December 26, 2023 - A New York cyclist, Andrea Adleman, has sued the city to dismiss a ticket wrongly issued by a police officer for properly going through a traffic light when she had the “Walk” signal. The law changed in NYC back in 2019 allowing cyclists to get a head start on drivers on a leading pedestrian interval reports Streetsblog NYC.
“The law changed four years ago — and everyone caught up except the NYPD and the Department of Motor Vehicles,” said Christopher Greene of Vaccaro Law, which is representing plaintiff. Adleman fought the ticket, but it was upheld in April by an administrative judge who also was unaware of the 2019 law.
Adleman’s only recourse was to pursue the matter as part of a so-called Article 78 lawsuit, asking the court to not only toss out her own conviction but also to direct the NYPD and DMV to learn the rules and stop improperly ticketing cyclists, said Greene.
The city first introduced the new setup for pedestrians in 2017 and then extended the safety benefit to cyclists two years later with a law carried by then-City Council Member Carlos Menchaca.
Read the full article by Julianne Cuba here.
Read about Toronto advocates wanting similar law here.
