Last year I was stopped by police for going through a red light in Central park. I was given a warning but in all my more than thirty years riding in CP I have never seen a cyclist that stopped at red lights in the park. On my ride home on the Central Park West bike lane I stop at red lights at major intersections but I don't usually stop at other lights and have never seen any cyclist stop at these lights. On my ride I always see motorists going through the red lights and some taxi's are always blocking the lane forcing me into traffic. I really want to know if there are really cyclists who follow all the traffic regulations or are they just giving lipservice to them. On group rides do riders really stop at all lights? If these rules are regularly being ignored maybe there is something wrong with the way the regulations are written for cyclists.
Traffic regulations
"They don't write the regulations to fit the way people use their vehicles, (most drivers exceed speed limits, make rolling stops, etc), they write them so the cops can stop just about anybody whenever they feel like it and issue a summons for the purpose of fund-raising and also harassment of those they deem in need of harassment.
If we stay under their radar, (as your keen observation bears out), all's good. But when we get on their radar scope, (the CM/Times-up ride, news-worthy cyclist/ped accidents, letters to the NYT about food delivery cyclists on the sidewalk), the tickets start.
Also, just some basic overcrowding can get people looking at who's invading ""their space"" and get them complaining to their elected reps who then feel the need to ""do something"".
How many votes do you think a politician who banned bikes would loose? How many would he GAIN? Depends on how many people we piss-off.
Non-cyclists don't look at us as valiant warriors against ""greenhouse gases,"" but as cases of arrested development who may need to be arrested. Things are good when we are invisible.
We're a minority in a democracy, and at its most basic, a democracy is 2 wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch. Let's not be lunch."
may i add the daily terrorizing of pedestrians by the returning New Jersey riders on riverside drive? This behaviour causes a lot of animosity. These people have more of a chance to register complaints against cyclist than the out of town drivers that CM annoys a couple minutes a month
That's funny, I've never noticed terrorism against the peds on Riverside Drive. But whatever the cause, we're now on the police radar and so can't get away with as much as we used to.
