Is $270 A Reasonable Fine For Bicycling Through Red Light?

[PamNY]

Well then..... that sounds rather unfair.......

Eden, the problem is that cyclists do laps at speed when Central Park is very, very crowded. They travel in packs and they yell at pedestrians.

Is it fair that a child learning to ride his bike with training wheels has to put up with this? Remember, in the city, he has nowhere else to ride.

Is it fair that an elderly woman with an oxygen bottle and a rolling walker has to cross the street in fear of groups of cyclists going 20+ mph?

Is it fair that ordinary cyclists like me have no choice but to cycle past the aforementioned woman, because there is nothing I can do to help her? Even if I come to a dead stop for 20 minutes, the road is wide and it won't matter. There could be a speeding pack bearing down on her, and I can't stop them.

Is it fair that a few cyclists who want to train can inflict annoyance and anxiety on literally hundreds of people?

With hills, curves and crowds on the street, you can't see them coming, even if you know they might be there. And tourists, of course, don't know to watch for them.

Ironically, it was reading this forum that turned me against the Central Park cyclists. How many threads are there pointing out that it isn't safe for a cyclist going fast to stop?

I'd never thought about that since I don't go very fast. But now that I know, my question is: what are these people doing in a crowded urban park at 2 pm on a sunny Sunday afternoon?

As I stated earlier, I don't know what the answer is, but the situation as it existed was untenable. I do hope that something can be worked out to give cyclists more freedom during the early morning hours. That would be a reasonable accommodation.