Let it roll!
City lawyers have finally admitted in court that it is legal for cyclists to pass through a red light on a "Walk" signal — a long-overdue (and surprisingly difficult to wrest) statement that advocates hope will end the harassment of cops who continue to hand out tickets years after the move became legal.
Bike riders have been allowed to "go with the walk" signal since 2019, even if it switches on ahead of the traffic light, also known as a leading pedestrian interval, or LPI. But the NYPD has continued ticketing New Yorkers erroneously, as Streetsblog has documented. State Department of Motor Vehicle hearing officers have also upheld those wrongful violations, apparently unaware of the six-year-old law change.
Cyclist Andrea Adleman sued the city and the state over a red light ticket in 2023, and a Manhattan Supreme Court judge in her case recently set the record straight with lawyers for both levels of government.
"Do we all agree, that under city law if you are on a bike and you're at the intersection and there's a walk signal for the pedestrian and the vehicle signal is red ... you can proceed into the intersection and go even though the vehicle signal is red," asked Judge Nicholas Moyne at a hearing in November.
"Yes," answered James Cullen, a city lawyer, according to a court transcript [PDF].
"Is that, in fact, the law," Judge Moyne followed up.
"Yes, except where there's otherwise indicated traffic control devices, which is not at issue in this case," Cullen said.
The curt admission was meaningful, said an attorney for Adleman, because any cyclists who end up before a DMV hearing officer can enter the answer in as evidence and get the case tossed.
"It wasn’t until we had sued … that they actually conceded something that should have been obvious," said Chris Greene, a lawyer with the bike-focused firm Vaccaro Law.
Adleman's case was a blatant example of law enforcers and officials remaining ignorant of the years-old law.
The cop who ticketed her for crossing with the walk sign on Sixth Avenue and 41st Street in June 2022 had told her, "That’s for pedestrians." She contested the fine at a DMV hearing, but an administrative law judge ruled against her, wrongly adding, "You have to operate a bike like a car. ... You can't go through red lights." After a DMV appeals board upheld the conviction, Adleman filed an Article 78 lawsuit against the city and state.
That's three levels of government failing to get it right, and officials need get their act together, Judge Moyne said, otherwise New Yorkers could keep filling up the docket with cases. The legal eagle also credited these pages for raising awareness around the issue, though it's unclear if administrative law judges are listening.
"Listen, Streetblogs [sic] – and I'm not disparaging them in any way – they're very active and ... people in the community are talking about this," Moyne said. "Is there something the city could do or that the DMV could do to tell ALJs 'Look, this is the law. They do not have to be treated like a car.' Maybe give them some instruction or guidance or something."
City and state officials almost dodged acknowledging their mistakes on the record, Greene said. The DMV vacated Adleman's ticket shortly after she filed her lawsuit, which allowed the government to argue her case was moot.
"They were essentially conceding they were wrong by vacating the ticket without actually saying that they were wrong," Greene said. "That [would] leave the status quo and people will still get these tickets."
Greene's office already got a thankful note from one cyclist who was able to get a DMV judge to dismiss his ticket since.
"The DMV officers seemed to have gotten the memo," the lawyer said.
Anoter Manhattan commuter also told Streetsblog that a DMV judge swiftly dismissed his ticket recently for moving through a red light last fall, because he told the hearing officer he was following the leading pedestrian interval at the time.
"I’m thankful that there was at least some education with the judge I had," said Oliver Casey.
A cop had pulled Casey over on his way to work in October, after he crossed 42nd Street and Third Avenue with the pedestrian signal. When he told the officer about the LPI law, the member of New York's Finest remained unconvinced.
"He said he’s 99 percent sure I’m wrong, so he handed me the ticket anyway," Casey recalled.
The regular bike commuter had heard about the law change and other false ticketing on the online forum Reddit. After his experience, he now keeps a copy of the law on hand in case police stop him again.
"I’ve heard of people riding around with a little card with the law printed on it, and at first, I thought that was a bit ridiculous," Casey said. "I have a printout of the law. I’ll definitely carry that with me now."
NYPD brass need to make clear to their rank-and-file to not dole out tickets in the first place, Greene said.
"This law was passed in 2019. What I would like to know is what steps the NYPD took to inform its officers," the attorney told Streetsblog.
Not everyone has the time or money to pay for attorneys and show up at hearings, and many will likely still eat the $190 fine, even though they don't have to, Greene said.
The NYPD's press office said in a statement that the department alerted its members of the law change in March 2020, and that it provides officers in training with a traffic law guide and provides more instruction when "necessary."
"While in the academy, all members of the service are provided a vehicle and traffic law reference guide," said the police spokesperson, who declined to provide a name.
The NYPD academy is a six-month program that seeks to train officers on the full range of police issues.
