This is a lightly edited reposting of FABB’s blog post covering a cyclist cited with failing to obey a W&OD stop sign in the City of Falls Church in 2012. It shows the Commonwealth Attorney weighing in to indicate that these placement of these stop signs is questionable as is their legality. But in a way that avoids the political risk of creating a precedent. I’m reposting this since I had the good fortune at Bike to Work Day 2025 to meet the person this story is about.
Returning home from a meeting at WABA in October 2012, we rode through Falls Church on the W&OD Trail and came across two Falls Church police in the process of issuing a ticket to a cyclist at the Great Falls St. crossing.
From what I was able to gather, the cyclist had rolled through the stop sign when motorists were stopped and waiting. Under normal circumstances, i.e. where there is no stop sign, this would be perfectly legal. Current VA law states that no pedestrians and bicyclists "shall enter or cross an intersection in disregard of approaching traffic." It says nothing about coming to a complete stop before entering the intersection.
Writing a ticket in this situation accomplishes nothing other than to punish cyclists. I've seen police on bicycles roll through the W&OD stop signs. The stop signs themselves are not VDOT sanctioned and VDOT has questioned their legality. VDOT’s review of the Code language in this study suggested that trail users on multiuse pathways may not be obligated to comply with non-signalized traffic control devices [stop signs] where the trail intersects a roadway. In addition, the research found there is confusion among motorists and trail users about right-of-way laws regarding the W&OD Trail where a STOP sign is directed toward the trail users. This confusion could compromise safety at these and other similar multiuse trail/roadway intersections.
There is at least one instance in which a similar ticket was thrown out because the cited law does not apply to a bicyclist on a trail. When we tried to point this out to the officer he told me to back off, that I was hindering his "investigation." If I were issued a ticket in this situation, I would fight it in court.
The cyclist who was cited by Falls Church police for failure to stop at one of the STOP signs along the W&OD Trail at Great Falls St. contested his ticket in court. The ticket was dismissed on the recommendation of the Commonwealth Attorney. Here is his account of what transpired:
Just wanted to let you know that I had my day in court today. While I was ready to plead my case to the judge, I was told by the officer that I can speak with the Commonwealth Attorney present before the hearing begins. Was I glad that I did.
There was a long line so it took a bit before it was my turn. I told her that I was ticketed for rolling through a stop sign on the bike trail on my bike, she paused for a bit, and asked was I aware that there was a stop sign. I told her yes, and not stopping was a bad judgement on my part. But I also explained to her that my past experiences with these intersections and the confusing predicament that I often found myself in can make it difficult to obey the posted sign when it comes to my own safety. She then asked for the ticketing officer to explain what he saw, and his stance was simply that I failed to obey posted sign.
It was what she asked next that I found to be quite interesting. She asked the officer whether or not this intersection was a city street crossing another city street or a crosswalk crossing a city street. At first, the officer didn't seem to understand her, and was trying to say that it was a busy intersection. She repeated the same question again, and he just seemed to be unwilling to acknowledge the fact that the intersection was a crosswalk to street rather than street to street. I ended up chiming in and stated that the intersection was a pedestrian/cyclist crosswalk crossing a city street.
At that point, she made a comment along the line of "I think I see what's going on here", told me that she felt that I know what I did was wrong, and will be more cautious in the future. In the end, she gave me the "benefit of the doubt" and will recommend to the judge that the charge be dropped. That is precisely what the judge did!
Comments on this FABB blog post were insightful:
- What the Commonwealth Attorney (well, probably Asssistant CA) saw was an opportunity to tell the cop not to do that again, to get the case moved along fast, and an opportunity to not litigate whether or not trail signs are legal. The result is no judgment and no precedent for anybody else to use in getting future cases dismissed.
- Yes - no precedent. But at the same time Cops really don’t like writing tickets that are not enforced in court (See DC illegal U Turns on Penn Ave situation). This is a good lesson on pushing back against ineffective enforcement.
- Under VA law, an "intersection" is where two "highways" cross. VA law prohibits running a stop sign at an "intersection." Where the W&OD crosses a road (highway) is not an intersection. I represented myself in court and had a similar charge dismissed by the judge.
- According to the MUTCD, "All regulatory traffic control devices shall be supported by laws, ordinances, or regulations." Doesn't this mean that the stop signs on the trail must be removed?
BFC note: Since these events, Virginia passed a law (§ 46.2-924.E) allowing localities to make these shared use path stop signs legally binding for pedestrians, cyclists, and any other users. No locality in Virginia has used the authority granted under this law, so the stop signs on the W&OD and other trails do not comply with the MUTCD, engineering best practice, or Virginia law. This continues to be dangerous and confusing for everyone at these intersections. It also unnecessarily pits the police trying to enforce a seemingly obvious sign against bicyclists who are mostly just trying to get home safe (excepting a few bad apples).