Thursday, June 9, 2011

You get a ticket

Apparently in New York, the police are allowed to give tickets to cyclists who are riding out of the bike lane.  I don't think it is illegal to ride out of the bike lane (I didn't look it up though, so don't count on that), I did it all the time when I was bicycle commuting so I'm glad I never got a ticket.  This guy got a $50 fine for riding out of the bike lane, in response he paid the fine and made this video.  He is a bit of a whiny biker who thinks they deserve everything because they ride their bike to work, but he makes a good point overall.  I am supportive of bicycle rights and think it is important to promote bicycle commuting so I agree with him that the ticket was ridiculous, and he made a funny video to support his case.  




He also makes a good point about ticketing people who park in the bike lane, it makes biking very dangerous, most of the time not only forcing bikers to go into the road where people are not expecting them, but you also have to worry about cars coming from side streets and driveways that may be just on the other side of the street.

Anyway, I hope they don't keep ticketing people for riding out of the bike lane, that would be very discouraging to commuters and cyclists in general.  He plays an audio clip at the end where he called in to a radio station and they claim that biking out of the bike lane is not illegal, so I guess I'm not in danger of being a criminal, at least in New York. 

S

1 comment:

  1. This is all over the internet now, I have had I don't even know how many friends on Facebook post it and seen it on every single blog that I read. I love that this guy did this, it's a humorous way to show that they are being ridiculous and it kinda draws attention to the situation without being way too dangerous.

    R

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