Summons for riding bike on sidewalk, thoughts?

stacey wrote: [quote=smeyer418]and its also definitely the ECB for a sidewalk violation

http://www.bicycledefensefund.org/bikelaw.html

But the Vehicle and Traffic Law is enforced by the NYPD and it specifically states:

VTL § 1231 Bicyclists are granted all of the rights and are subject to all of the duties of the driver of a motor vehicle

And if I am not mistaken this also falls under the NYPD

RCNY § 4-02 (a) The provisions of N.Y.C. Traffic Rules are applicable to bicycles and their operators.

And if that's the case I wonder why they don't enforce these two rule more:

RCNY § 4-08 (e)(9) It is against the law to park, stand or stop within or otherwise obstruct bike lanes.

RCNY § 4-12(p) Other vehicles shall not drive on or across bike lanes.

I am not sure what you mean. Enforce means they can write tickets not that they can adjudicate the tickets after they write them. and I promise you they ARE writing tickets for parking/standing in bike lanes...but you can cross a bike lane to park at the curb. People complain about these tickets all the time. Someone last week complained about being ticketed in a lane while someone pulled out of a space.
Every once in a while they also go out and enforce every rule against bike riders too....the only ones that they really don't go after is pedestrians...not enough money at $2 per ticket.

Capt. Planet wrote: [quote=smeyer418][quote=Capt. Planet]Parade Rest, is it illegal or a violation to park a commercial vehicle overnight on a public street?

yes with some exceptions...and its enforced too...
I don't where you are getting your information, but I have a response to a 311 complaint stating there was no violation despite ample evidence to the contrary.

The 311 system is inefficient and inaccurate. For example...Officer A is assigned to the Telephone Switchboard and is responsible for the 311 computer. Officer A recieves a 311 complaint regarding an illegally parked vehicle. Officer A calls the Police Communications Technician responsible for the precinct radio communications and requests that she has a Sector car call the precinct to assign them the 311 complaint. Immediately thereafter, the telephone rings and Officer A gets stuck on the phone with somebody regarding any of a thousand different scenarios that people call the precinct for. For the 20 minutes that Officer A is on the phone with a local citizen regarding some government conspiracy or trying to locate a towed/stolen vehicle, the sector keeps calling but nobody answers. Eventually the sector gets sent on an emergency and is no longer available. Officer A now goes through the whole process again and eventually gets Officer B to respond and check on a commercial vehicle that is parked on a residential street overnight. Officer A then leaves for the night. Officer B forgets to call and report his findings before the new shift starts. The new shift can't have any pending 311 jobs at the start of a new tour so they just finalize the 311 job as unfounded.

Did I mention that the police dept doesn't provide cell phones to officers so everytime the sector or footpost calls in to the precinct he has to find a working payphone?

It's also altogether possible that the dispatcher is too busy with emergencies to "raise" the sector and ask them to call the precinct.

It's also altogether possible that the precinct is grossly understaffed on a hot summer night. It's common to have people get shot, stabbed, robbed, etc in this area and "no officers available" is not an option when closing a 311 complaint.

I have heard they are under pressure not to get racist-appearing statistics. How? Affirmative-action arrests.

They should make picking your nose while driving illegal too!

Mougar wrote: [quote=King without a crown]They should make picking your noise while driving illegal too!

I'd settle for them making perjury and assault illegal:

Convicted bike-push cop gets free walk

You forgot to add the obligatory sanctimonious "No more excuses."

WhyFi wrote: [quote=Mougar][quote=King without a crown]They should make picking your noise while driving illegal too!

I'd settle for them making perjury and assault illegal:

Convicted bike-push cop gets free walk
That's not perjury... he just "mis-remembered events"

In this instance it seems the cop believed that he could create laws about bikes riding on the street. ...as well as be judge, jury, and the dept of corrections.

Yes, it is sad that this officer who was on the force for all of 10 days did not get real time.

....the system is broken in all ways. The relationship between crime and punishment is barely correlated.

I'm an avid bicyclist and ride from nostrand into manhattan everyday. I've been issued one summons for sitting on my bike on the side walk and one ticket for running a red. I challenged and was relived of both but certainly learned a lesson.

It sucks but a bicycle can do a lot of damage to the rider or others. I can't tell you how many times i've been hit by a bike delivery guy on the sidewalk or how many times i've been cut off by bicyclists who disregard red lights. A lot of bicyclists never read the bike laws which would not be accepted for someone driving a car. The rules are readily available and I keep a copy in my back pocket now

Bike rules PDF - http://nyc.gov/html/dot//downloads/pdf/bicyclerules_fy08_english.pdf

smeyer418 wrote: [quote=stacey][quote=smeyer418]and its also definitely the ECB for a sidewalk violation

http://www.bicycledefensefund.org/bikelaw.html

But the Vehicle and Traffic Law is enforced by the NYPD and it specifically states:

VTL § 1231 Bicyclists are granted all of the rights and are subject to all of the duties of the driver of a motor vehicle

And if I am not mistaken this also falls under the NYPD

RCNY § 4-02 (a) The provisions of N.Y.C. Traffic Rules are applicable to bicycles and their operators.

And if that's the case I wonder why they don't enforce these two rule more:

RCNY § 4-08 (e)(9) It is against the law to park, stand or stop within or otherwise obstruct bike lanes.

RCNY § 4-12(p) Other vehicles shall not drive on or across bike lanes.

I am not sure what you mean. Enforce means they can write tickets not that they can adjudicate the tickets after they write them. and I promise you they ARE writing tickets for parking/standing in bike lanes...but you can cross a bike lane to park at the curb. People complain about these tickets all the time. Someone last week complained about being ticketed in a lane while someone pulled out of a space.
Every once in a while they also go out and enforce every rule against bike riders too....the only ones that they really don't go after is pedestrians...not enough money at $2 per ticket.


Sorry - what I mean is that the VTL is a law in NYS and thus enforceable by the NYPD. So if a police officer sees you on the sidewalk he can issue a summons just like he would issue a summons to someone driving a car on the sidewalk. Those tickets, for breaking the law, are enforceable by the NYS Court System (i.e., Criminal Court).

Mougar wrote: Cops Block Bike Lane, Give Ticket for Biking Outside It

It's like the police are trying to parody themselves

Now that's funny!

Here is something of interest.


Uh, nevermind....

Just to show that bicyclists aren't the only ones be hammered by a money hungry government, I was recently ticketed for talking on my cell phone while driving. Fair enough, except that was calling 911 to report a disabled school bus in the middle of Union Street. When I noted to the officer that I was dialing 911, he said "tell it to the judge".

Well I did, providing the judge with a copy of my cell phone statement showing my call to 911 minutes before the citation.

The judge's response: guilty due to lack of supporting evidence.

All I can say is :WTF.

By the way, the Dept of Motor Vehicles website says that talking on a cell phone while driving is illegal, unless you are calling 911.

Where's the justice?

That makes no sense, thats part of the Officers testimony is that he asked if you were making an emergency call. You're saying that you were on the phone with a 911 operator when you were stopped? You didnt show the Officer the outgoing 911 call in your call log?

BornnbredBrooklynite wrote: [quote=daveinbedstuy]Stay out of the friggin bike lanes with your goddamn cars and pedestrians.

STAY OUT OF THE STREET WITH YOUR GODDAMN BIKES
Bikes are allowed on the street. In fact, they are REQUIRED to stay on the street (see the entire thread up until this point). They are also permitted to use the street even when bike lanes are present in situations where their use is unsafe (the lane is blocked by pedestrians or inconsiderate drivers, for example).

King without a crown wrote: That makes no sense, thats part of the Officers testimony is that he asked if you were making an emergency call. You're saying that you were on the phone with a 911 operator when you were stopped? You didnt show the Officer the outgoing 911 call in your call log?

Yep, I showed him my phone log with 911 on it. He'd told me to speak to the judge.

MHA wrote: And what if the scenario involved a child learning how to ride a bicycle, and he/she was taking their first shaking steps on a sidewalk? I see kids riding bicycles on the sidewalk all the time, and only if they are doing so recklessly do I think that it's a cause for consternation.

The sidewalk riding law excludes person under the age of 14.