October 27, 2005
Bikers Beware-- Ticketing Blitz on Sixth!
If you don't want your bike to end up at the Bike Guantanamo on Kingsland Avenue in Brooklyn, it might be wise to heed the words of this Craigslist post we read today, thanks to reader Big Apple Boy:
New York's Finest are swarming Sixth Avenue today handing out tickets to bikes. They'll get you for going the wrong way, riding without a bell, riding without reflectors, and their favorite, not riding in the bike lane.Oh Mayor Bloomberg-- why must you persecute the innocent bicyclists of our fair city? Remember: bikers are voters too! [For all your biker news, check out Transportation Alternatives.]Higest concentration is in the 20s, 30s and 40s. Every damn block, there they are. Bike cops and regular beefy beat cops. I saw at least 10 different groups of cops pulling people over.
I got a $30 citation for riding on the right side of the street and while I was waiting for my ticket, they pulled over two other guys. The cop told me it's an operation running through tomorrow (Friday).
If possible, stay the hell off Sixth Ave. If you must, be careful. Riding the wrong way is $150.
One cop made some cryptic comment about how if I didn't like a ticket, I should think about who to vote for next month. "I'm not telling you who to vote for, I'm just saying," the cop said. What, is Ferrer some big bike advocate? Strange.
Anyhow, BE CAREFUL. It's a WAR ZONE.
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Since New York no longer has any murders, rapes, home break-ins and terrorists trying to kill thousands of us, the NYPD is right to use all their resources to go after these out of control bikers! They really know how to prioritize!
Sounds like a RudyG quality of life goon squad to me.
A precursor to arresting more people at the Critical Mass ride??
Of all the "Hardened" Criminals to target...
i think the bikes that they were removing from the bedford stop are still piled up at the police station.
Guantanamo? War Zone. Gimme a break. You liberals take this war language way too seriously.
Now, I fully support bikers and the need to make the city more bike friendly...but if you're going to be one of those people that breaks bike laws, it's your own fault if you get pulled over.
Just because cars make everything non-car based near impossible doesn't mean people shouldn't be fined to hell for riding the wrong way or, especially, running through red lights or riding on the sidewalk.
The cops might be cracking down in a excessive way, but come on take some responsibility for your actions.
How about applying the motor vehicle laws equally?
Cars make many more violations than bikes, not to mention those hit and run deaths this week.
you're right, bb. break the law, get a ticket. i agree. run a red light, get a ticket.
but where are the massive crackdowns on speeding drivers? drivers who park on the sidewalk? double parkers, etc.
bikers who break the law should be held accountable and should act responsibly, but the response is a bit disproportionate.
i'm all in favor of bike crackdowns. just because there are bad drivers doesn't mean we should excuse bad bikers.
but if the city devoted 1/10th the energy to improving daily auto traffic as they do to arresting once-a-month bike groups the city might be a better place for everyone.
A "war zone" is downtown Baghdad. Getting a ticket by the NYPD hardly qualifies as being at war. I'm all for biker's rights, but get a fucking clue.
Why would you do something like that two weeks before and election? It's a surefire way of pissing off voters.
This could bring an end to all bike messenger services in the entire city!
Or will the new citation blitz not apply to those messengers who break pretty much every rule in the book?
I don't have a problem with enforcing the law. If there's a law on the book it should be enforced. The problem is that picking a day here or there is a waste of time, and I can't approve of arbitrarily picking on one group while ignoring jaywalkers, cab drivers and everybody else who ignores all laws while using the city's streets.
And should I even mention all the city vehicles I see every day that would get pulled over in any other city for erratic and illegal driving?
As a guy who rides all over the city throughout the year, I hope the city puts as much effort into treating bikes as a viable and valuable transportation alternative as it has attempting to keep us law abiding.
Maybe when the election is over, right?
I am sorry - but so many bikers do not obey the laws of this city and create so much danger for pedestrians. Riding the wrong way on the street? You should be ticketed! If a car were to do that they'd also be tickets.
And Critical Mass are a bunch of idiots. Half of them don't even wear helmets - yeah, really cool. Obviously you don't have anything in there worth protecting! And holding up traffic is not a hot way to get your 5th grade point across.
Cheers!
Well, Al "Husband of Star Jones" Reynolds was pulled over for changing lanes without a signal, so that's a start. I'm one of those insane people who curses at the bad drivers who turn on red and swipe pedestrians who have right of way - I am thisclose to going to my local precinct to become a citizen patrolperson so I can write out citizen's tickets.
I am all for bike advocacy. If this city were a lot bike friendlier, it would be great. But I have to say that the amount of cyclists I see on a daily basis who are riding on the sidewalk, riding the wrong way or actually breaking traffic laws--and often near-missing pedestrians--is damned out of hand.
I think the worst thing to happen to bike advocacy in this city is Critical Mass. They're simply too confrontational and hypocritical in their approach.
It takes two to tango, and Mike Bloomberg might be overeager in a way but don't ignore the cyclists own culpability when they break the law and act like jerks themselves.
I got a $250 ticket for biking down 49th towards 6th Ave. Yes, I was going against traffic, but the bike racks in front of my building are about 50 yards off 6th Ave. When I told the cop I didn't have ID -- I don't think that's necessary to bike... he threatened to cuff me and call the closest police cruiser. I gave him my ID and got a ticket. a$$holes.
Next up - J-Walking Tickets
Rico, you should have dismounted your bike and walked it to your building if you were so close to the bike racks. You were going the wrong way which is illegal. I wonder how much sympathy we'd have for a car driver that went the wrong way on a street but used the "I was only 50 yards from my building's garage" excuse.
Some day I hope to see an NYC bicyclist stop for a red right.
Ace, Someday I would like a pedestrian not to cross the street on a red light right in front of me. Someday I would like cars not to cut me off. Everyone breaks the law every day -- did you know that flagging down a cab in the street is illegal, waiting to cross the street and waiting in the street is illegal? Some day I want to bike full speed into your face!
the guy above me has it right. anyone getting all law and order on bikers best not jaywalk. ever. don't you know you could cause a car accident? or drive 56 mph. or smoke a joint. chill the fuck out . bikes don't kill people. asshole drivers do.
And what about all the cars constantly double parked in the bike lane. Do they get tickets?
The unified field law of enforcement in NYC is how difficult it is for the officers. The #1 priority is parking tickets (street cleaning & meters) - stationary cars, no driver in sight. Plop it on the windshield and you are out of there.
And, ya gotta admit, nailing a cyclist sounds a heck of a lot easier than pulling over some speeder in midtown.
Actually, in my neighborhood there *is* a speed trap, on the very last leg of the Belt Parkway. It's easy pickins - a good place to hide, and plenty of room to pull 'em over.
I've commuted to work on a bike. Pedestrians suck much of the time, and vehicles are worse. And I see plenty of bad cyclists. But this is nothing extraordinary (it's just you hear about it because the Internet artifically inflates it's signifance). I've been ticketed three times for driving without a seat belt (once as I was pulling into the parking lot at Fairway), each time a ticket trap. These are just revenue exercises: people don't fight them, since there's no serious penalty (points, etc.) and it's a hassle to challenge.
I bike every day and attend Mass regularly. There's nothing that irks me more as a cyclist than other cyclists going the wrong way. It's very freaking dangerous. If the cops were going after that, I'd be all for it. But it doesn't seem like it, from what I've seen. From what I've seen, they're just targeting cyclists for anything a cyclist could conceivably do wrong. Running a red light is bad, but crossing an intersection at the red light when there is no traffic and there are no pedestrians crossing is about on par with jaywalking. Can you dispute that? This is like cops going out to enforce 'pedestrian offences' specifically, and going after people jaywalking, walking in the street, etc.
Going after a group of people is not right, it smacks of something dubious. If you want to calm traffic and stop people from doing stupid things, I'm 100% behind you. If your goal is to make life difficult for cyclists or pedestrians or drivers who are used to doing things a certain way in this city and do so with careful consideration, I'm opposed. This is a stupid action.
Ferrer participated in the Bronx Bike Tour so he's for cyclists. Cycling is too low class for Bloomberg. He's busy flying his million dollar helicopter.
Good response Rico Starr.
Every time I relax and feel I'm contributing something positive to the city and community by riding my daughter to school, and commuting to work, there's always some self-righteous Super Pedestrian that grumbles at me for hopping the curb and coasting to a stop in front of a store, or for cutting lanes at a stop light as they attempt to jaywalk mid-block. I'm as far from a bad a** as anyone can get, but still get nasty sneers for just plain innocuous bike behavior.
Where do these people come from? Are they all safely sequestered away in Battery Park City highrises, with bike-lock cutting Parks dept. personnel circling their dog-free zones? Do they police every aspect of city life with as much vigor? Is this city being Disneyfied at an alarming rate, or am I just another geezer lamenting the good ole days?
all I want is to see a bicyclist stop for a red light someday.
Most bicyclists stop for red lights, then cross when it is safe. The same thing you do when you cross the street.
If you honor right-of-way you should not be ticketed as a pedestrian or a cyclist. It is in the interest of the cyclist's safety to pass through red lights when it is safe to do so in order to stay out of the main stream of car traffic.