United States | Squeezing the brakes

Police are cracking down on cyclists in New York City

The lycra-clad are getting swept up in problems around e-bikes

A cyclist in New York City.
Wheels of injusticePhotograph: Alamy
|NEW YORK|2 min read

PITY THE cyclists of New York City. As well as having to slalom double-parked cars and piles of rubbish, they only get a few weeks a year without oppressive humidity or frigid cold. And this spring, even their meteorological bliss has been disturbed. The New York Police Department (NYPD) has started issuing criminal summonses for bike riders committing a slew of seemingly low-level fouls. Now, if caught running red lights, stopping in the pedestrian crossing or wearing headphones, wayward cyclists must appear before a judge, even if they are not contesting the fine. If they do not, they risk arrest.

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This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Squeezing the brakes”

From the June 7th 2025 edition

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