Victor Velasquez was ticketed for not riding in an available bike lane.
(Alex Goldmark, Transportation Nation) Have you been ticketed while riding your bike? Know someone who has, or even just seen someone getting a ticket on their bike? We want to hear about it.
Cyclists have to obey motor vehicle laws in New York City. There are more cyclists on the streets—just see this chart. Now, we’d like to map how many more violations are being issued.
We’ve reported on tickets for speeding, running red lights in Central Park, for not riding in the bike lane on Lafayette street, and riding on the sidewalk in Brooklyn, but we know there are other pockets of increased enforcement out there as well.
Mapping the Bike Tickets of 2011
We’re looking to map where, and for what the recent increased enforcement of violations by cyclists. Please spread the word to all the cyclists you know.
Send them this link: http://bit.ly/biketicketsNYC
Or have them come to this post and answer the short questions below.
Follow Transportation Nation on Twitter.
What exactly is the point of this project? Just wondering …
We’d like to understand the extent and range of ticketing, and learn more about the patterns. We’ll share what we know with all to shed light on this story.
it would be good to have a map of places where bikes were stolen and what kind they were.
Please see the stories of what’s happening in the East Village with the new bike lanes.
http://evgrieve.com/2011/04/nypd-slaps-270-ticket-on-east-village.html
A crackdown is long overdue. Maybe you should ask pedestrians to report all the near misses they have had with the segment of bikers who have no regard for anyone but themselves.
How ever many tickets have been issued it apparently is not nearly enough. Irresponsible bikers continue to ride the wrong way on one way streets, on the opposite side of the street from bike lanes, thru stop signs and red lights, on sidewalks, and at totally unsafe speeds. There are a major danger to those walking. This illegal behavior must be stopped before more are injured or killed by the bike riding menace.
While I have been a supporter of expanded bike ridership in NYC, I live on Roosevelt Island and do drive in Queens and Manhattan virtually every day.
Other comments above have presented issues on bike traffic but I believe that a major issue is that very few bikers ride with ANY night ligthts. This is a problem. It places bikers at risk of being “doored” when riding legally in marked bike lanes after dark even when motorists and their passengers DO watch for them but miss the biker because of no lights. How can this be resolved?
I am missing the point of this project: a crackdown on bikers is definitively overdue! I would guess 8 out of 10 bikers do not care about traffic rules, ride at high speeds and endanger the lives of pedestrians, other bikers and their own lives…
The bike lanes and bike riding seems to be increasing safety. My son loves that the protected bike lanes both form pedestrian islands so the avenue crossings are shorter and also now he can bike ride to school whereas it was too dangerous for him before.
Everyone, car drivers, pedestrians, and bike riders all need to work together more so they can all be safe (with thousands of serious injuries per year by car drivers hitting pedestrians & cyclists this is *painfully* obvious).
Over 75% of cyclist that have been involved in accidents was by them disobeying the traffic laws of the state in which they operate. Cyclists have even stated that those rules don’t apply to them. With that attitude the only way to get them to understand is by stricter enforcement of the laws that are already on the books. If that is what it takes to possibly save a live, so be it!
Why all the hate for cyclists? This is NYC people. How many of you wait patiently on the curb for the light to change before crossing? How often do you see cars and trucks speeding and running red lights in the City? I’d guess NEVER and OFTEN. Unless you also follow the traffic laws and obey crossing signals 100% of the time, put your rage away and wait for the results. You might learn something.
I agree that some cyclists ride without disregard for safety. However, I’ve seen a rapid rise in the number of pedestrians crossing streets against the light without paying any attention. Apparently texting is more important than checking for traffic (auto or bike).
TRANSPORTATION NATION:
WHEN YOUR MAPPING IS DONE, PLEASE ADD UP THE FINES AND TELL US HOW MUCH DESERVED REVENUE THE CITY HAS COLLECTED.
The bike-ticket money can help save our teachers, firefighters, libraries—and walkers! Please do use this information trove to see how much revenue the city has rightly garnered by ticketing cyclists. Multiply that by 1,000 (for all the bikers who refuse to get a light on the front of their bike, as required by VTL 1236) and add in estimates of the thousands of traffic violations that haven’t been ticketed, and we’ll have an idea how the city can save worthy programs that are on the chopping block—easily and painlessly.
Improving safety and enriching the city—a win-win situation! Your mapping project is a way to quantify the financial gains available to the city if it finally ditches its tolerance for dangerous biking behavior.
Bikes ≠ Cars
It is a strained analogy to equate thirty pound bicycles with three ton cars, five ton trucks, and thirty ton big rigs. But out of a desire to increase revenue, appease Marty Markowitz, and/or spread Sadik-Khan’s disregard for how people actually use bicycles more widely, the city is again misappropriating its resources.
I was ticketed yesterday for disobeying a red light. I stopped, waited for all the cars to pass, and then crossed the street. Only the most hyperbolic analogy can be drawn between my ‘disobedience’ and that of a car speeding through a red light. A more appropriate one would be with a pedestrian jaywalking.
That said, I do believe that cyclists should obey traffic rules; however, those rules should be written specifically for bikes.
@dandmb50 – We are experiencing the same problems here in Toronto but just like here I’m sure there are people that don’t like red light cameras and photo radar for car drivers. It’s simple, if you want respect, respect the rules of the road and stop whining. Just follow the rules, it’s for your safety and others.
Daniel .. Toronto, CANADA .. http://bit.ly/DMBwp
Nn the same morning I was ticketed last Friday, I was nearly sideswiped by a speeding truck, nearly doored twice, witnessed at least 30 cars going 40mph or more, and witnessed at least 20 cases of double-parking in bike lanes. There’s also the non-enforcement of delivery people going the opposite way against traffic and riding their completely illegal electric bikes. Yet, now that the Central Park ticketing blew up in their faces, this is what the NYPD wastes its resources on? I’m getting my day in court and there’s no way I’ll pay $210 or $270. If found guilty, I’m contemplating refusal to pay to make a point about this policy of selective enforcement. I’d be willing to take a few days of free meals courtesy of NYC’s Dept. of Corrections.
I was spanked with a ticket for running a red light where the street didn’t go all the way across and there were no cars coming. It was right off the bike path on the Manhattan Bridge, I might add, so beware of that area. What I did was illegal, but not unsafe. I am going to plead not guilty and see if I can get the surcharges knocked off that apply only to cars if I’m not lucky enough that the officer doesn’t show up.
My personal theory is that the city is ticketing cyclists more because they’ve accommodated them more. In the last few years they’ve built and painted more bike lanes. Maybe now they’re using cyclists to pay for them.
With the uptick in bicycles in the city, now is the time to clarify the difference between how the traffic rules apply to cyclists as opposed to cars. We HAVE to do this NOW. Hopefully the upcoming class action lawsuit will address it: http://gothamist.com/2011/05/25/cyclist_class_action_lawsuit_expect.php
The “stop sign as yield, red as stop” law in Idaho should lead the way. No, New York City is not Idaho, but it is still a fair and safe way to ride in the city. http://www.bicyclelaw.com/articles/a.cfm/legally-speaking-stop-as-yield1
Pedestrians are more dangerous to bikers then bikers are to pedestrians in NYC. Just hang out at 43rd and 8th avenue around 5pm and see how many walk in the bike lane. Pushing bikers onto car traffic. I have no respect for those walkers and often ride right into them.