Last fall the NYPD decided to do something about pedestrians being struck by cyclists in Prospect Park by going on a ticketing binge. The Brooklyn Paper today got their paws on some stats—and the cops weren't kidding!
Over the past four months the police have given out 188 summonses in the park "ranging between $50 and $200 for 'failure to comply with bicycle restrictions' including running red lights, speeding, and riding against traffic." For comparison, over the same period last year the NYPD issued a big fat zero summonses for the same offenses. Not that the blitz stopped further accidents from happening.
Of course, Prospect Park cyclists are still bitter about the crackdown. "It’s hard—they’re asking us to screech to a halt," cyclist Anthony Lowe told the Paper regarding the red lights on the Loop that many cyclists for cited speeding through. "Pedestrians are part of the problem, too." But that's besides the point, park people argue. "The very first concern must be for the safety of the public," the reasonable Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates notes. "A number of cyclists [are] moving way too fast."
And because of those speedsters, everyone else has to watch their back. Meanwhile, between the Prospect Park loop barrels and tickets and the Prospect Park West bike lane, who would have thought so much of New York's ongoing cycle wars would be fought in Brownstone Brooklyn?
