The NYPD ticketed significantly less cyclists in 2012 than in 2011. According to a two-sentence report in the Post, police issued 44,749 summonses to cyclists last year, compared with 52,842 in 2011, for a decrease of nearly 20%. Overall, tickets for moving violations issued by the NYPD have dropped around 4% in the past two years—from 1,062,889 in 2011 to 1,020,754 in 2012.
Has the "crackdown" abated and will cooler heads will prevail? Or will this just provide more fodder for mayoral candidates and lazy tabloid columnists to distort the impact that cycling has had on the city? "Perhaps this trend reflects better behavior from bicyclists and smarter enforcement from the cops," Transportation Alternatives spokesman Michael Murphy wrote in an email.
While enforcement has dipped, fatalities and injuries to pedestrians and cyclists have remained relatively steady. Last year more than 15,000 pedestrians and cyclists were injured, and 155 were killed. In 2011, 165 pedestrians and cyclists were killed, and more than 14,000 were injured.
As politicians continue to criticize the DOT for not having enough "community involvement" when implementing bike lanes, laws that would strengthen and reform the NYPD's woefully understaffed Accident Investigation Squad have gone utterly neglected.
