NYPD Continues Crackdown On Unsafe Cycling
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The NYPD is continuing its two-week crackdown on unsafe cycling across the city.
Operation Safe Cycle is part of a new initiative to get bikers to follow the rules of the road.
Police are targeting bikers for violations that create a danger such as:
- Running a red light
- Disobeying a traffic signal or sign
- Riding in the wrong direction against traffic or on the sidewalk
- Failure to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk
Cyclist Omar Melendez learned that the hard way.
He was pulled over while biking in Central Park by a police officer who said Melendez failed to yield to a pedestrian, CBS 2's Scott Rapoport reported.
"I ride fast, crazy," Melendez said, adding that he has run through a lot of red lights.
As CBS 2's Scott Rapoport reported, some pedestrians say that's a problem with bikers in the city.
"You don't know when you're going to get run over by them. They don't stop for the light, they're riding on the sidewalk now also, which is worse," said Wendy Cruz of the Upper West Side.
"I think we should follow the rules. Everyone has to stay safe," one biker said.
In the end Melendez got away without a ticket.
"He got a warning," the officer said.
Melendez said crackdown or not, he won't change the way he rides a bike in the city.
"They won't be able to catch me," Melendez said. "I'm good at traffic, I know the streets."
The crackdown, which runs through Aug. 26, will also target drivers who interfere with cyclists' progress by blocking bike lanes, police said.
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