City Council bill would set up traffic school for bikes

No one likes getting traffic tickets, mostly because of the fines and because oh come on that light was definitely yellow/I was pulling my bike onto the sidewalk not riding on it and other reasons you did nothing wrong. Drivers at least have the option sometimes to skip a fine and go to traffic school where they pretend to learn, and soon cyclists might have that option if a new bill in front of the City Council gets passed.

According to amNewYork, Councilman Mark Treyger has proposed a bill that would give cyclists ticketed for riding on the sidewalk or texting while biking the option to take a safety class in order to avoid a fine. Currently, it’ll cost you $100 if you get caught riding on the sidewalk, and under Treyger’s bill it would be a $50 fine for the much more irritating crime of texting while biking. Of course, if this passes, you’ll still have to weigh whether $50 or $100 is worth the time you’ll spend watching a video or getting a lecture from a disinterested teacher in a class full of fellow reprobates before taking a multiple choice test like this:

IS RIDING A BIKE ON THE SIDEWALK GOOD OR BAD?
[ ] GOOD
[ ] BAD

If the City Council were really serious about getting people to stop texting while driving, maybe they should just threaten to lock offenders in a room with us for a three hour lecture on the evils of not paying attention while riding, a lecture we’ve given a couple of times and would be glad to keep giving.

And before you start weighing whether taking the class is preferable to paying a $278 fine, remember that this wouldn’t cover running a red light, so you’ll have to stick to writing angry editorials after getting that ticket.