Mention the word “bicycle” and some people on both side of the aisle start foaming at the mouth. So we were more than amused to come across an email from our friends at Park Slope Parents about a parent who seemed quite upset about getting a ticket for riding on the sidewalk (which is illegal). Some think it’s okay to use the sidewalk if a little one is riding along:
Does anyone know the traffic regulations for riding your bicycle on the sidewalk with a child in a bike seat or tag along? I recently learned the hard way that it is against the law to ride your bike on the sidewalk (I received a summons to appear in court). My daughter was not with me at the time. I was too flustered to ask if the rule applies to children on their own bikes or adults with children on the bikes.
There have been numerous responses, including this one:
That is great news! Finally people are being ticketed who are riding a bike on the sidewalk! I have often received dirty looks as if I am in the wrong because I am in someone’s way by walking on the sidewalk and they are on a bicycle with a child attachment. Here is a link to the NYCDOT Bike Laws (WARNING: PDF).
There as been much back and forth, including parents who say bike lanes are too unsafe to use if the little ones are aboard and therefore that the need to use the sidewalk.
21 responses so far ↓
1 herm // Jan 19, 2009 at 10:26 am
I am glad you got a ticket for riding a bike on the sidewalk. CHild or not, it is against the law. People walking on the sidewalk don’t want to dodge you on your bike.
2 tonytown // Jan 19, 2009 at 10:42 am
I know your brain turns to shit once you push one of those creatures through your ass, but bicycles have always been illegal to ride on a SIDE-WALK.
It’s not a sideride.
Bicyclists have such a terrible understanding of the law that it’s almost as annoying has Park Slope Parent Nazis.. almost.
You think it’s going to be less legal by strapping one of your offspring to the bike?! It’s dangerous to you and pedestrians. It’s also illegal for children to ride their own bikes on the sidewalk. Even in Park Slope.
I seriously do not know who is more annoying in Brooklyn, bicyclists or parents, but when you combine the two, you get this holier than thou, above the law mentality bullshit that makes me happy to see your pastel-ass get a ticket.
3 tonytown // Jan 19, 2009 at 10:51 am
less illegal
4 deborah matlack // Jan 19, 2009 at 11:07 am
I wonder why I never see restaurant delivery guys getting tickets, I’ve been nearly run down a couple of times in crowded Manhattan.
5 David // Jan 19, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Let me see if I’ve got this straight: Parent gets ticketed for riding his/her bike– alone– on the sidewalk. Parent next wants to see if they can get away with it if their kid is with them. I think I’ll bring my kid with me any time I want to do illegal things– maybe nick some flavored syrup from the Tea Lounge… or wait till my child starts crying to see if I can score some veggie chili at Dizzy’s. Perhaps I can murder the cupcake truck guys and steal all those delicious cupcakes– for my poor kid, of course!
I understand the need for any biker in NYC to sometimes use the sidewalk for safety but please: stop using your kid as a front for your supra-legal activities, and your general privilege to do whatever the hell you want even when others can’t. You may be surprised to find people actually genuinely respecting you if you don’t shove your kid in their face for every action you worry is questionable. If you were an illegal immigrant– one of the many who keeps that entire area economically afloat– and happened to be caught biking on the sidewalk, you’d still be detained– not frittering away on your keyboard while your kid bottoms out into a Pirate’s Booty corn coma.
6 Jim // Jan 19, 2009 at 2:51 pm
You also get stupid looks and comments from people jogging on sidewalks–they want walkers to clear a path for them.
They are called sideWALKS for a reason. They are not for running or any bike use, just walking. Get with the program!
7 Mr. Ius // Jan 19, 2009 at 3:40 pm
I am glad that woman got ticketed. I am tired of near collisions with kamikaze biker Moms flying down the sidewalk on Prospect Park West.
The mighty sword of justice hath smote righteously.
8 Janet // Jan 19, 2009 at 5:58 pm
“It’s also illegal for children to ride their own bikes on the sidewalk. Even in Park Slope.” is not strictly true. It depends on the age of the rider and the size of the bike. You have to read the law.
Park Slope is full of people in their own little worlds. These snowy days I have had several experiences walking on sidewalks cleared sufficiently only for two people to walk, coming face to face with families (sometimes with strollers, sometimes not) who see only one solution to how I’m going to pass them, and it isn’t their walking single-file for a moment.
I don’t know if Jim (poster #6) has a dog, but I don’t think they’re called sideWALKS so the whole sidewalk can be taken up by a dog walker, possibly on the other side of the sidewalk but with a too-long-to-be-legal (that’s six feet, folks) leash, preventing anyone from passing.
As a runner, I do sometimes glare (nothing more–you never know who you’re dealing with) at people who are blocking the whole sidewalk, sometimes not moving at all. I do recognize that I can’t expect pedestrian traffic on Seventh Avenue to stop for me, but I’m talking about residential streets with little enough foot traffic that running should be do-able.
9 Danielle // Jan 19, 2009 at 6:25 pm
While I completely agree that it is definitely not safe for anyone to be riding bicycles on the sidewalk, I am going to go ahead and argue the other side of this. Do any of you think IS is safe for a CHILD to ride in a bicycle lane in Park Slope? I mean, it is barely safe for adults, as there is almost always cars in those lanes anyway…(especially in Greenpoint with our new bike lanes that the cars ignore)
10 adam // Jan 19, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Any controversy here? No, only unanimity in favour of prosecuting dangerous and anti-social criminal activity. The parental ‘get-out’ sets my teeth on edge too. I ride every journey, year round, and it’s about respect. I run red lights when there’s no traffic or peds to impede, but sidewalk is def. no go for any biker at any time. This kind of rudeness rebounds in rage at all bikers….
11 Pete // Jan 20, 2009 at 12:14 am
Danielle:
I’m not a parent, but I think there are bike routes through PS that are appropriate for parents & children over a certain age. Otherwise, parents can walk their bikes with their kids to Prospect Park & ride from there.
As a (generally) law abiding bicyclist, people who ride on sidewalks are a personal pet peeve (matched only by those who go the wrong way down the street). That mom is 100% in the wrong, and I do wish the bike (as well as traffic) laws were better enforced. People love to complain about bicyclists, but the number of moving violations I see in cars every day put the bikers to shame – we’re clearly not flouting enough laws.
I’m not on the PSP mailing list, so my $.02 ends here – it seems to me that the issue shouldn’t be about making it legal to ride on the sidewalk. It should be making streets safer to ride a bicycle on.
12 plentynuff // Jan 20, 2009 at 4:19 am
So… is the argument that the road is too dangerous to ride with children, or that the stakes are too high because, as everyone knows, children are more valuable than adults? If it’s the first, I’m not sure how having a kid on board makes the road any more unsafe than it was without a kid on board. If it’s the latter, then are we to understand that parents are okay with accepting the risk of leaving their kid one parent fewer after an accident, but not willing to accept the risk of killing the kid? I admit the two would be evaluated differently, but is the difference in risk tolerance big enough to change where you’re going to ride your bike?
13 Janet // Jan 20, 2009 at 9:21 am
It’s no safer for a child to ride in a bike lane than it is for her to drive a car. That’s why we don’t license kids to drive cars, even in the heartland, until 14 or older.
A bike, under a child, is a recreational vehicle, and no one is going to ticket her (unless she’s 12 and/0r riding “a 26”, as we used to say) as she rides on the sidewalk at a reasonable pace.
If she’s enroute to a park with an adult who has a bike, the adult should be walking that bike.
14 tybur6 // Jan 20, 2009 at 9:30 am
What about annoying joggers that run in the street?! Why can’t they be on the sidewalk too? They have feet right? Isn’t there a law that says you can’t just walk/run down the street if there’s a sidewalk?
15 Nendo // Jan 20, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Adam… It’s also not ok for you to run red lights. If you get to pick and choose which laws you want to abide by, then the original poster is allowed to ignore the law against riding on sidewalks. Bottom line… neither is ok.
16 these nuts // Jan 20, 2009 at 2:37 pm
the sidewalk is for walkers and bikes, joggers and all that recreational stuff is for the park.
17 marcus // Mar 28, 2009 at 11:21 am
A lot of (self righteous) people here claim it is illegal to ride bikes on sidewalks. You cannot make that claim as the laws vary. It perfectly legal to do rid eon sidewalks in many states, countries, and municipalities.
Just a few examples where it is LEGAL are Pennsylvania, Ohio, Arizona, Los Angeles, Massachusetts, and Michigan.
18 Adam // May 19, 2009 at 3:59 pm
I think it is about respect, and being aware. I wish there were laws that help regulate competence. Like all laws, and rules, there has to be some form of tolerance. There is always a grey area. Have a look at this TED speaker. http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_our_loss_of_wisdom.html
But, back to the riding….
I am not a fan of sidewalk riders as much as the next person… But, sometimes these laws are inforced poorly. I have rode on a sidewalk 2 times, and have gotten ticketed for both.
The first, was in Queens, it was 1:30 in the morning, and I was 2 blocks from home. It was 5 degrees out, and had JUST started to snow very hard. I didn’t want to ride in the slippery and busy street, but was too cold to walk home. I figured, since no one was on the sidewalk, and it was for 2 blocks, I would just ride slowly on the sidewalk home, as it was the safest path. I was ticketed for 50 dollars. There was no one on the sidewalk!
The second was recent, and I had just got new toeclips and pedals. I wanted to make sure they were secure and working properly. I also wanted to make sure the straps were adjusted properly before getting on the busy street of Houston and Ave D.
I didn’t see the cop on my street, nor thought it was going to be a problem since I was just more or less standing on my pedals. I wasn’t even riding!!! I got a ticket for 50 dollars!?
I understand the law, and appreciate it, but there has to be some grey area. Its those do it by the book people that won’t let the world work how it should.
There are and always will be exceptions.
19 Florian // Jun 28, 2009 at 3:15 pm
What’s ridiculous is that it seems more important to uphold the cop’s sidewalk ticketing quota than prevent actual crimes. Discussion on NYlocal: http://nyulocal.com/city/2008/10/16/dont-ride-your-bike-on-the-sidewalk/
I was pulling onto the sidewalk after a cop car behind me turned on the sirens, to get out of their way. Of course they stopped and took 20 mins to write me a ticket.
Others have been written up for riding 12 feet from their door to the street.
Another thing that really bugs me is the severity of the punishment. Many people not only have to pay $50-90 but get to spend a half a day in Coney Island in court, and end up with three points on their driver’s license if they plead guilty. Pleading not guilty is not really an option because can be far more expensive if you don’t win, so it’s just not worth the risk.
Ah, the land of the free…
20 kelly // Oct 12, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Riding your bike on the sidewalk is illegal!!! Bikers on the sidewalk are a danger. I can’t tell you how many delivery people have almost pancaked my small dog !! Next time, I’m calling the cops myself.
21 Luap // Oct 19, 2009 at 9:43 pm
i recently got a summons because i was riding my bike from the front of my building to the street. it was less than 20 feet and i was stopped in the middle of the street.