It's official... no red lights in Prospect Park

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2 replies [Last post]
Anonymous's picture
Anonymous

"I just got back from riding in Prospect Park. On my first lap, a car screeched to a halt at a red light, (he was speeding), then went right through before it turned green. On my second lap, 3 cars in a group went right through the same light and the one after that, (maybe they were drafting a la NASCAR), without a brakelight twinkling among them.

I mentioned it to a bike cop. I suggested that they post a car or motorcycle unit to catch the offenders and raise some revenue for the city. He replied, ""we don't really enforce the red lights in the park, we have other things to do.""

Maybe he's looking for exploding backpacks. Or doughnuts. Or some other priority.

Anyway, since the law is supposed to treat all equally, I guess we can blow through the lights, too, and not worry about tickets, right?

I'm not that gung-ho for ticketing, (I don't think it does much to change behavior), I want the cars out of the park. A recreational facility is no place for lead-foot commuters rushing home to dinner. If they cut through the park, maintain the speed limit and stop at the lights they don't really save time over taking the local streets around the park. The only way it ""pays"" to go through the park is to speed and run lights.

The only sensible thing to do is get the cars out, especially at this time of year when people are still out riding and it gets dark early."

Anonymous's picture
Tony Mantione (not verified)
cars in P.P.

"Passing through P.P. every day on my commute to work I see many cars going around the ""barriers"" and using the park drive ( beyound the legal section from Ocean Ave to the parking lot.) It seems that there is a secret code for not getting ticketed by the police that dutyfully patrol the park. By using their flashers, motorists are ""allowed"" to circumvent the barriers unopposed by any law enforcement authority.
I suspect that these motorists are most likely park workers,off duty P.O.,or members of other city agency, that know the trick on how to illegaly use the park drives. And as Bill mentioned, hardly any of the offending motorists stop for red lights. Confronting on duty officers yelds the same response ,""We have more serious issues to worry about"".
I will be the first to admit that the park is a very,very safe place to ride during the day,( at least the main drives) and that the heavy police presence is a welcome sight. During car free hours, I will ride in the car lanes and let the illegal cars blow their horn all they want, they usually go around as the park is not heavyly populated to provide a rolling road block to motorists."

Anonymous's picture
Rob M (not verified)
Ha Ha

Nice. I saw a cyclist get a ticket for running a red in CP a few nights-a-go. Go the NYPD.

But seriously, I shouldn't be too harsh, I have only seen one crime in CP and the cops were all over the guy in less than a min.

cycling trips