Summons for Running Light on Bike

Good. You should get a ticket for that reckless nonsense.

I have observed that there is a kind of heirarchy among the NYPD. Traffic deals with parking violations and the regular cops deal with moving violations. I was in Manhattan the other day and say a car with diplomatic plates illegally parked, I'd love it if they towed all of those diplomatic cars whenever they see them parked illegally - although that won't help the Russian Consulate that has a problem with cops parking their private cars in the consulate's designated diplomatic parking space. Foreign embassies and consulates owe the city millions in unpaid parking fines.

Note that in the last couple of weeks there have been several major crashes in Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, and Cobble Hill, including:

* A drunk (and possibly drugged-up) off-duty cop speeding down 5th avenue, crashing into a police cruiser, injuring two other cops.

* A pedestrian hit by a speeding driver on 4th avenue.

* A woman killed by a van on Columbia Street when the driver made a left turn into her.

* An SUV that somehow flipped (!!!!) while driving down (I believe) 14th street.

I know I'm forgetting at least one fatality, but these are all crashes that have happened in the last couple of weeks in this neighborhood. In every case, the driver was doing something wrong (drunk, speeding, not yielding to right-of-way, etc.). Yet none of this stuff is *ever* enforced.

But somehow, a 175 pound person on a 25 pound bicycle rolling through a red light at 5-10mph merits enforcement by undercover cops.

WHAT THE HELL.

I have to agree that there is very selective enforcement of the law. If they want to write tickets to people that blow red lights on their bikes that's fine but then write a ticket to the guy double parked, to the guy pulling a u-turn in the intersection, to the guy parked in the bus stop and to all the jay walkers that pose just as much a danger as a cyclist when crossing against a red light.

Where are they when I see all these cars running lights. I'm not talking about the kept going on yellow through a red, but it's been red a while and a person such as myself is halfway through the crosswalk, running. I've witnessed this several times on PPW recently. I even seen cars pull up, stop, then blow through but at least they stopped right?

etccdb said:

as a driver I say its about time...I appreciate people biking, conserving evergy etc...but I with is goes responsibility and there are alot of bikers who don't act respsibility.

Are you saying that you support targeted enforcement as opposed to evenhanded enforcement?

bklyn50 said:

The cyclist pleads guilty as charged. I learned as a child from my parents that when they were growing up in Barbados and Panama, people frequently were seriously injured and killed by being struck by bicycles.

I learned as a child, that bicycles ARE vehicles, and subject to the laws of the road. Cyclists have sought to get parity as far as the city providing right-of-way for them as vehicles. The current mayor continues to provide more and more protection for cyclists on the boroughs roadways. Having achieved this parity, why are any cyclists whining about the law being imposed on them? Didn't you realize that with privilege comes responsibility? Furthermore, our mayor has a strong record of extracting fines from the populace at a record pace. He has, and will continue to find new and exciting ways to infuriate citizens as they go about their daily travels and live their lives.

Blah, blah, blah - read again. No one is questioning whether or not rules should be applied/enforced wrt cyclists, they're creating a discussion about the selective enforcement of rules that, as you state, should apply to all vehicles (as opposed to cherry-picking violations to target a certain demographic).

xlizellx said:

I would imagine that running a red light is a worse crime than double parking - at least a much more dangerous one.

I disagree - the OP described a "rolling stop," which, along with an Idaho stop, I would group with jaywalking (again, after checking for opposing traffic) in terms of danger. I think that double parking, which changes the traffic pattern of all those that pass, is arguably more dangerous.

xlizellx said:

The running of red lights is horrible and someone can get really hurt. You would never say its ok for a car to run a red light because "there's no one there". It's the same thing.

The entire state of Idaho, where it's legal for a cyclist to treat a red light as a stop sign, disagrees with you. Also, the vantage point from the inside of a car it far, far more restrictive - something that I'm reminded of every time I drive - you're further back from the intersection, which limits your line of sight for opposing traffic, and you have a lower point of view, again, limiting your line of sight.

Anthony you hit yourself on the toe w a troll hammer. I ride everyday and have had run ins with cops and cars alike. Most times it has to do with my focus. Run the light, my fault, allow the asshole in the car to bait me..my fault. The double parked guys are more important than a cop giving you a time out? No.

For every guy like you that did the redrun by choice there are 100's that run lights on timing because they have no brakes or are hitting full grove on some silly song from an ipod. They are not singling out cyclists just taking a police test, answering the easiest questions first.

I saw 30 kids in the train station last night and one or 2 of them use the word "stab". Unsure of the context but ran out of there before finding out.

Another post about kids using cars as lily pads at 330 in the morning destroying 1000's in property.Infants and other kids in cars w no seat belts,car seats, speeding,no insurance and no licensed driver. All probably more important than relegating 2 wheel bandits like ourselves but why do hard things when the chance of us running away or shooting them is less than the alternative.

Follow the weathervane, cyclists are public enemy #1 and the cops are going after those with the bullseye. Some shooting, robbery, rape or drunken car crash will take the heat off. Ipod and wallet harvesting season is coming up.

Remember the good old days when no one cared about bicycles?

xlizellx said:

As a cyclist and a pedestrian I am glad its being enforced. The running of red lights is horrible and someone can get really hurt. You would never say its ok for a car to run a red light because "there's no one there". It's the same thing.

It's not the same thing at all.

It's illogical to equate the responsibility and threat to public safety represented by a 30 lb bike going, maximum, 25 mph (more like 5-10 mph through red lights, unless the biker has a death wish), and a 3000 lb car running red lights usually while speeding, 30mph + (when is the last time a car came up to a red light and proceeded slowly? No, usually they're gunning it to make the light)

Between 1996 and 2005 11 people were killed by bicyclists, or 1.1 per year.

About 150 pedestrians are killed per year by cars.

Laws should be written and enforced according to threats to public safety.

A ticketing blitz on bikers running red lights, especially at empty intersections while slowing first, is nothing but a bald attempt to reach quotas and more significantly, produce revenue.

If that's what it is, everyone should at least be honest about it.

I knew this was coming and said so many times. Bike safety made sense and I thought that all those bike lanes were a good idea towards safer riding, but you think they put them all in for free? Now you will all pay with tickets. And now I'll just let my tires go flat and I'll just walk from now on.

Yes I do. As someone who has ridden for almost 40 years in this city, I miss the bad old "unsafe" days. I'm done with riding now.

youbetcha said:And now I'll just let my tires go flat and I'll just walk from now on.

Don't worry - peds are next. They'll get you, my pretty - and your little shoes, too!