Thursday’s Headlines: Outrage Over ‘Criminalized’ Cycling Edition

More and more voices are finally chiming in on NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s policy change that is resulting in delivery workers being hauled into criminal court for low-level traffic violations that used to be enforced with a simple ticket.

On Wednesday, Transportation Alternatives launched a petition, which called Tisch’s criminal crackdown, mostly against hard-working and exploited delivery workers, “illogical, cruel, and ineffective,” and added that it “will only lead to more New Yorkers stuck behind bars, chased by a criminal record, or at risk of deportation.”

Meanwhile, bike lawyer Steve Vaccaro posted a video of him mocking and decrying the new policy on Instagram, which we can’t embed, so click on the photo below.

The policy has angered so many people that some cyclists are calling for a massive civil obedience to show Tisch the folly of her policy change. And others are just cheering our coverage:

We’ll have a lot more coverage every day until Tisch backs down and focuses a proportionate amount of her attention on the main danger on the roads: cars and trucks, which her own “data-driven” agency’s data show, cause virtually all of the injuries to pedestrians.

In 2024, 37 pedestrians were injured in the entire year in 179 reported e-bike collisions, the NYPD said. In that year, 9,610 pedestrians were injured overall, so e-bike riders caused just 0.4 percent of pedestrian injuries.

That pattern has continued in the first three months of this year, with one pedestrian injured by an e-bike rider, according to the NYPD. Over the same period, 2,271 were injured overall, so e-bike riders caused less than 0.04 percent of the reported pedestrian injuries.

In other news from a slow day on the local beat:

• Days after the U.S. DOT said Amtrak would take over the major renovation project at Penn Station, the rail company said it would lay off 20 percent of its employees in the division that oversees … major renovation projects. (Bloomberg)
• Speaking of Amtrak, it’s already delaying LIRR trains even before beginning its East River tunnel work. (amNY, NYDN)
• Teach your children well: A Brooklyn principal was arrested for drunk driving after overturning his car. (NYDN)
• Remember the Real ID mania that turned out to be a hoax? Well, it’s not a hoax! (NY Post)
• Have we mentioned recently that there’s a War on Cars book coming out soon?