Northeast - Reflective lights and Bells in NY

Heya,

Just wondering do police officers(specifically in nyc) really give ye a ticket for not having reflective lights during the day? same for a bell.

I'm planning to ride on one of those bike/ped paths and have noticed there always seems be a cop car parked around there (bike/ped path under the throgs neck bridge). I mean are they more inclined to pull you over more so than on the streets?

Heya,

Just wondering do police officers(specifically in nyc) really give ye a ticket for not having reflective lights during the day? same for a bell.

I'm planning to ride on one of those bike/ped paths and have noticed there always seems be a cop car parked around there (bike/ped path under the throgs neck bridge). I mean are they more inclined to pull you over more so than on the streets?

It's not completely unheard of but it's pretty uncommon. I've been riding in the city for a lot of years without a bell and never got a second glance. But I also don't do anything to aggravate the cops or attract their attention like run lights right in front of them or bomb through crowds of pedestrians. That said, it is the law and it would only cost you about $15 to bring your bike up to code.

Let me tell you, a bell is pretty useful on the crowded MUPs. My Downtube happened to come with one and now I sometimes miss it when I'm on my road bike. You yell "on your left" to pedestrians and some of them will move TO the left, and others are foreign tourists who don't even understand you.

That said, it is the law and it would only cost you about $15 to bring your bike up to code.
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And a summons for not having them runs $150 - $200.

No, they do not normally ticket you for it. Heck, I've never seen them ticket for wrong-way cycling, which is far worse.

The only time I've ever heard of anyone getting nailed for that is during Critical Mass.

If you ever plan to ride at night, I'd get lights anyway and just leave them on the bike. Otherwise you'll forget them when you need 'em. ;)

I've never heard of the police ticketing for lack of a bell and lights/reflectors in and of itself. But I have a friend who got stopped for running a red light a few years back, and while they were writing that ticket, the police also wrote her tickets for no bell, etc. Apparently the bell, etc. tickets are pretty much the same as fix-it tickets for cars, which means that if you show up at the police precinct in which the ticket was issued with the required equipment, you don't have to pay. The red-light violation was a different story.

Bell is a good idea in NYC if it can be mounted to that you only have to move your thumb to ring it.

In NYC they give 'sidewalk' tickets all or in part to run a check on prior arrest warrants almost exclusively in minority neighborhoods and possibly during political demonstrations. Good idea dismount on sidewalks, even if 100% empty.

geo8rge: that explains a lot about my sidewalk ticket before a Critical Mass... when i showed up to the hearing, I got let off because the officer couldn't swear that he remembered what happened.

I've never heard of the police ticketing for lack of a bell and lights/reflectors in and of itself. But I have a friend who got stopped for running a red light a few years back, and while they were writing that ticket, the police also wrote her tickets for no bell, etc. Apparently the bell, etc. tickets are pretty much the same as fix-it tickets for cars, which means that if you show up at the police precinct in which the ticket was issued with the required equipment, you don't have to pay. The red-light violation was a different story.

Got nabbed for a redlight and got the bell violation tacked on. Showed up the next day at the precinct (24th) with my bell, and they then claimed they couldn't cancel it there and I had to go to court to plead not guilty. Wouldn't have gone to court otherwise but he didn't show on both counts anyhow.