Summons for Running Light on Bike

idlewild

If you go against the red, ride on the sidewalk or against traffic, and get caught, you get a ticket. How does this make bikers' lives more difficult? Even I know if I jay-walk and a cop decides to write me a summons, that I broke the law and have received my once-in-a-blue moon moment. The same thing applies if I get busted for not wearing a seat belt or riding my bike in the pedestrian zone of Prospect Park during off-peak hours. Yes, cops are selective, and yes they do it to collect revenue. But be honest, how many violators can truly say they didn't break the law as stated on said summons?

boygabriel

If you ride on a sidewalk for longer than a few feet (like a curb cut to your front gate) or against traffic, I fully support you getting ticketed. Unlike treating a red light like a stop sign, those are constant threats to the safety of everyone.

More to my point, I was under the impression that (1) we had a police dept in order to have law, order and safety and that (2) the NYPD is chronically understaffed and facing cuts.

Therefore, the months-long campaign targeting bikers who slow-roll through empty intersections (I fully support ticketing bikers who recklessly fly through crosswalks with pedestrians present) doesn't fit with either (1) or (2) above.

It is punitive towards bicyclists, specifically recreational ones (some cops have a virtually open policy of not ticketing delivery men and people on the job) and is vastly out of proportion to safety created or threatened.

whynot_31

Idlewild said:

If you go against the red, ride on the sidewalk or against traffic, and get caught, you get a ticket. How does this make bikers' lives more difficult? Even I know if I jay-walk and a cop decides to write me a summons, that I broke the law and have received my once-in-a-blue moon moment. The same thing applies if I get busted for not wearing a seat belt or riding my bike in the pedestrian zone of Prospect Park during off-peak hours. Yes, cops are selective, and yes they do it to collect revenue. But be honest, how many violators can truly say they didn't break the law as stated on said summons?

this.

Waiting for laws and the enforcement of laws to make sense is no excuse for not following the law, and gives the peanut gallery every right to tell to the complainer to "pay the ticket and stop complaining".

idlewild

One can complain and critique all they want. And they sure as hell have the right to fight a ticket. They're American rights. I'm just trying to make sense out of what posters on this subject want and don't want. Outside of the OP whose original intent was to give a simple Bear alert.

booklaw

What is the "pedestrian zone" of Prospect Park?

idlewild

The two inside lanes. I should have typed "zones". Or lanes.

booklaw

OK. Thanks.

boygabriel

Idlewild said:

One can complain and critique all they want. And they sure as hell have the right to fight a ticket. They're American rights. I'm just trying to make sense out of what posters on this subject want and don't want. Outside of the OP whose original intent was to give a simple Bear alert.

Personally I want a policy change. It's indefensible to have car and bike tickets be equal for running red lights.

In a more realistic scope, I would like people to stop claiming this blitz is about "public safety".

Also, I would like a unicorn that poops rainbows.

idlewild

They're not equal. Drivers get points on their license and higher insurance premiums on top of a ticket. Bikers get a summons. I will say that cars without insurance should be confiscated. And that any biker or driver caught riding recklessly should, again, have their vehicles confiscated.

Any gourmet ice cream shop or a package of Peanut M&Ms should satisfy your last request.

whynot_31

BG-

Fear not, the police rarely sustain attention to any rule for very long. They will move on to another cause soon.

The candid officers will tell you, it makes as little sense to "them" as it does to "us". No one is really sure which violations the police should enforce, and no matter what they do they are accused of singling out some group or neglecting some more serious offense.

Heck, a poster even recently accused the police of singling out a single group when they were just sitting in their car!

Somewhere between being "anti-biker" and "pro-cop" is a person who tries to be pro-logic and realistic. However, a unicorn that poops rainbows would be awesome.

xlizellx

whynot_31 said:

a unicorn that poops rainbows would be awesome.

Just be sure to pick it up when on the sidewalk or else that'll be another ticket.

jenee

I had an interesting conversation with the Community Adviser of the Police department about bike riding & tickets.

I got a ticket about a month ago for riding on the sidewalk down near the Botanical Gardens. Looking up the info, I read that the police are not supposed to write these kinds of tickets, but rather some Environmental Task Force.

Does anyone know if there is any truth behind this? I believe I read it on the TSA website.

The ticket does suck. I am not going to lie. I consider myself to be an upright citizen never causing the law trouble and now this BS.

Plight of the cyclists. Also it occurred to me that in this great, progressive city of NYC, surely they are aware that biking has been a way of life for a lot longer in Paris, Amsterdam and other cities in Europe for awhile now. I am a bit confused at why they are not handling all this better.

Seems like new yorkers started getting bikes as a protest to the MTA fare hikes.

justsayin

…we had a police dept in order to have law, order and safety…

We do have law, and the law is not running a red light on your bicycle.

boygabriel

order & safety, not so much.