Manhattan, NY – David Regen was sitting down to dinner Tuesday night when two police officers appeared at his home under circumstances that will instantly evoke envy from any New Yorker who has ever been issued a ticket.
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The officers had come over to apologize for a ticket issued to him earlier that day.
“They said, ‘We’re here because we’re withdrawing your ticket because we feel you were treated unfairly,’ ” Mr. Regen recalled about an hour later in a telephone interview.
The ticket was for speeding through Central Park on a bicycle some 13 hours earlier. Mr. Regen, who lives on West End Avenue at 103rd Street, was one of 10 cyclists caught Tuesday morning on a police speed gun, a rarity during the early-morning hours in Central Park, when cars are not allowed on most of the roads.
The speed at which Mr. Regen, 49, had been traveling as he coasted down a hill on West Drive inside the park was not terribly fast – 25 miles per hour, according to the ticket. That is the same speed at which cars are permitted to travel when the roads are open to them.
But parks department regulations dating from 1991 limit bike riders to 15 m.p.h, though even the police say this lower limit could be better posted inside the park.
For Mr. Regen, the mere fact that the ticket was voided and an apology issued was enough – even if the 15 m.p.h. limit he dislikes remains in effect.
Read more in NY Times
it’s just becoming a big joke.
soon the cops will wave to bank robbers as long as they are riding bicycles instead of using a car for a getaway vehicle.
The problem here is that he was given a yellow ‘B’ ticket (which you get for violating the VTL or the NYC Traffic Code), returnable in DMV’s Traffic Violations Bureau. He should have been given a pink “C” summons, answerable in Criminal Court (because he violated Parks Dept. regulations).
C summonses are potentially more damaging (you can go to jail, for instance, and you almost certainly need an attorney) but you stand a fair chance of winning or getting a reduction (there are *no* plea bargains in Traffic Violations Bureau).
If this bike rider didn’t live on West End Avenue, Manhattan, but instead lived on West End Avenue in Brooklyn, he wouldn’t have gotten the time of day.
15 miles an hour is a joke many cyclist can do that in their sleep
i got a parking ticket 2 years ago by this dumb illiterate traffic agent who couldn’t read the sign which said “no parking thursday” and i got a ticket for parking there on Friday.
i’m still waiting for an apology and for compensation for the time i wasted contesting the ticket
A bicycle travelling at 25 miles hitting a person, can kill them.
This makes my blood boil… Why are the police paying them lip service? Since when do they give a rats
Ss who they ticket…
They are desparate for cash.
Comment No 1 is correct. Bloomberger (or whatever his name is) has literally decided to make NYC a bicycle heaven. However, I don’t see any bicycle lane in front of Gracie Mansion or in front of Bloomberger’s (sic) homes.
Do bikes come with speedometers now?
I am 60 years old, and so slow on my bicycle that I worry about anyone who doesn’t pass me. My cruising speed is 13-15mph. If I can do it, it isn’t fast.