A UA student narrowly avoided being hit by a Sun Tran bus while riding his bike on University Boulevard yesterday morning.

Carey Hughes, a pre-business freshman, was pedaling his tan beach cruiser east on University Boulevard and decided to cut through the crosswalk to take a left turn onto North Park Avenue.

That’s when he saw the bus.

“”I saw the bus turning, you know how they make those wide turns, and I just threw

myself off the bike and it got pinched on the curb,”” said Hughes.

The bike did not appear to be damaged, but it was pinned tightly between bus No. 9124 and the curb.

Hughes, who escaped without a scratch, waited on the street corner while officers from the University of Arizona Police Department and Tucson Police Department filled out accident reports.

The bus was making the right-hand turn from southbound Park Avenue to westbound University Boulevard when it caught Hughes on the wrong side of the street as he was cutting through the crosswalk at approximately 9:30 a.m.

“”I was on the wrong side of the road,”” said Hughes, as he held the pink copy of the TPD-issued citation in his hand. “”I hope I don’t have to go to court for this.””

TPD officer Tony Cox, who responded to the incident, said the student was issued a bicycle violation for failure to yield.

“”He’s really lucky he didn’t get seriously hurt,”” said Cox.

Cox added that unlike regular traffic citations, bicycle tickets are a special type of civil traffic violation that may or may not assess points to the driver’s license.

“”It depends on the insurance company, but this is a type of state code violation for bicycles,”” said Cox.

Regardless of the nature of the ticket, Cox said it’s still a good idea for bikes to follow the same rules as cars when on the road.