The NYPD has begun an enormous crackdown on e-bike riders caught rushing and violating site visitors legal guidelines, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch stated Friday.
Because the operation started on April 28, cops have handed out 916 prison court docket summonses in opposition to wayward e-bikers — almost double the quantity that was given out all final yr, the NYPD stated.
“We are cracking down on e-bikes largely because we have gotten so many community complaints,” Tisch stated throughout an look on Fox 5’s “Good Day NY” Friday. “Every New York has had the experience of jumping out of the way or getting their kids out of the way of these e-bike riders.”
The enforcement was first reported on StreetsBlog NYC. Biking advocates say that the draconian crackdown was executed with none public discover and that pedal bike riders are being swept up on this unprecedented dragnet.
Cops started by specializing in closely traveled bike routes like Second Ave. in Manhattan and Flatbush Ave. in downtown Brooklyn, Tisch stated in an op-ed launched Thursday.
“We are cracking down and doing enforcement on the basic rules of the road — going too fast, running lights, going the wrong way,” Tisch defined. “Bikes are an important transportation method, but it doesn’t work without meaningful enforcement so they follow the basic safety rules.”
As a substitute of the normal site visitors ticket, the e-bike riders caught violating automobile site visitors legal guidelines are being given a prison court docket summons.
Bicycling advocacy group Transportation Options, which has stated the NYPD is unfairly concentrating on cyclists “where the punishment in no way equals the crime,” slammed the transfer on Friday.
“It’s alarming that a policy change that was snuck in without public notice has already escalated to become a massive crackdown,” stated Ben Furnas, the group’s government director.” Giving prison summonses to a whole lot of cyclists each week does nothing to make our streets safer. Drivers are nonetheless getting tickets for a similar offenses, regardless of placing pedestrians at rather more danger than cyclists ever may. This coverage is an egregious overreach, and we name on elected officers to demand the NYPD reverse it instantly.”
Tisch stated the NYPD switched to prison court docket summonses as a result of the site visitors tickets — which might result in one dropping their driver’s license in the event that they’re ignored — simply weren’t efficient on e-bike riders.
“They were nonsense and meaningless to e-bike riders, so we are now giving them criminal summonses for the reckless driving of e-bikes,” she stated.
Theodore Parisienne / New York Each day Information
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.(Theodore Parisienne / New York Each day Information)
