The NYPD is cracking down on cyclists who run red lights or refuse to stop at stop signs.

Normally, bikers would receive a traffic ticket for these types of low offenses, but now they will receive a criminal summons, requiring them to show up to court in person.

What You Need To Know

  • Cyclists could face criminal summonses instead of a traffic ticket for minor offenses, like running red lights or refusing to stop at stop signs, under a new NYPD policy

  • The policy change is part of the department's rollout of its new Quality of Life Division

  • Cycling advocates say the policy unfairly targets cyclists, especially cyclists of color
  • Since 2014, crashes involving people on bikes and pedestrians have killed 11 New Yorkers, while drivers in New York have killed 1,359 pedestrians during that same time

“I can understand wanting to step up enforcement but bringing it up to a criminal violation seems excessive and unfair, given the relative danger of a bike compared to a car,” cyclist Amanda Tait said.

Last month, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the shift was in response to reckless e-bikes and scooters.

Officers will be deployed to 14 corridors around the city where the most complaints about reckless bikers have been recorded, according to Streetsblog. One of those roadways is Sixth Avenue.

Fernando Guimaraes often walks his dog down that street in the West Village and worries about being hit by a bike.

“A lot of times with these bikers, there’s a lot of accidents that happen because they kind of go through these red lights,” Guimaraes said.

In a statement Ben Furnas, the executive director of Transportation Alternatives, said: “This is an obscene escalation from the police department — and not one that’s grounded in real safety, data, or best practices. We know what works — building the bike lanes and street improvement projects that corridors like Broadway need — not suddenly locking up people on bikes.”

Bikers agree.

“The cost of transportation is so expensive, biking is sometimes the only option that people have and to criminalize that for running a red light when you wouldn’t do that for somebody running a red light in a car is absolutely offensive,” Paula Richter, a biker, said.

Cycling advocates say this move could place an even bigger burden on the judicial system and unfairly target cyclists of color.

“Some of these e-bike riders, who are the target of this initiative, are people in this country without status. Forcing them to go to a criminal courthouse — it’s problematic because we understand ICE views courthouses as a place to roundup deportees, to put it bluntly,” attorney Steve Vaccaro said.

Since 2014, crashes involving people on bikes and pedestrians have killed 11 New Yorkers, while drivers in New York have killed 1,359 pedestrians during that same time.