Reckless e-bikers are a menace — here’s how the NYPD is cracking down

Every New Yorker understands how frightening it is to jump out of the way as an e-bike drives on the sidewalk, or to pull their kids back as one barrels through a busy crosswalk.

Over the past few years, e-bikes have become commonplace in communities across our city.

These motorized vehicles are convenient, but they are also fast, heavy and can be extremely dangerous.

What’s more, the rapid proliferation of e-bikes has not been met with any meaningful governance of their safe use — until now.

Operating any vehicle, including an e-bike, on a city street comes with certain responsibilities.

Chief among them is following the very basic rules of the road — and when it comes to traffic safety, compliance is not optional.

So to increase safety on our roadways, the New York Police Department is stepping up enforcement on 14 high-traffic, high-volume e-bike corridors throughout the city, including Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn and 2nd Avenue in Manhattan.

Officers are focusing on peak morning and evening hours, and targeting serious e-bike traffic violations such as reckless driving, wrong-way riding, disobeying red-light signals, disobeying traffic control devices and failure to stop at stop signs.

And to make our enforcement more effective, these especially dangerous violations are now issued as criminal court summonses, or “c-summonses.” 

Previously, such infractions were eligible for traffic court summonses, or “b-summonses” — but a loophole in the system rendered those tickets essentially worthless.

When vehicle drivers fail to respond to a traffic summons, their licenses can be suspended.

But e-bikes do not require any license, so their operators can simply ignore a traffic summons with virtually no meaningful repercussions.

Now, we’re closing that loophole by issuing c-summonses —the only real option available under the law to hold reckless e-bike operators accountable.

As always, we are open to working with lawmakers on effective alternatives.

In the meantime and under current law, public safety will remain our top priority.

Some critics have suggested that this new e-bike safety enforcement policy represents an overly punitive dragnet. 

But this behavior is clearly unlawful, dangerous, and degrading of our collective quality of life in New York City.  

Last week the NYPD issued 11,245 moving summonses for cars compared to 654 for e-bikes, proving this new approach is both balanced and targeted. 

A c-summons will not appear on a driver’s rap sheet, and judges still have the option to dismiss a case if the offender avoids any further violations during a six-month period.

Others have expressed worry that pedal bicycles could be swept up in this enforcement action.

While bicycles are subject to traffic laws, this crackdown is specifically focused on e-bikes — and directly responsive to resident concerns.

New Yorkers have been raising these concerns in NYPD precincts, at Community Council meetings, at town halls and elsewhere.

They have told us about their very real fears of serious injury or worse.

And now, the NYPD is taking action. 

Since this initiative began, compared to the same period last year, e-bike enforcement is up by a factor of 100.

As always, the NYPD does not inquire about a person’s immigration status and does not cooperate with ICE on civil immigration matters.

The only objective here is the elimination of hazardous e-bike operation and the restoration of safety and order on our streets and sidewalks.

In my 17 years working in city government, I have never accepted the status quo when the status quo no longer serves New Yorkers. And previous e-bike enforcement was clearly not serving New Yorkers.

We cannot tolerate these vehicles speeding through traffic, running red lights, ignoring stop signs, driving on the sidewalk and careening through crosswalks.

This is common sense, it is our job, and it is exactly what New York City expects from its police department.

Jessica Tisch is commissioner of the New York City Police Department.