Following the increased number of cyclists in New York, police are cracking down on bad biking… including giving tickets to people cycling on the road instead of in the bike lane (which incidentally is not illegal).
Here is the “public information film” Casey Neistat made after he got stopped by the police for exactly that reason in Manhatten:
If I wasn’t such a wuss (I don’t much like falling off my bike), I’d make a similar film for Sleaford. As someone who has had verbal abuse hurled at her by car drivers (yes, more than one, on more than one occasion) for cycling on the road instead of on the cycle path, I can see where Casey is coming from completely. Different countries, but the attitude towards cyclists seems to be the same. We’re encouraged to use our bikes instead of our cars, but cycle lanes are littered with road furniture, trees, parked cars, or are non-existent. Come on people – how can we use the cycle lanes when they’re like this?!
The photo shows the cycle path on the left of the white line. I ‘love’ how they’ve painted the line splitting the pavement into paths for pedestrians and cyclists around the tree… And just beyond this a car was parked off the road in the cycle lane completely. At least we don’t get tickets for going around the obstacles like Casey did.