Walk sign? What walk sign? Photo by Avi on Sunday.
Since we reported a couple of weeks ago that police in Central Park were cracking down on bicyclists who break the law when riding in Central Park, we’ve heard about some action in the park. Police have been out with speed guns, and have been handing out brochures explaining the rules to cyclists.
They’ve also installed digital signs that say “Bicyclists Must Obey All Vehicle Traffic Rules.”
We haven’t, however, heard much about people getting ticketed (word of bicyclists getting $200+ tickets tends to spread fast).
So is the education campaign working?
Early results aren’t so promising. A few hundred yards from one of the digital signs that was installed last weekend, every single bicyclist I saw (about a dozen) went through the light when it turned red. This weekend, the results were pretty much the same, with bicyclists coasting through the lights. A digital sign was placed right in front of a light around 74th Street on the West Side warning folks to follow the rules, but in 10 minutes the light didn’t turn red once, and pedestrians eventually gave up waiting and just crossed against the light anyway.
Our readers have lots of opinions about this issue, and posted numerous insightful comments on our last article; in our totally unscientific poll, most argued for police to crack down.
If any of you have been ticketed lately, been handed a brochure, or have an opinion about the digital signs, let us know in the comments.
Video of digital sign below:
A crack down is necessary and not only in Central Park. Cyclists seem to think all of the parks and paths, streets and side walks are training space for that Tour de France. It is ridiculous. Whoosh, sneer, get out of my way. Bikes are great but it’s dangerous.
I have not been ticketed but I was almost hit by a NYPD cruiser in the park when he turned left without looking for cyclist. I’m with so many “bike haters” I would have gotten a ticket for destroying city property if he hit me. The park should be for recreation for everyone not just runners and walkers.
I totally agree with Pedestrian – and I would also like to point out what’s going in in Riverside Park between 95th Street and the Promenade where most bicyclists (and there are plenty of them in the morning) routinely whiz along, weaving around children, adults and dogs. There is signage suggesting they slow down, but, of course, that is largely ignored. I doubt education will work, as again, most, but not all, cyclists have no desire to be educated.
Totally agree! And they are really bad at Riverside in the high 90’s low 100’s where they zoom through the lights on the downhill side. Scary stuff, that.
Yes, I agree it is bad in parts on riverside and the light timing sequence doesn’t help matters much either. There is usually 1 unmarked car stationed on RSD from 110-120 ticketing cyclists at red lights every weekend. Most people coming/going from the city via bike are on that stretch of road given its relationship to CP. I would expect RSD / Hudson river bike path cycling traffic to increase as people are avoiding CP.
If it’s already a massive penalty to actually hit a pedestrian, how is a $300 fine going to help in upscale NYC when there are hours at a time of zero pedestrians? When the cars are banned in evenings why not just turn the stoplights off so that pedestrians no longer risk being falsely confident of crossing safety? Do you want a solution or do you want a perfect little Fellini movie all night long? A helmet ban would also make bikers a lot more careful and would naturally slow them down by wind energy alone. Helmets have an “SUV effect” that people are encouraged to Google. Instead of an excuse to ticket rich bikers how about a crosswalk button that allows pedestrians themselves to activate the damn stoplight?! Oh, can’t have that, can we? It could also shine a light in the crosswalk so bikers could actually *see* the pedestrians instead of just be blinded by bright red lights. Alas liberal arts majors don’t even desire engineering solutions to problems since they too much enjoy finger waging culture wars. Dem darn bikers must pay useless homage to grandma’s pace of life, with the cops running around punishing them all day for releasing stress in extreme bouts of exertion.
I think that if the police truly were conducting an education campaign, that would be great. We have very different stories coming from cyclists who have been ticketed, even when they were following the law. THAT (and those big digital signs) are a way of singling out one group. Let’s do some speed gunning in the park and see how fast the cars are going. Let’s do a survey and see how many pedestrians cross the street totally randomly and without the light. I personally think we need to get the cars out of the park and re-organize the park to be a place for people, all sorts of people. Walkers, bikers, strollers, scooterers, roller bladders. Once we get the cars out, there is room to rethink the 49 lights and the park drives in general. Until then, let’s be fair and not condemn cycling because you saw someone go through a red light. If we treated drivers the same way and with as much scrutiny, we would’ve banned cars from the city already.
This would not be an issue if the park drive were not doing double duty as a recreational space AND a traffic artery. Get the cars out and there is absolutely no reason for 40+ signalized intersection and treating the drive as a conventional street rather than a recreational space. In car-free European parks, different park users negotiate the space with no problem. Too many signalized intersections creates unrealistic expectations on everyone’s part, and mandating that cyclists stop at each and every one defeats the purpose of the park for them. There are ways to make the space work and be safe for all users, but pretending recreating cyclists are commuting cars is not one of them. The current response of the precinct and parks officials is ham-handed, unimaginative and very disappointing.
145 dead New Yorkers, all killed by cars this year. Zero killed by bikes.
There are big problems in Central Park, to be sure, and cyclists need to respect pedestrians a heck of a lot more, but let’s keep things in perspective. Where’s the education campaign for drivers all over the city?
I think it is a misguided attempt. Enforcing traffic rules in a park (when closed to cars) isn’t the best solution. Without cars, cyclists should be yielding to pedestrians at all times no matter what color the light is. People cross the street everywhere and at any time (since it is a park). The rules of the road should acknowledge that and ticket those who ride dangerously (too fast, too close to others, not yielding to pedestrians).
Keep in mind that the lights in Central Park are timed for 25mph. That isn’t exactly the type of behavior we want to encourage either.
The option of flashing lights and/or push to cross have been looked into, but the traffic light system in CP isn’t modern enough to accommodate those changes.
For a view of cars speeding in Central Park (with police amongst them), check out this video. Cyclists are being singled out in Central Park while motorists speed through our green paradise without a care in the world. If this video doesn’t work, it’s from the Transportation Alternatives East Side Committee Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=115022231907278&set=vb.159344534116757&type=2&theater
I agree that the park should be completely car-free at all times. You can them remove many of the lights (over 40 now exist). Also, the lights should be timed according to time of day. The lights should be timed in favor of cyclists before 10AM and after 5PM so that they can actually get exercise during those times (something you dont get by riding at 10 MPH and having to stop constantly) and during the core daytime hours, when the park is pedestrian-friendly, the lights can be timed in favor of pedestrians. There is no reason for cyclists to have to come to a full stop at an empty crosswalk, but cyclists do need to slow down as they approach the lighted crosswalks — most do, but it only takes one bad apple…
I agree that pedestrians are at equal fault. I constantly watch pedestrians jaywalk absent-minded, not looking, often focused on their iPhone or guidebook. They are an equal danger to themselves and runners and cyclists. Perhaps the cops should focus on educating peds….
I think there’s a lot of room for improvement, especially at key intersections. I ride in the park every day. Getting people (esp. tourists) to stop at lights in the northern reaches of the park is beyond silly. But, selecting some key intersections in the southern parts of the park and enforcing lights makes sense. And I’m not sure why a tourist blowing through a light is less hazardous than a local. Let’s ticket all.
One companion problem to be solved is people are used to crossing roads anywhere, anytime they feel like it—usually without looking.
Those of us on bikes can’t help but alarm someone who stepped into the road without a look. As I explained to someone who stepped in front of me without looking, the laws of physics trump the laws of Central Park.
And by the way, let’s get accurate about speeds. By far, the vast majority of the regulars are riding at 18-22 mph. Bike/rider combinations that produce speeds over this are not common. 30-35 mph is extremely unlikely.
I usually never post or comment on these types of stories but one time this week when I was out cycling – police officers were actually standing by a light stopping all cyclists at a red light. I was so surprised!! I have been biking seriously over a year now in central park and have never seen this before. very strange…..