Cyclists Beware! Cops pulled me over for running a red light on my bike..

Are you complaining that you got a ticket for breaking the law? I suppose it would also be okay that cars run red lights? I have no sympathy for you. It's dangerous enough being a pedestrian and crossing the streets.

I think bicyclists should be allowed to run a red if they stop first. When I'm driving, it feels safer to have the bikes up ahead. If they are stopped in front/next to the car, it's sometimes hard to see/know for sure where they are headed when we have to share lanes.

I understand it is illegal so you can get a ticket for it, but it's definitely one of those things that's a little annoying to me when there are so many other laws being broken with no consequence (parking in bike lanes, littering, bbqing in non-grill areas in the parks, tons more I won't type out).

100 THINGS YOU CAN DO AT A RED LIGHT UNTIL IT TURNS GREEN

Add something to the 100 Things to do list

Adjust to the weather and daylight (put on a poncho, turn on rear light and headlamp)

Apply sun block

Blow your nose

Breathe deeply

Change your outfit

Chant any of your favorite mantras

Chat with the cyclist stopped next to you and thank him or her for stopping

Check out the girls

Check out the guys

Check the time

Check your route map

Chew on a granola bar

Clean your glasses

Compare the time spent waiting at a red light with the time spent standing in a checkout line at Whole Foods

Compose a haiku, limerick or sonnet

Confess your inconsequentiality

Contemplate your Chapstick addiction

Count the number of different states represented in the cross traffic license plates

Count the number of times you can wink while at a stoplight

Create or practice bar pick up lines

Curse at oversize trucks illegally using local roads as thru ways

Daydream

Dismount, trot nonchalantly through the intersection, remount & be on your way

Do some quick bike maintenance

Drink a sip of water

Drink a sip of your favorite fluid replacement beverage that contains carbohydrates and sodium

Engage in Self-Actualization

Estimate the time you spend waiting at red lights during a one way trip, two-way trip, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and during your lifetime

Exercise briefly (jumping jacks, pushups, sit-ups, or Kegel exercises)

Experience downtime

Feel good about being a role model of good biking behavior

Forgive the cyclists passing you

Give a thumb up to cops on bikes

Give directions to tourists

Give yourself a hug

Glare at the drivers of cars that have pulled into the crosswalk waiting for the light to change

Go through a few foreign language flash cards.

Google

Help somebody who's having trouble getting across the street

Hum

Imagine what it would be like if bikers ruled the roads

Interpret your last dream

Listen to the birdies sing

Lobby your public officials

Look around for some place that might have a bathroom (or hop from one leg to the other)

Look for anti-matter

Make new friends

Make up some bike-centric words

Measure the pulse rate of the biker next to you

Measure your own pulse rate before and after you measured the pulse rate of the biker next to you

Obsess whether or not you locked your door at home

Pack up all your cares and woes

People watch

Pick a wedgie

Plan your next meal

Play a musical instrument (suggestions: banjo, fiddle, flute, harmonica, mandolin, sax, trumpet, uke, or Korg Monotron; No pianos, cellos or basses)

Plot a route without red lights

Post a tweet

Practice coin tricks

Practice juggling and maybe pick up a little change

Practice track standing - with and without hands

Read the palm of biker stopped next to you

Remove that extra layer of clothing when you've developed some body warmth

Say "bless you" if someone sneezes while crossing the street.

Say hi to peds

Say this 5 times or until the light changes: “Should I sit or should I stand. I wish the light was shorter.”

See if there's a red light camera at that corner

Shout at the Mr. Softee truck for playing that tune

Sing along with the Mr. Softee truck

Sing whatever comes to mind like "A Bicycle Built for Two" or "I Want to Ride My Bicycle"

Sketch

Smell the roses (or anything else except the noxious fumes coming out of the cars beside you)

Smile at someone

Squeeze a ball

Squeeze the hand of your friend or anyone available and willing

Stretch

Suggest that the driver next to you give up the car for a bike

Suggest that the pedestrian trying to hail a cab get a bike

Suggest that the person yelling at you get a life

Take a picture

Take a very quick nap

Take a video of cars running reds

Tap out some beats on your handle bars

Tell folks getting out of cabs to look out for cyclists

Think about last night

Tie your shoe laces

Toss the I Ching

Update your Facebook status

Update your to-do list

Wave at the cops watching you to see if you're gonna run the light

Wave at the police cars and ambulances driving through the light, unless it's an emergency, in which case, get out of the way

Wave at the police cars idling in the bike lane

Window shop

Wipe grit from eyes & flick it with aplomb

Wipe the sweat off your brow and/or spritz with rosewater

Wonder what people think of your bike

Wonder what people think of your stopping at the light.

Wonder why there’s no sun up in the sky when there's stormy weather

Wonder why there's no list cuter than the 100 Things you can do at a red light until it turns green.

GoodProspect said:

The law is in place for a reason.

Looking both ways when crossing is recommended for a reason, too.

You've been hit by a car, have had several close calls with bikes, and live in fear of being hit... How is it that you can have so much trouble with crossing the street? You DO live in a big city. You DO know that people - drivers, cyclists, pedestrians - go against the lights... a LOT. While I'm not excusing cyclists, or anyone, that run reds in a dangerous fashion, I am suggesting that you take a little more responsibility for getting yourself safely across the street. Walking out blindly, simply because you have the light, is foolish.

I'm surprised the police still give warnings. You'd think in this era of quotas, they would not use their discretion.

sarahhvgb wrote: Just got issued a warning from some police officers for running a red light on my bicycle near st. marks place and 5th ave. Apparently the ticket is $230 which is a pretty hefty ticket for something I do every time I ride my bike.

Sarah got stopped by a nice cop, and is letting folks know that they may not be as lucky.

Thanks Sarah

Cops have a great deal of discretion, in this instance they used it to only give a warning, even though the OP was violating the law.

...I read recently about all of the people who use fake dashboard police placards. If I were a cop, it would really annoy me if I realized I was not "looking the other way when the car of a fellow officer was parked illegally", but was actually being misled.

That said, yes, everyone who breaks any crime should be subject to the same enforcement.

If you have never visited Singapore, I highly recommend it.

It is hot, but incredibly orderly and clean. It was the only time in my life that I felt the police enforced the vast majority of laws.

It was tough for me to give up my NYC ways while I was there.

lucky you! i think that if there is no traffic, car or pedestrian, then you should stop for a light, but then go through. heck, pedestrians do it all of the time. however, if you blow through a light and endanger pedestrians then you deserve a big fat ticket, and i'm a biker! i, and several other peds almost got clipped by a biker weaving through a crosswalk. geeze, he really could have waited less than 10 seconds for the coast to be cleared! and he was on the opposite side of the bike lane; i would have punched him if i could have reacted faster. schmuck. grrrrr. ok, done.

whynot_31 said:

Goodprospect, I have said nothing to you, and suspect you may have addressed your post to me in error.

My posts are accompanied by this photo

That's what you get for associating with degenerates.

right...because bikes are the real issue here.

http://gothamist.com/2011/06/09/guns_kill_people_but_traffic_kills.php#photo-1

I have plenty of complaints about bicyclists and people driving cars, but I'd also like to voice one complaint about pedestrians. When I am on bike, it's really frustrating when I have the light and pedestrians just stroll into the crosswalk without looking. I'm guessing they don't hear a car and just go. We all need to watch where we are going.

^^^ it seems like half of the pedestrians in the city treat the place like a big college campus, where peds reign supreme. It's pretty ridiculous.

Someone accused me of being an asshole, so I was trying to be nice at the expense of understating.

Let's not pretend that you did nothing wrong. We know better.

if bicyclists want to share the road with cars, then share the laws too!!! That's a pricey ticket, i guess you will stop or at least slow down at red lights from now on.

I would be fine with the idea of bikes having to slow down before going through a red light, sort of like a yellow light for cars. But, people don't do that, they zip through red lights constantly, and if a bike hits you, it's gonna hurt or break something! No, not like a car would, but still.

So, I say, tough, again, want to share the road? Share the laws!!

Whynot - I apologize!

It was WhyFi who was the jerk.

Sorry about the mix up!