NYPD: More Tickets for Cyclists Lead to Drop in Injuries

[Via Young Sok Yun 윤영석/Curbed Photo Pool]

A recent crackdown on cyclists has lead to a drastic drop in bike-related injuries, police say. According to DNAinfo, officers of the 24th Precinct on the Upper West Side handed out 135 tickets during the month of August 2015, compared to 52 at the same time last year—an increase of 160 percent. As a result, the precinct saw just 12 injuries from collisions involving a bike or a car last month, as opposed to 20 in August 2014. Most of the citations written were for typical bike violations, such as running red lights and riding on the sidewalk.

Of course, the Upper West Side has never been the friendlist neighborhood for bikes, and according to Captain Marlon Larin, the precinct always gets a "high volume" of complaints from residents. Nevertheless, bike advocate Ken Coughlin took issue with the crackdown.

"Every ticket written for a cyclist is a ticket not written for a more dangerous violation," he said at a recent meeting with police and members of the community. "I would urge you to enforce against the truly dangerous violations."
· Spike in Tickets to Cyclists on UWS Leads to Drop in Injuries, Police Say [DNAinfo]