Yes, it’s still bike month in NYC but the ticket blitz is on ($200 for running a red, $60 for a “non-working horn”). There is a trap at 38th and 6th Ave. Rumor has it they are also going to start cracking down in CP. Be careful out there.
Prices went up! I remember paying $125 two years ago for running a red light. But what is the story with the “horn”. Are you required to have one?
According to the NYvehicle and traffic laws, Section 1236(b): “No person shall operate a bicycle unless it is equipped with a bell or other device capable of giving a signal audible for a distance of at least one hundred feet, except that a bicycle shall not be equipped with nor shall any person use upon a bicycle any siren or whistle.”
Thanks Rudy for that one – he put it in. All the rules are here:
$200.00! That’s just ugly and wrong. Thanks for the head’s up. It seems like the cops are less stringent (or selective) here in Brooklyn, but I have heard they love to single out fixed gear art punk/messengers in Williamsburg. Figures. Meanwhile cars and trucks drive around NYC like it’s the wild west or something.
Be safe out there.
“No person shall operate a bicycle unless it is equipped with a bell or other device capable of giving a signal audible for a distance of at least one hundred feet, except that a bicycle shall not be equipped with nor shall any person use upon a bicycle any siren or whistle.”
So if I’m reading that right you can’t use a whistle while you’re on a bike either? What, are they worried that I’m going to swallow it?
So this being slowtwitch, we now have to locate/nominate the most aero solution to the problem of mounting a horn or bell on a tri bike. I nominate this: http://www.mirrycle.com/barend.htm bar-end mounted bell for people with clip-on aerobars.
Lee
Watch it coming over the BB into Manny. If I recall, you essentially have to run a red light to get off the bridge. They have given tixs out over there before, but it looks like the 6th Ave messenger circut and CP morning loopers are their current focus. No reason to get a fine if you don’t have to, would cut into the price of wheels and such.
Can I run that bell in draft legal races?
Does it come in a grey DA-10 version?
So many bells, so little mounting space.
If it makes karmic sense I did see a car get pulled over for driving in CP during non car hours early yesterday.
The driver didn’t get ticketed but the unmarked police car forced him to exit CP.
Cracking down in Central Park? If we have to stop at all of the lights, the ride would be worthless. Are people really getting tickets?
The tickets I have heard about are for a) running the red lights in the a.m. while cars are also in the park (this sort of makes sense to me and b) riding the wrong way in the defined lanes.
Okay, so I am a country bumpkin red neck from Illinois…I bring my bike to NYC and run a light…what are they going to do if I never pay the ticket? Suspend my cycling license? They certainly can not alter my drivers license as a bike is not a motor vehicle. Maybe that is like my parking ticket from Madision Wi that I got last year…pay it…or what?
Check it out. Years ago when I was in the Navy I used to drive from Norfolk up to NJ for the weekend to visit my fiance and family. One of those weekends, I drove my fiance and my grandfather to Mass, and on the way home I got a ticket for making an illegal left turn.
Well, I drive back to Norfolk, pull out to sea, and promptly forget all about the ticket. When we pull back into port some months later, I call my parents, who are, strangely, pissed off at me. The cops have been to their house looking for me. They’d issued a warrant for my arrest!
Moral of the story- if you don’t pay the ticket, better make sure you stay out of the jurisdiction.
One way to play it and I am not advocating doing this but let’s just say that it is feasible – tell them you don’t have ID; they would either have to let you go or arrest you, and they are not going to cuff you. Your other option is to flee. Again, I am not advocating that, but I doubt they are going to radio a car to haul you in. Translation, think like a New Yorker.
However, on the more up and up, see the link below:
If you get pulled over for any type of infraction you are required by law to provide your personal information. If you lie about your info, which is easily detected with a couple questions and a records check, then you can be arrested for ‘obstructing legal process’. You’ve now gone from a minor traffic infraction to a crime.
I would suggest just fleeing. we are not going to waste our time chasing you.
you get pulled over for any type of infraction you are required by law to provide your personal information. Hold on there, sparky! I think that depends on local or state law. Where I’m from, you are required to produce a driver’s license if you’re stopped in your car, since you need to have a driver’s license to drive. I don’t think you need to produce ID if you’re on a bike. Although if you lie about your identity, you will be charged for that.
You are not required to produce a DL or any other ID, but you are required to provide your information, even if it’s just verbal.
Yeah, not here. You can choose to remain silent about that, though if you really wanted to press the issue, I think it would cost you quite a lot of detention time.
so I am going to be in Manhattan for a week in June and will be riding each day in Central Park. I guess that means I need to get one of those little bells for my bike. I just got back from Supergo, wish I had read this before I had gone to the store.
Actually, just obey the traffic laws in the park while other traffic is around and you will be fine. They won’t get you for the bell unless they are getting you for another infraction. A few folks have reported geting a ticket for running a red, apologizing and then having the ticket marked down to “no horn”.
I was riding with a guy in the San Diego Bike Club about 10 years ago. I stopped at, but he rolled through, a stop sign. A cop pulled us over to give him a ticket. My “friend” made up a name and we went on. About 2 miles down the road, that cop and two others came screeching up to us. They cuffed him, took him away and called a tow truck to impound his bike.
I ran into him a few months later. The whole incident had ended up costing him over $5,000 in legal fees and fines, and he was going to spend weekends for the next six months after that picking up trash with all the drunk driver convicts.
Don’t lie about your name!