New data released by the NYPD shows over 6,000 criminal summonses issued to cyclists in the second quarter of 2025. That number increased tenfold compared to the first quarter. That number is also greater than the total number of criminal summonses issued to cyclists in the past seven years.
This comment seems to be suggesting that because enforcing traffic laws against people riding bikes is more difficult than it is against people driving cars, people should be punished more harshly when they violate traffic laws on bikes.
What that argument ignores is the vast difference in risk to others. The car is a couple orders of magnitude more dangerous, which is a major reason the law requires a license and registration to operate one on public roads. The idea of balancing the difficulty of enforcing traffic laws against people on bikes with harsher penalties only makes sense ignoring the difference in danger to others between bikes and cars.
What I haven’t seen mentioned yet is that we have an established registration and licensing system to streamline identification, ticketing, and consequences for vehicles that bicyclists don’t use.
They’re saying the infrastructure around vehicles has established process which doesn’t exist for cyclists. They’re positing, from my reading, that this is contributing to the disparity in how infractions are handled; that if bicycles had license plates, registration etc. similar to vehicles the current system could be equally applied.
In the USA, traffic tickets are usually issued by a police officer stopping the violator and physically handing them a citation. This is the same process for a misdemeanor summons, but the latter requires the person to come to court rather than pay a fine online or by mail, and can involve harsher penalties.
There’s no difference in that process when there’s a license plate and driver’s license involved; the license plate just makes it easier to track down someone who flees.
I understand that. You were the one struggling to understand the original commenter and getting hostile because of your misunderstanding.
I was attempting to clarify for you. Frankly, I don’t care what the situation is since I don’t live there and was informed by someone who does that “laws don’t really apply”.
This comment seems to be suggesting that because enforcing traffic laws against people riding bikes is more difficult than it is against people driving cars, people should be punished more harshly when they violate traffic laws on bikes.
What that argument ignores is the vast difference in risk to others. The car is a couple orders of magnitude more dangerous, which is a major reason the law requires a license and registration to operate one on public roads. The idea of balancing the difficulty of enforcing traffic laws against people on bikes with harsher penalties only makes sense ignoring the difference in danger to others between bikes and cars.
Their first sentence explains their premise.
They’re saying the infrastructure around vehicles has established process which doesn’t exist for cyclists. They’re positing, from my reading, that this is contributing to the disparity in how infractions are handled; that if bicycles had license plates, registration etc. similar to vehicles the current system could be equally applied.
In the USA, traffic tickets are usually issued by a police officer stopping the violator and physically handing them a citation. This is the same process for a misdemeanor summons, but the latter requires the person to come to court rather than pay a fine online or by mail, and can involve harsher penalties.
There’s no difference in that process when there’s a license plate and driver’s license involved; the license plate just makes it easier to track down someone who flees.
I understand that. You were the one struggling to understand the original commenter and getting hostile because of your misunderstanding.
I was attempting to clarify for you. Frankly, I don’t care what the situation is since I don’t live there and was informed by someone who does that “laws don’t really apply”.
Where was I hostile? I never intended to express hostility to anyone here, just disagreement with NYC traffic enforcement practices.
Wow, swing and a miss, bud. That is so, so not what I said at all.
In no way did I imply “people should be punished more harshly”. Nor did I address anything about weight.
Jeez, stop making stuff up.
The comment appears to be a defense or justification of the current practice. Apologies for the confusion if that’s not what you meant.