A Park City police officer stopped a bicyclist in late August riding the wrong direction along Kearns Boulevard, the most recent rider pulled over in Park City after an officer observed them breaking a traffic law.

The bicyclist was stopped at a little before 11 a.m. on Aug. 29 on Kearns Boulevard outside Treasure Mountain Junior High.

The officer warned the rider verbally, Rick Ryan, a police captain, said. The police did not provide information about the bicyclist.

"They need to travel in the same direction traffic travels," Ryan said about bicyclists.

Ryan said bicyclists are required to ride in the same direction as vehicles even if they are riding in the shoulder or in a bicycle lane.

The police said in a statement the rider was headed eastbound in the westbound breakdown lane. The statement said the bicyclist did not cross to the other side after the traffic light did not change.

The officer who stopped the rider explained to the person a pedestrian-bicyclist tunnel underneath Kearns Boulevard was nearby. The rider told the officer he was not aware of the tunnel and said he would use it in the future, the police said. The bicyclist then crossed to the other side of Kearns Boulevard when it was safe.

Kearns Boulevard, which is part of the state highway system and is also known as S.R. 248, is one of the busiest roads in Park City. It passes the schools and is heavily patrolled by the Police Department.

The police say it is safer when bicyclists follow traffic laws like stopping at stop signs and stoplights. A bicyclist breaking a traffic law could cause an accident with a vehicle or a person, the police contend.

The Aug. 29 stop on Kearns Boulevard was at least the fourth involving a bicyclist since late August. An officer stopped three bicyclists who rode through a Park Meadows intersection without obeying a stop sign. They were stopped within approximately 30 minutes of each other and were warned verbally.

The recent traffic stops follow a year after an officer pulled over a small number of bicyclists as part of a community project stressing bicyclist safety.

Most of the stops are believed to have been after riders failed to stop at stop signs.