Bicycle Austin forum

On my ride in to work today I was crossing North Lamar at the pedestrian light at W 31st. I pushed the button to request the walk signal, waited for the light to change and traffic to stop (I was at a complete stop while waiting), then started to ride carefully across the street in the crosswalk.  It so happened that an Austin police car was waiting at the light. The officer got on his loudspeaker and told me to get off the bike and walk across the intersection. So, I stopped mid-way across and got off. I walked the rest of the way across the street. From my perspective there was no safety reason for this and there were no pedestrians in the crosswalk. Also, I only use that pedestrian light and crosswalk to get across Lamar. I ride on the streets otherwise. Just thought I'd add that experience to the conversation. Whether it was legal or not, that particular officer didn't want me riding in the crosswalk.