Central Park Cyclists Still Required To Stay Under 25 mph

While it's nice that the NYPD has voided tickets to nine cyclists who were busted for "speeding" Tuesday morning in Central Park, a tenth cyclist is still on the hook for blazing through a speed trap at 28 mph. And he probably won't be the last bicyclist to get busted for speeding, because although the NYPD apologized for ticketing cyclists pedaling over 15 mph, Parks Department officials are standing their ground enforcing the 25 mph law.

Almost twenty years ago, Central Park implemented a 15 mile-per-hour speed limit for cyclists, and signs were posted around Central Park notifying cyclists (in small print) that the rule applied to them, too. “We did a lot of testing, riding bicycles alongside our cars, seeing how fast you could go and then stop without killing someone,” then-Parks Commissioner Betsy Gotbaum told the Times in 1991. At some point, however, that 15 mph rule was informally dropped, and it certainly wasn't enforced—'til Tuesday, when the NYPD clocked bike riders going over 15.

In an email sent to a concerned cyclist in 2006, NYC Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe explained, "The 15 mph limit is a guideline for bicyclists while in the recreation lanes in Central Park. However, the speed limit for bicyclists is identical to that of all vehicles, which in Central Park is 25 mph. We have not been enforcing the speed limit for bicyclists on the drives in Central Park and regret any confusion. We have been issuing summonses for bicyclists running red lights and endangering pedestrians."Same as it ever was.

The official Central Park website has set the speed limit at 25 for some time now, and yesterday it was announced that the outdated signs would be removed, so as not to confuse anyone with a radar gun and a badge. But the Parks Department has confirmed that the 25 mph speed limit still applies to cyclists, so watch out for speed traps if you're using the all-but-deserted park to exercise at dawn! Motorists, drive as fast as you want. It's the cyclists who are the real threat. Will the city start requiring handlebar speedometers?