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Ever wonder how the NYPD treats cyclists on Bizarro world? Instead of locking horns with Critical Mass, or writing ridiculous tickets, or ignoring drivers who turn bike lanes into double-parking lots, or parking in bike lanes themselves, perhaps they'd take a less adversarial approach to pedaling commuters who brave this car-clogged city. Well, as a contrast to last year's infamous cop vs. bike bodyslam video, here's a look at the kind of treatment cyclists get from the police in the Bizarro world that is Denmark: free helmets and hugs. Awww.
To be sure, many NYPD officers are a paradigm of professionalism, courtesy and respect toward cyclists, and the department periodically sets up stations in parks to register bicycles with an identification number. Also, "hugging it out" probably isn't such an effective tactic when it comes to policing NYC, and we're not sure we'd be so comfortable with that, either. For the record, last year the city distributed 1,000 free helmets to cyclists, and more freebies are expected this year when Bike Month NYC kicks off in May.
And this just in: Tomorrow morning the Netherlands will give NYC 200 bright orange Dutch-manufactured Batavus bikes as a gift to celebrate "400 years of friendship" between Amsterdam and old New Amsterdam. (That's one wheel for every unforgettable year.) According to the press release, "The arrival of the bikes occurs on the Dutch national Queens Day holiday, which will be celebrated with a Queen’s Day Biking Tour starting at 9:30 a.m. at Hudson River Park’s Pier 84 at 42nd Street. More than 100 of the bikes will participate in the tour, ridden by cyclists clad in bright-orange t-shirts, who will take off up the Hudson towards Grants Monument where they will stop to enjoy a picnic and listen to the Dutch Queen’s Day Carillon Concert at the Riverside Church attended by Lou Reed." Guess David Byrne was unavailable?
After the concert, the riders will make their way to the Museum of the City of New York to visit the exhibition Amsterdam/New Amsterdam: The Worlds of Henry Hudson. The ride is open to the public, but we're told they only have a limited amount of the free bikes and all will be used. Later, the bikes will be available for a variety of specific events and programming throughout the summer, to be detailed at a press conference tomorrow morning.
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Ummm, I hate to break it to you like this, but that's actually a pic of Officer Martinez greeting his sister Consuelo as she rides by on her bike.
We could learn a lot from Europe. Instead, we choose ignorance and fear.
what? shut up! no way!?
I wonder if Dutch cyclists run through red lights and cut off pedestrians while swearing at them too.
Some of the NYPD has been supportive of cycling - there are some leaders in Brooklyn who work well with Transportation Alternatives, etc.
They let all the females pass without stopping them, and all the ones that they do stop and hug are ... men... cute, young men.
A cop hugged me while I was riding on Delancey Street a few weeks ago. She was directing traffic and some jerk cut me off and almost ran me over, then screeched to a halt right in front of us since, dumb as he was, he wasn't going to turn into oncoming traffic. I was going to get off my bike and have a few words with the jerk, and perhaps reshape his vehicle, but as I started to get off she grabbed and held on to me -- she was pretty big -- and said something like, "All right now. It's all right. Go ahead!" This calmed me down -- I wasn't going to argue with a cop, so when she let me go, instead of getting in a fight, I went ahead. She should have given Mr. Jerk a ticket, but I think he escaped, doubtless to provoke some other ill fate down the road.
So you see, you just have to get the right cop.
No credit to Boing Boing for the original post on that video? For shame.
http://boingboing.net/2009/04/28/police-in-denmark-hu.html
I'm always happy to link to whatever site I find content on, but in this case a YouTube link was sent directly to me. By the time I saw it this morning, it was already on many sites.
The problem w/ NYPD is that they CAN be professional and even courteous sometimes, but then suddenly decide one day that they are going to hand out as many bogus tickets as possible, and be assholes about it, so you never know where you stand. Therefore I fear and detest them all.
And dont even THINK about having a moped in the city. You will be stopped constantly w/ bogus tickets, no matter how law abiding you are. This is how they fill thier quotas.
that's what I heard from one scooter owner.
he came here to go to school and thought a scooter would be a great way to get around.
too bad he got stopped by the cops so many times that he decided to sell it. he got tickets for incorrect lane usage or something.
makes me glad I had a motorcycle back then when no one gave a crap.
"..treatment cyclists get from the police in the Bizarro world that is Denmark."
Headline, howver, refers to the Dutch. That would make it in the Netherlands not Denmark. I guess all northern, white Europeans are alike when you never leave Brooklyn.
Or maybe you're just too simple to grasp that the comma in the headline is separating two distinct bits of information. The video is from Denmark, the bikes are coming from the Netherlands.
Touche.
More like Pwned.
In Denmark there are bike lanes before the sidewalks that are completely separated from the road and from cars.
NYC is not Denmark, nor is it Portland. People here drive aggressively. It's not necessarily about how well you can ride your bike (and hopefully people who ride fixed gear bikes, etc. can handle them), it's also about the drivers (particularly taxi/livery cab drivers) who speed through the city with reckless abandon.
Until drivers can respect cyclists or NYC gets separated bike lanes, it will never be a utopia for cycling.
In Denmark there are bike lanes before the sidewalks that are completely separated from the road and from cars.
NYC is not Denmark, nor is it Portland. People here drive aggressively. It's not necessarily about how well you can ride your bike (and hopefully people who ride fixed gear bikes, etc. can handle them), it's also about the drivers (particularly taxi/livery cab drivers) who speed through the city with reckless abandon.
Until drivers can respect cyclists or NYC gets separated bike lanes, it will never be a utopia for cycling.
Bad touch.
But enforcing helmet laws with free helmets and courtesy is very smart. Though it might cost a pretty penny and could be taken advantage of...sigh, but well intended and probably effective in the long run.