo he took at the same intersection last September. Check it out below the cut.
UPDATE UPDATE: Biking police officer Robert Pickett has been informed of the incident. "We both agreed that we hoped it was a prank and that he would ask his officers in the area to keep their eye out for this happening again," says Hudgins.