Cops are cracking down on cycling traffic violations for 2 weeks

Cyclists beware! Your decision to bike instead of drive or take public transportation could be less economical if you’re not careful. Per Fort Greene Focus, today, August 13, is the official first day of Operation Safe Cycle, a two week long campaign spearheaded by the NYPD. During the campaign police will be issuing tickets to cyclists not abiding by traffic laws, even if sometimes rolling through that red light at 11pm on a dead street seems like a totally fine and safe thing to do.

Operation Safe Cycle will be targeting cyclists for a number of violations, ranging from wearing headphones while riding and not having the proper lighting equipment, to riding against traffic, on the sidewalk or failing to abide by traffic signals or signs. While safety may be the number one reason for the two week campaign, it seems the city doesn’t seem to mind charging an arm and a leg for these violations. Let’s not rehash that fun argument though.

The extra enforcement will be going on over the next two weeks, through August 26. In some small consolation, the NYPD did say they would also target cars who block bike lanes, but then again, cyclists don’t completely believe that one:

Hi @CommissBratton what should #bikenyc rider do when @NYPDnews gives them a ticket for riding around a cruiser blocking bike lane?

— Glenn McAnanama (@glenn_mcan) August 13, 2014