FraAngelico

yesteday while pedicabing, I noticed at least 5 messengers/delivery guys/general bikers getting tickets from the police. one cop showed a buddy of mine at least 50 tickets he had written to bikers. apparently a bike rider killed a pedestrian recently and thus the crackdown. the tickets i saw seemed to be for riding the wrong way and failing to stop a red light.

slvoid

Of all the lights I ran today, 2 in brooklyn were through an intersection with a police car waiting at the light going the other way, another one in queens with a police car parked at the end of the block, another one was through a traffic cop trainee session. Around the citicorp building in queens, there are usually 20-25 newbies with traffic vests and uniforms on and 4-5 instructors and a couple of police cars and vans with the newbies out in the middle of the intersection directing traffic.

None of em seemed to care even though I was probably more visible than then were. Must be a manhattan thing. Was the pedestrian upper class or influential in some way?

Dchiefransom

That sounds normal. By the same logic, I've heard they have to call plumbers everytime a toilet plugs, since they're not allowed to keep toilet plungers in their stations.

bikiola

yeah i have a friend who almost just got arrested for cycling without a license. what a ****ed up city... they are also doing this in anticipation of the critical mass coming up... trying to chill all dissent. welcome to bloomberg's new york!

oboeguy

Thanks for the heads-up! Any links to the story of the poor ped? One of my greatest fears while riding, right up there with fear of myself getting hit by a car is hitting a ped or worse a child. We like to get mad at motorists but they're not the only ones who can cause accidents!

Edit: Cycling without a license? WTF? In NYC?!?

FraAngelico

I don't know anything more about the pedestrian. The cop who showed his stack of tickets to my buddy, used the pedestrian story as the reason for the barrage.

oboeguy

Well then it sounds like BS to me. You'd think the tabloid papers would go ape on something like that.

2manybikes

Cycling without what kind of a license? A drivers license?

jyossarian

It's illegal to not have identification with you. As for the ticket barrage, why don't they crack down on motorists that kill pedestrians and cyclists?

oboeguy

I think I've asked before here but whatever happened to that Utah case where this notion was challenged?

Edit: Whoops, wrong state. It's Nevada, and we lost. Police state FTW!

jyossarian

Dunno, but from what I've heard, it's illegal to not have an ID or a certain amount of money ($5?). Otherwise you can be picked up for vagrancy. This is a free country, right?

timmhaan

you have to carry money too?! i didn't know that. i usually try to carry some, but most often don't. especailly when just riding in the park or something.

slvoid

Listen buddy, $2 in coins ain't gonna cut it in this town..

brokenrobot

OK, time for a refresher course in the REAL laws in this city - just in case any of us are pulled over. Note: I'm not a lawyer, and I'm not on TV, and you ought to read the damn laws yourself if you want to know what's up - don't rely on my summary.
State laws are here: https://www.nysgtsc.state.ny.us/bike-vt.htm
City DOT TRaffic Rules are here: https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/per...fic_rules.html

The city says: "You must have reflectors!"
The law says: "All new bikes must be equipped with reflectors" (to my reading, that's "you can't sell a bike that doesn't ahve reflectors on it") and "reflectors must be used from 1/2 hour after sundown to 1/2 hour before sunrise". If you get ticketed for not ahving reflectors during the day, FIGHT THE TICKET.

The city says" "You must stay in the bike lane".
The law says: "When a useable bike lane has been provided, bicycle riders whall use it except 1)when preparing for a turn, or 2) when reasonably necessary to avoid conditions (including objects, vehicles, bikes, peds, animals, and surface hazards) that make it unsafe to continue within such lane." If you get ticketed for not using a bike lane, were you about to turn up ahead? Was the bike lane far enough from parked cars to avoid dooring? Were there pedestrians in the bike lane? Trash? If the bike lane was unsafe, FIGHT YOUR TICKET.

The city says: "You must ride on the right-hand side. You must not ride more than two abreast."
The law says: Both these restrictions come from NYS VTL 1234. That chapter of law has been explicitly overturned by the New York City DOT traffic rules, and does not apply within city limits. DOT rules do NOT specify that you cannot ride more than two abreast, and very specifically allow bikes to use either side of any 1-way roadway that's at least 40 feet wide.

The City says: "Ride in the direction of traffic!"
The law says: Ride in the direction of traffic! If you're going against traffic and get ticketed, pay your fine and count yourself lucky - your behavior is dangerous, and you're lucky you didn't get yourself - or somebody else - killed.

The legislature makes the laws. The cops don't. And if the cops are making up laws that don't exist, we need to fight them on it. And don't forget to vote against Mike in two weeks!

jyossarian

"Some would say that the threat of terrorism is being used to alter the very nature of life in America and the right to live free from arbitrary intrusion into every aspect of our personal lives. "

Personally, I'm tired of terrorism being the reason for taking away our civil liberties. It's been shown that successful terrorist attacks happen when security recommendations fail to be taken seriously or implemented. I'd rather be free than secure if I have to give up freedom for security.

Dchiefransom

According to your link, the Supreme Court decided that the person has to identify themselves to the police. It didn't say they needed I.D.. There was something about this in California on here, and I was referenced to a court case here that showed we didn't need to carry I.D..
My suspicion is that the cyclist was actually working as a messenger, and there might be a license required for that, which he/she didn't have.

timmhaan

i think you're right. i'm going to have to scrounge up some more change before our next ride. but that may be hard because the city frowns on panhandling too!

max-a-mill

if i am gonna head to a critical mass or an alleycat or anyplace else i might be outside he law you can bet the first thing i convieniently "forget" is any ID that the man can pin me down with...

i do bring my health insurance card though....

biking without a license??? man am i glad that philly cops have better ways to spend their time (for now at least).

and as for the guy who said terrorism is just an excuse to take our freedoms away, HERE F$CKING HERE! most "terrorist prevention" is just another business for people to get rich on...

slvoid

You bet your butt security companies, especially those selling million dollar airport scanners, have buttloads of money in lobbies in washington. Makes me sick.. but thats a discussion for another thread.

Anyway, law says I have to have spoke reflectors so I have em on my commuter. You're not required to have front and rear reflectors since front and rear lights are the law.
You're allowed 1 ear bud.
I carry a bell w/ a broken mount in my bag, so if I get pulled over, I can at least say that I have one but the mount broke halfway during my ride.
Any ticket I get would probably be for reckless driving or running a light. Otherwise, I try to spec out my bike as legal as possible not because I like obeying the law but because I want to be seen on the road.

wheezl

I have so far not had any problems in Manhattan or Brooklyn. I generally blow lights right in front of cops. If it's like the usual attempt by the city to hassle people they have probably assigned a few cops to do this work so that word would get around. (Looks like it's working )

I can't wait to vote against Bloomberg even though it does not look like Ferrer has a chance. NYC likes to pretend it's liberal but it's a lie.


edit: I should add that the way I blow lights and the way slvoid blows lights are totally different

Toasted

In Texas you don't have to carry ID when on a bicycle. They can ASK you for ID, but you don't have to show them. You just have to give them the information that would be ON the ID and they can verify whether it's correct or not. If not then you get arrested for providing false ID.

But the stupid thing is they require lights front and rear and reflectors front and rear. It would make my life so much easier to only have to mount lights and not figure out how to mount my big light and big reflector. Stupid law makers! But I guess it's better than Georgia that requires nothing more than a head light and rear reflector.

bostontrevor

You don't have to have ID on you, but you have to be able to present it when asked. There's a difference, minute though it may be.

I will just get up on my soap box and say this is a perfect example of why mandatory bike lane laws are completely broken. To everyone who says that the police will exercise good sense and never spuriously enforce it, I say bull.

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.

Having ridden in NY, I can tell you that the bike lanes are completely worthless. The ironic thing is that while the lane itself is striped immediately adjacent to on-street parking with insufficient width to keep out of the door zone, there's often a hashed off barrier between the bike lane and moving traffic. This hashed off zone is actually a great place to ride other than the thermoplastic makes it a bit bumpy.

I really wish TA would get off their idiotic bike lane crusade.

slvoid

Yeah, i actually stop and look both ways.

pharnabazos

The sixth ave. bike lane is, however, perfectly sized for Nuts-4-Nuts and hotdog vendors wheeling their carts the wrong way with no reflectors or lights right after work. Wait until it gets dark at 5, then the fun really begins!

oboeguy

I like slvoid's idea for a bell.

I guess I'm "lucky" to work have long hours. I'm not out on my bike when the cops are ticketing.