"Turns out we can't just legislate things that make us mad, but we're trying"

@pd2009 I can't tell if you're being facetious... "Safety" by way of ticketing? They target relatively harmless people on crabon wunderbikes in Central Park because generally those people can be expected to likely have the money to pay the fine, not have the time to fight it in court, or give the cop much guff about it. I think it's roundly agreed upon (at least amongst people who cycle) that the food deliverymen are the worst offenders, so ticketing those retards actually might lend to the safety of the general public. Freds putzing around the loop aren't a danger to anyone really.

Why is the NYPD only looking after the safety of wealthy cyclists on expensive rides in Central Park? Since it's about safety, why not protect all citizens from roadway traffic, and perform a ticket blitz on jaywalking. Is safety only afforded those who can pay for crabon fiber bikes?

How about the little old ladies who hobble across the street.. when the light turns and they quarter way across the street.... Are they jaywalking?

TheFacts' head explodes

So, we keep the current laws.

Problem is, the current law is bad.

It says this:
Bicyclists have all the rights and are subject to all the duties applicable to drivers of motor vehicles. This includes obeying all traffic signals, regulating signs and pavement markings. Bicycle riding is permitted on arterial and local streets throughout the City even though no designated route exists. Bicycle riding is prohibited on the roadways of certain bridges, expressways and highways. Often a separate path exists on these facilities for bicycles.

Soooo... an emissions inspection? A windshield crack inspection? Fuel line inspection?

All vehicles must pass this test: "Drum brake linings - thickness of linings must be at least 1/16 inch on bonded linings or at least 1/32 inch over rivet head on riveted linings, with no loose or missing rivets or lining."

Is that for bikes too?

And if bikes are prohibited on certain places, how are they traffic? I mean, the first sentence itself comes out of WTF-land.

Stepped-up enforcement of bike traffic infractions is silly. In reality, bikes running lights is only as bad as jaywalking. In fact, most cyclists--especially the dreaded, evil (gasp!) DELIVERY folks--are more agile on their wheels than you and I are on our feet.

Often I watch a bike run a red light and the pedestrian yelling at him is mad because he himself wasn't able to jaywalk across a do-not-walk sign. In comment sections from gothamist to the nypost, you would think that we've got an epidemic of incompetent kids with training wheels on their bikes (when what we really have is a city of pedestrians that jaywalk like a bad FROGGER player). Each time, the biker sees the pedestrian and SAFELY runs the light knowing that nobody's gonna get hurt.

It goes beyond that: more than once I've seen a pedestrian yell at a bike STANDING at the light. And then it goes like this: when it turns green, the pedestrian yells as he starts moving forward! This, when the pedestrians are several feet away! With my current understanding of physics, there's no way this could become a collision.

No, What we really have is a city that has found a politically-vulnerable scapegoat.

The law should be changed to be clear about what "traffic" is. Are we going to start giving people pushing shopping carts red-light tickets instead of jaywalking tickets? Are we going to start giving traffic violations and DMV points to skateboarders who run red lights? What about rollerbladers? Should people with strollers be issued two tickets when they jaywalk? And can I sue the car companies (like smokers did the tobacco companies), if I get lung cancer from working near the Holland Tunnel?

Of course, the real issue in New York, and other cities is that fast, reliable public transportation is still lacking, (ask outer borough residents) and that bike vs. pedestrian is a big red herring. Regardless, when can we finally get a set of laws that can adapt to all modes of transportation that adhere to a reasonable sense of human interaction?

*checks watch*...Maybe never, or slightly sooner?

What will likely happen is some kind of legislation will be enacted, at the city if not state level, and there will be a period of harassment, but cops will get tired of it after a while and move onto something else.

So far anyway, the whole flow-of-traffic thing worked much better when there weren't really any bike lanes. Enforcement (which was largely self-enforcement, since it wasn't any ticket you worried about, it was getting your guts splattered on the asphalt) worked pretty much the way it would look if your radical idea of recognizing, in the law, the subtle differences between a bicycle and an F1-pickup; were ever to come to fruit.

but they're not improving they're enforcement

Thank you, professional spokesperson. Your doing real good!

I think you missed the important words, "reached by phone." Offhand, I'd say the error was due to JDS's transcription abilities.

Ah, you are right.

Too bad.... I ride a bicycle out here in in the city if Long Beach, Long Island, NY and carry homeowners insurance on my co-op apartment to protect my liabilty if I hit someone with my bicycle. I pay $225 for one million dollars for protection against lawsuits. I would not mind a license fee.

If only there had been some way for DenDekker to gauge public opinion on the subject and study possible legal remedies before he proposed his bill. It's really too bad that polling and Google are not available to our elected officials.

really, i never would have predicted that...