NYC cyclist cops $1,555 fine for riding through three red lights in space of 250 metres

This guy is an utter tw*t, however the 'fines' regime in NY is a joke.

Having had the displeasure of being pulled over for speeding (in a car on a highway, no bicycles were involved), fair enough I was, willing to simply pay my fine...NY state want for you to sign the paperwork saying you are 'guilty' AND THEN they post out your fine.

You are stuck having already given up your right to argue if you thought the fine was disproportionate into having to pay an arbitrary amount as seems this case.

He certainly should get hit with a big fine, but let's be realistic. Motorists would certainly not see a fine like that!

This sounds really harsh, as a fellow cyclist, but when I rode this year's L2B bike ride, after a gap of 25 years, I found that 85% of cyclists jumped red lights, deliberately ignoring not just volunteers holding up big signs to try to get people to stop, but also ignoring police trying to stop them as well.

I'm utterly shocked by the arrogance of what appears to be a very substantial number of cyclists who evidently think that they have the right to make decisions about which laws they should abide by, even though those laws are set to try to protect all road users and pedestrians, regardless of the adverse impact that their actions have on peoples' opinions about cyclists.

Frankly, the ONLY way to solve this ridiculous and dangerous situation is to confiscate bikes, put them in a truck, sell them for charity, and post Youtube videos so we can all enjoy seeing the anguish on the faces of these selfish idiots. And if they're on Boris bikes, I'd love to see their faces when they get an email saying that their standard of riding was of insufficient standard to use the service, and that their access key has been forfeited.

If you're a red light jumper, and you're reading this, you need to realise that whatever excuse you're using to try to justify why you think you have a right to jump lights, you are partly resonsible for pedestrians hating cyclists, drivers hating cyclists, and other cyclists hating cyclists. In fact the only people who love you is the media, who love to create a situation where everyone hates cyclists.

You're arrogant, you're selfish, and I would love it if your bike was "donated" to charity.

Great. I hope this pretty soon gets exported to the streets of the UK's towns and cities.
I say this as the magazine editor of one of the country's oldest cycling clubs, in which I frequently campaign against the dangers of urban riding. If more drivers became aware of cyclists being fined in this way then perhaps there might not be such negative attitude to us.
The guy's lawyer pleaded that "while the police follow drivers and cyclists to note any traffic law they are violating, this almost never happens with motorists, but happens surprisingly often with cyclists."
Hardly surprising really. I suppose even in NYC few bikes are fitted with mirrors. Wouldn't a driver be on his best behaviour knowing a cop was behind him?

I used to live in NYC and once got 2 fines at once. I was biking briefly in the wrong direction of 5th av. and jumped on the pavement when 2 bike cops stopped me and gave me one ticket for riding on the pavement and one for riding the wrong way. One cop wanted to give me only one but the other one was real nasty. NO hard feelings at all.

I agree that for the heinious crime of rlj'ing he got what he deserved, but have to disagree with this business of wearing headphones, unless of course we ban all deaf people from cycling, driving, walking on pavements, living etc...

No complaints here ..

From all we read, cycling in NYC is fraught with danger anyway .. you'd have to be suicidal to run three reds with earphones on ..

I agree with fining RLJ-ers, if only for the reason they get all cyclists a bad name.

But why all the indignation at headphones? Are people saying the deaf shouldn't cycle? I occasionally wear headphones while cycling, and I can still hear perfectly well when I do. This has been proven in Australia where tests were carried out and it was found a cyclist wearing headphones and listening to music could still hear more than a driver in a car listening to nothing:

http://rideons.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/an-ear-on-the-traffic/

"The cyclist said that after going through the third red light, a police car “cut me off in the bike lane and I stopped.”"

Couldn't hear the sirens then?

I think the fine is absolutely adequate and befitting. These idiots who constantly jump red lights need to be punished. This is exactly what they need to do over here.

well done, its about time and sounds deserved.

If a deaf person rides a bicycle then does he automatically get fined as if he was wearing headphones? Just asking...

This guy sounds like an idiot for red light jumping.

I would have no problem with the fine as long as the NYPD would do exactly the same for a car.

No sympathy with this guy whatsoever as a cyclist the same laws apply Doh!

Fines for riding with headphones, absolutely.

I look forward to seeing fines for vehicles with glass in the window frames, or stereos fitted.

Similarly for pedestrians crossing roads with headphones.

We all need to be able to hear traffic around us without hindrance after all!

He then added, "My dad is gonna kill me... I just had to hit him up for rent money and a new MacBook Pro, and now this!"

He was pretty stupid but the fine is outrageous.

If you can't do the time...

Sucks to be him.

As long as they treat motorists the same, well done NYPD, keep up the good work.

Not only that he had headphones on as well!??

F***ing Hipsters.

I personally would love to see fines handed out to the idiots on Barclay's superhighways that ride with their headphones in and through red lights at full pelt.You should witness the chaos coming in from Clapham every day to the City. On a quid pro quo basis we could get people nailed for a long time for dangerous driving. Problem is nopbody wants to take a balanced view of anything, it's hysteria and overreaction every time (and yes I think $1500 is a little rough, even for an idiot).

No sympathy for the idiot. It could have been worse whilst going through a red light he could have been hit by something going through on the green light. $1500 seems pretty fair to me.