During a ride in the park this morning starting at 7AM two park police were monitoring the red lights after the downhill following Harlem hill. I stopped at the lights when they were red, but I assume these guys were prepared to give out tickets. If you ran the first light, they would have caught you at the second.
I talked with one of them and he said that they would be monitoriing in the time period 7AM-10AM.
I encountered similar patrols Tuesday morning, around 8:00AM. Very friendly park police officers stationed at each of the traffic lights, south of Harlem Hill. They were standing right in the middle of the bike lane. We chatted about the weather while I waited for the light to change.
Maybe it's quota time?
How else do you think they are going to pay for the repaving?
"I went down to Central pk from the Bronx where I live Wed morning to do some laps.I entered the park from Lenox and climed Harlem hill,went down the other side barely ran the light when I saw the first park police and when I approached the second one he was talking on the portable radio to the first cop(probably saying to let him go since he barely ran the light).So I asked the second cop ""are you monitoring the cyclist"",he said he was.So I immediately departed from the park to GWB and went to do some riding in Jersey.While I was riding away I couldnt help to think that here in NYC there arent many places to ride.I have to go to Jersey and when I go there I have to deal with the police there and the owners of the million dollar homes that complain because the dont want you in their neighborhood.I actually thought about giving cycling up because it to the point where your either gonna get killed by some cab driver that dont care about a human life because back where he's from thats how it is or I'm gonna continually have run ins with the police and get tickets.The politicians dont know or care that continuous riding is what brings fitness,stopping at every stop light or stop sign isnt gonna do me any good I may as well sell my bike and take up running(I run during the winter).The runners arent getting ticketed for jay walking.So what the politicians and the police do is make the world black and white and they say,""you broke a rule here's a summons"" mainly because for whatever their reasons are they are trying to discourage you to ride your bike.Then there is the issue of space,there isnt much left so as a result there is conflict and the conflict leads to bad politics.Judging from the insanely bad politics that I have witnessed on my place of enployement at nycta for the last 13 years I have come to the conclusion that if its the last thing I do I am moving away from this city to go to Georgia.I have seen this place go from bad to worse and the park police in Central park is just another form of bad politics.I remember on the news a few months ago they were talking about the vehicular traffic here in NYC,the mayor and his people assured us that there wasnt more trafffic it just seemed that way becuae people are driving bigger cars!!???I dont know about anyone else but my brain tells me all the realestate that is developing must be bringing in more people,and more cars.Another promise I made to myself when I leave here I want to ride from N.Y. to GA.Rich"
Fake cop on foot.
You on bike.
Raise hand in air, offer the Hawaiian good luck sign, and exit park at first opportunity.
I saw a rider getting a ticket today right there today at about 7:15 am. I assumed it was for going through the light. He didn't look happy.
Everytime I read about the police on this site it is some form of a complaint. It's nice to hear that they were curteous and informative. Doesn't seem like they want to give out tickets if they are telling you when they will be there.
The police were actually quite polite and friendly (at least to me). I have no idea what the objective is with these controls, since it doesn't seem to have any deterent effect except at those lights where an officer is stationed.
I suppose some pedestrian might have complained after 'nearly being run down' by a cyclist at some crossing. Not that pedestrians are exactly paragons of virtue in this context. Had to test my bike handling skills this morning when a pedestrian walked out in the road right in front of me without looking up (while talking on her cell phone...)
the cop pulls me over yelling quite loud and threathening to arrest me if I do not stop.
Curteous !
The cop that was by the light I really did not see it since he was chatting with the other two guys and he was not not in the bike lane when I passed through.
I only heard people behind me yelling stop at the light !!!
Now the summons that I got is code 105 sect 1-13 and says that I did not yield to right of way ...
and that I need to appear in court ???
Love being treated like a criminal while riding a bike squeezed between cars that contribute to the 1% of the green gases in US...
Anybody got this thing before and what have they done about it ?
It is really disappointing to see how this city goes against *any* citizen that does not 'drive' a car.
I the meantime I will do the rabbit pace while crossing the streets chased by all kinds of vehicles that do not even think of yielding....
This happened to me last summer. I made the mistake of standing on my principles in court (I'm a freelancer and had to take a day off work for this nonsense). My principles cost me another day off work, another day in court, and instead of paying 20 bucks and keeping my mouth shut, I paid 50 and lost TWO days of work. You cannot fight this and win without spending much time, money, and angst.
Good luck.
I got ticketed last summer for the same thing, missed my court date and haven't heard another thing about it. I understand from others that got ticketed and showed up for court that the vast majority of the tickets were thrown out, except those heard by the judge who wrote a very personal anti-cycling op-ed piece to the Times. She used the court hearing to air her personal feelings about cyclists and upheld the tickets and fines.
if you send in the summons by mail with a 'not guilty' plea (there's info on the back on how to do this, if i remember correctly), there's an excellent chance it will be dismissed and you won't even have to go to court. last year i got 2 of these, replied 'not guilty', and wrote a reason - 'faulty summons' (handwriting was illegible, and address of offence was incorrect - cop was too sloppy to even get it right), and both were dismissed.
In my case above, there was no provision for a plea in writing - either pay the fine or show up in dourt.
"One fall evening in '05, I was riding up 6th Ave, when a police car, lights flashing, pulls up alongside me and asks to see my ID. Officer driving says I had rolled through a steady red, a few blocks south. He writes the ticket, gets in a couple of nasty remarks about ""you bikers"", and then Have A Nice Day...
I check Not Guilty, mail it off, and arrive for the hearing, hoping the cop doesn't show. But he does, and is greeted by name by the judge and the clerk. Uh-oh, he's a regular. Not a good sign, there.
So they call my case, and the officer speaks first. Says he was directly behind me, at the right-side curb, and saw me, in the bike lane, go through the red.
My turn to speak. You were in the RIGHT lane, Officer, and behind me? Yes. And I was in the bike lane? Yes. I looked at the judge. The 6th Ave bike lane is on the LEFT side of the road, your honor. The cop smirks and shrugs, but the judge and the clerk raise their eyebrows and nod slightly. Maybe all's not lost after all.
And, I continue, that if the officer was just a few yards behind me, why follow and pull me over 3 blocks later? Why not right away? I contended that I had committed no infraction, that the officer's testimony about his placement was contradictory, and his view of the incident was not as clear as he reported.
The judge asks if there's anything else I'd like to say. No. ""Well, then, we have enough to close this case, you can pay your fine at the front desk"".
"
I don't get it... You got fined regardless of your testimony? Are you calling yourself a fool? Why didn't you appeal, if you went through all that trouble already?
"If the cop shows up, you have no chance. He could probably say he was blind drunk, and can't remember anything, and they'd still find you guilty!
""All that effort"" consisted of a half-hour round trip bike ride, and twenty minutes in the hearing room. I'd had enough...
"
Last year I was also stopped at the bottom of the Shakespeare hill on the CP roadway [that's what I call it] and was treated gruffly, ordered around and given a warning never to run red lights again. At the same time in my daily commute I see cars constantly running red lights, blocking bicycle lanes so they become useless and basically violating traffic rules with impunity. There certainly are nice, decent police but as long as the police target and harass cyclists and ignore auto violations this agenda against bicyclists can only be considered institutional bullying.
"unless you strongly need to avoid the ticket.
If you did something illegal, just take your ticket and leave. If you didn't and they keep lecturing you, ask for the ticket and say you want it and want to leave. If they won't give you a ticket but insist on the lecture, keep asking ""Can I go now or are you going to give me a summons.""
I don't put up with cops on ego."
It really amazes me to hear about the deep seeded hatred of cyclists in this city. I just don't get it.
People resent cyclists because they know in their heart of hearts that we are doing something healthy for ourselves and they are (subconciously) jealous of that fact. Most people, you see, take better care of their cars or lawns than they do of themselves. Then they see you all healthy (and maybe happy) biking to work, doing something to improve their health, etc.. it bugs them. Makes sense in a way.
I have the same stupid jealousy of very wealthy people - i hate them before i even know them. I see a nice mercedes and I think the driver is an ass for no good reason. It could be Mother Theresa behind the wheel. Shame on me, but I think its the same thing at play.
No, they hate us because they see us as cases of arrested development who they think should grow up and get a car. That, and we get in their way.
I just spoke with Noah at Transportation Alternatives. Most tickets in Central Park are for red-light running, and they're all pretty much the same. So it's not hard to see that there's a pattern of harassment of cyclists.
The best thing you can do is to call the Central Park Conservancy and the CP Precinct to complain.
You can also send an email to [email protected] to report the circumstances of your ticket. TA tracks these reports and complains to various entities at some point.
For tickets given outside the park, it's especially important to report to TA, because there the circumstances vary. TA wants to track these tickets so it can gather evidence of anti-cycling practices.
