Road War: NYPD Now Handing Out Criminal Summonses to Bikers for Traffic Violations

The NYPD has quietly begun to write criminal summonses, as opposed to traffic tickets, for e-bikers and pedal bikers alike that it catches violating traffic regulations, including running red lights, driving the wrong way down one-way streets, and hurtling down sidewalks.

The move is sure to be applauded by pedestrians who have been complaining for years about reckless bike riders to community boards, City Council members, and the NYPD’s monthly community council meetings. Countless people have been injured in collisions, and some have been killed.

The NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance is urging city and state lawmakers to pass Priscilla’s Law requiring all e-bikes and scooters to be registered with visible license plates. The bill is named after Priscilla Loke, who died after she was struck by an e-bike in Chinatown in September 2023. She died from a traumatic head injury several days after being hit; the District Attorney said there was insufficient evidence to criminally prosecute the e-biker who hit her.

But Transportation Alternatives, a bike advocacy group, calls the move for criminalization of low-level traffic violations a “dangerous escalation.”

Complaints about the change have been popping up on social media outlets used by bikers for weeks, including r/nycbike and the nextdoor app. Streetsblog reporter Kevin Duggan was the first to report on May 2 that the new criminal summonses are actually part of a far-reaching but quiet change in NYPD policy.

Under the previous procedures, bikers who were issued a traffic ticket could either pay a fine that could range from $50 to $190 or dispute the ticket at a remote Department of Motor Vehicles hearing. But under the new policy, a person issued a criminal summons must turn up in person in criminal district court.

The change is an outgrowth of the Quality of Life push unveiled by Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Mayor Eric Adams in April. A two-month pilot program began to roll out the new Quality of Life initiatives on April 14, and one part of the initiative is meant to crack down on “out-of-control e-bikes and scooters,” Tisch said at the time. That initiative includes only one police command in Manhattan, the 13th Precinct, which includes Stuyvesant Town, Union Square, Gramercy Park, and parts of Midtown East, but the bike crackdown appears to be broader.

The introduction of criminal summonses for bikers has triggered a furious blowback in the bike-riding community, which championed pro-bike changes, including building more protected bike lanes, and is vehemently opposed to the criminalization drive.

Wrote one poster on r/nycbike, “I want my tax dollars to prioritize a crackdown on people in 3,500 lbs vehicles driving. recklessly rather than those on 25 lbs bikes. It is astounding how biased society is toward being car friendly when you’’re way more likely to be killed by a car [than] a bike.”

One biker who was ticketed as part of the new crackdown posted that he is starting to take photos of cop cars with lights off driving through red lights. Others on the site have called for bike protests, similar to those from a decade ago in a past cracidown.

“There is little evidence that increasing severity of punishment increases compliance,” blasted Ben Furnas, executive director at Transportation Alternative.

“For decades, people on bikes in New York City have received a traffic ticket when stopped by a police officer—just like car drivers,” said Furnas. “Under new guidance from the Adams administration and Police Commissioner Tisch, a person on a bike who treats a stop sign as a yield sign can receive a criminal summons—a dangerous escalation that can quickly lead to a prison sentence or even deportation,” said Furnas.

“Mayor Adams and Commissioner Tisch have created a special class of the law for people on bikes, where the punishment in no way equals the crime,” said Furnas.

“Everyone on the streets should follow the rules of the road, but these rules should be safe and easy to follow, with consequences proportionate to the potential risk and harm,” he added.

Initially, reports said that the enforcement activity was centered around Union Square, which falls in the 13th Precinct, which is part of the pilot program for the Quality of Life division, and 125th Street in Harlem.

But it does not appear to be confined to the two corridors. One biker posting on the nextdoor app said he was cut off by a police cruiser that turned left to block the bike lane going up Sixth Avenue.

Another biker on the subreddit r/nycbike said he was stopped at a red light and got a criminal summons anyway because a police officer claimed his bike was “over the white line.”

And another poster on r/nycbike said about seven police officers in Central Park collared a biker at 7:30 in the morning on May 10. It was not clear from the post what the biker had done.

”I watched this happen—not the infraction, the arrest,” wrote another poster, “realpantosaurusrex,” who had witnessed the aftermath of the detention. “I thought it was nuts . . . arresting dudes for traffic infractions is outright insane. At one point, they had the whole crew of officers shoving him against the car [saying] ‘Stop resisting.’ “

That rider said that on his next loop around the park, the officers and the detainee were still there, “but a middle-aged woman was explaining to cops that their perp had apologized to whoever the victim was and that everyone was ok and the arrest should not have happened.”

Meanwhile, a petition started by Tudor City resident Christopher Smith is trying to get all e-bikes, mopeds, and scooters to be required to register and have a visible license plate and to be insured. Change.org: https://chng.it/msYh4cVcx8.

Smith said he is not pushing to regulate kids on bikes supervised by parents. “It is for those bike riders who want to breeze through red lights or go the wrong way down a one-way street or ride at dangerous speeds on the sidewalk or in designated pedestrian areas.”

He added, “This is not just a pedestrian versus bike rider issue. It is also an issue of bike riders who want to ride their bikes safely, abiding by traffic laws versus those who don’t. I’m speaking from the pedestrian side of the issue, but it impacts everyone, pedestrians and other vehicles alike.”