amwso

I received 4 tickets from NYPD in Manhattan for essentially the same incident: For going through a red light, but in line with the walk sign and to avoid cars turning at me. Furthermore, all the tickets said E-Bike, but I was riding a regular bicycle. Two of the tickets specifically said "Disobeying a red light on a bicycle with electric assist." Does anyone know if I can get these all dismissed off the bat because they labeled it as E-bike?

Bald Paul

I'm not a lawyer, but I played one on TV once.

If you have the original receipt for your bicycle that shows it is NOT an e-bike, maybe. Of course, you may be asked to prove you don't own any other bikes. But hey, it's worth a shot.
Last time I went to court to fight a traffic ticket, the officer didn't bother to show up, and the ticket was dismissed.

Clyde1820

I'd think that's the real issue. Not the semantics about "e-bikes" (which are getting fairly prevalent but which aren't really the point).

Might be worth contesting, if you want. But I wouldn't bank on it flying, as the essential infraction's still there.

blacknbluebikes 

I think the judge is going to look at you, ask "did you run the red light?", and you, under oath, are going to say, "Yes, but..." Then you hear the gavel and "Arrange for payment with the bailiff."
You must be new to NYC. Funny.

amwso

Appreciate the responses. I'm not new at all to NYC, but only started biking in the last year.

E-bike issue aside, Isn't it legal to the go with the walk signal? The City council passed this law in 2019 (I'd include a link but the website isn't letting me). It was a T intersection; the only traffic is going straight are turning left (so no oncoming traffic), and I went straight with the walk sign before the traffic light. The gave me a ticket for running the 'red light with electric assist' and for not yielding to a vehicle at the red light (which isn't the case because the cars were all behind me).

Clyde1820

I would bet: not for a vehicle, it's not. (Which a bike is, basically. Don't know the specific wording of the NYC ordinance in question, but I would be very surprised if that weren't the case.)

Walk the bike, and you'd be a pedestrian, under control of the "pedestrian walk" signal. If on/in a vehicle, you're subject to the red light itself, which all vehicles are.

Steve B.

Bikes are called "Moving Vehicles" in NY State

Sy Reene

OP's referring to this law/statute issue:
https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2022/09/...strian-signal/

GetUpnGo

Think of it from the pedestrians' point of view. When they have the WALK signal, they assume the street is clear and safe, so they're probably not on the lookout for cyclists. Pedestrians don't wear helmets---being hit by a cyclist could cause serious injury. Do you trust yourself 100% to not hit a pedestrian when you're in their space and they're doing unpredictable things? Sounds risky for you from a liability point of view. The law is intended to prevent moving vehicles of any type and pedestrians from being in the same place at the same time.

Sy Reene

No, the reference is to crossing in the same direction as pedestrians with the Walk signal but when the traffic light is still red. See photo below. The cyclist wouldn't ride in the crosswalk, but sorta where I drew the arrow which is where cyclist would normally be riding.

Paul Barnard

I read that, but didn't see the law, as written, either there or in any of the hotlinks.

GetUpnGo

[QUOTE=Sy Reene;22857479]No, the reference is to crossing in the same direction as pedestrians with the Walk signal but when the traffic light is still red. See photo below. The cyclist wouldn't ride in the crosswalk, but sorta where I drew the arrow which is where cyclist would normally be riding.QUOTE]

I got that, but my point still holds. Pedestrians aren't predictable. They can step out of the crosswalk at any time or decide to cross the street in front of the cyclist. Traffic laws are there to ensure that vehicles do predictable things, LIKE STOP AT RED LIGHTS.
The issue is simple: if bikes want to have the rights and privileges of vehicles, they need to follow traffic laws. End of story.

Sy Reene

Cyclists want more rights than cars/motorized vehicles because they're not surrounded by a couple tons of steel and have airbags.

Yan 

I've never heard of anyone getting ticketed in Manhattan for a bicycle traffic violation. Your cop must have been extremely bored, or it was his first day on the job. I'm surprised you couldn't talk your way out of it.

I would contest it.

Steve B.

Do a YT search. The NYPD on occasion has its leadership decide "time for a bicyclist crackdown" and the word goes out to the beat cops to give tickets for some of the most amazing and ridiculous things. It's an easy one to stop every commuter coming over the Manhattan Bridge and make sure each and every rider has a bell, as mandated by state law. Yes the cops are technically correct, but they have habits of looking for the easiest things on which to write tickets. There was one video series - Casy somebody, who videotaped the cop who parked his patrol car in the lane designated for cycling, then wrote tickets to the cyclists who had to leave the lane to get around the patrol car. This isn't urban legend; it's how the NYPD brat cops think. There was a member here who used to commute from Queens to lower Manhattan, had some cops follow her on her commute home one night and watched her run 3 red lights in a row (yes, she was wrong), no traffic coming or in sight. Begged the question why would you not pull her over after the 1st light ?, why keep watching, if only to just run up the ticket count. They actually parked their butts in Central Park one day (after an accident between a cyclist and a pedestrian after the pedestrian walked against the light, If memory serves). The cops started giving out speeding tickets for over 15 mph, turns out the NYPD had zero jurisdiction to enforce speeding in Central Park. That's how the NYPD beat cops operate, *******s on many occasions.

SBinNYC

Here's a link to the section of the NYC Administrative Code: 19-195, look at section 19-195.1

https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/code...in/0-0-0-31320

arbee

With this eventuality in mind, I took the precautionary step of labeling my horn (which was, in fact, manufactured by Bell):

Steve B.

In NY state, that would a case of a moving vehicle (the legal definition for a bicycle) running a red light. In order for you to legally pass thru that intersection, you would need to dismount and walk the bicycle in the crosswalk.

lijehh

[QUOTE=GetUpnGo;22858091]Yes, but going with the leading pedestrian interval in NYC is following traffic law. City council passed this in 2019.

arbee

[QUOTE=lijehh;22860690]Upvoted because strictly speaking (and we always speak strictly), New York State Vehicle & Traffic § 1642 authorizes NYC to enact certain road use regulations specific to NYC; and, consistent with § 1642, NYC's City Council enacted NYC-specific legislation allowing people on bicycles to enter and cross intersections in compliance with pedestrian signals (the "leading pedestrian interval").

But.

Neither NYPD nor the NY State DMV’s Traffic Adjudication Bureau (all, charter members of the Flat Earth Society) acknowledge the existence of NYC's legislation.

Which is to say: in NYC, if, on a bicycle, you enter an intersection with a "WALK" signal but against a red light ... good luck.

Schweinhund

How to put it gently, horse*****. If we take full advantage of the laws we are subject to, we might be right but we'd be dead right, and squished like a bug.
I'd prefer to fudge.

Steve B.

[QUOTE=arbee;22860754]NYC is generally going to follow NY State motor vehicle code, with a number of exceptions, including maximum highway speeds (50 mph), cycling on a sidewalk (not over the age of 14), and others, but a bicycle is a moving vehicle and has to obey traffic devices such as red lights.

Pratt

Without regard for the legal and ethical issues, if you ask for, and get, a continuance for a later date, it is likely, as alluded to by Bald Paul above, that the officer will not show and the ticket will be dismissed.
Good luck.

Steve B.

NYC traffic court is not stupid. What they do instead is gather all the infractions for a particular officer, schedule him/her for a particular date and tell you that is the date you show up. You don't get to pick so as to hope the cop is busy elsewhere. It's gamed against you.

Pratt

Alas, more so called "progress".