My ticket was unreadable. My girlfriend also got a ticket, but her cop had nice script so we read the date off her ticket.

When we arrived at the prescribed time we stood in line with a bunch of people and went to a window. My ticket was "not in the computer", and my receipt said the officer had not filed a valid slip. Probably they couldn't read it either. My girlfriend's ticket was "in the process of being dismissed, call back tomorrow". So we stood in another line to get a printed receipt that indicated out tickets were dismissed or in the process.

That was all the excitement. I did not have to defend myself in court. My defense would be the truth, that we were exiting the sidewalk to the street and just as cars leaving a driveway "ride on the sidewalk" so were we, not endangering any pedestrian.

Riding on the sidewalk in the five boroughs if you're over 14 and your wheels are over X inches is illegal. The only exception is if you're moving to and from your bike parking spot, and doing so safely. (The portion of the vehicle code that lets cars drive on sidewalks if they're going to or from a garage has also been interpreted to allow bikes to pull on and off the sidewalk from a chain-up, says my lawyer.)

Connecticut laws and matters of etiquette do not enter into this legal matter.

Eventually I got to stand in front with a public defender next to me. First I asked the lawyer about the ECB thing and he said that this was a civil court room and it didn't matter. Then I started to explain why I was riding on the sidewalk (avoiding a lot of broken glass on the road where), as the lawyer was telling me he was a rider as well and that wasn't a good excuse the judge interrupted and said $50 fine, do you accept? To avoid going downtown again and waiting several hours, I accepted and paid.

FYI - if anyone gets a 9:30am time get their 45 minutes early. People arriving at 9:30AM had to go to the end of a very long line outside the courthouse.

It's never a good idea to defend bad behavior by pointing to others' bad behavior.

You New York traffic ticket is pending at the Traffic Violations Bureau which is a difficult place to win. There are no deals so it is "all or nothing". You have, however, nothing to lose by fighting the ticket. The points and fine are the same if you plead guilty or if you lose after a hearing (and, of course, you may win). You don't need to hire a New York traffic ticket attorney. So give it a try and good luck.

Running with the bulls is dangerous and it is important for people to know that there is somewhat of a safe haven in the current structurally violent transportation system based on cars.

In agreement entirely.

When people feel threatened especially for their lives it is totally reasonable and OK to ride on the sidewalks.

It should be broad common knowledge that it is OK to ride on sidewalks -- of course, sensibly, in a manner that does not put others in danger -- and to further promote the reality that cycling in New York City is quite safe when done correctly.

Where I live--in Connecticut--the drivers systematically speed, run red lights, and pass cyclists dangerously close. The sidewalks, in contrast, are empty. There are sidewalks I have NEVER seen a single human being on.

In these conditions, the sidewalks function as bike lanes. It's even legal to ride on them. Under these conditions, riding on the sidewalks is totally defensible.

One is okay and the other isn't because the two acts are in no way similar.

Mark, "Visit the Hudson River Promenade any evening of the week. You can't sit on a bench for five minutes without seeing a biker going by at an abusively high speed."
First, I said the law does make sense in Manhattan so your counterpoint really isn't one. Second, I am not talking about major, dedicated, bike+ped infrastructure. I am talking about the majority of sidewalks the majority of the time. I promise you that I could ride my bike from my place near prospect park to get a sandwich and back and encounter maybe 2 pedestrians.

Ian, yours is the sort of self-entitled thinking that leads bikers to block traffic lanes all over the city. Please give some thought to others for a change.

For many individuals the expense and trouble of showing up in court is much more than the cost of the ticket so that many just pay it; and, some sort of pro bono legal representation in these cases may possibly be the best way to demonstrate that the law is not valid, not at all practical, especially in those places where the streets are not safe for cyclists and or have very few pedestrians.

I don't think when cars drive into a parking ghttp://marynewsom.blogspot.com/arage they get a ticket for driving on the sidewalk. Cyclists are doing the same thing. Just like you, I was just riding from my building to the handicapped ramp and into the street.

Cars are parked bumper to bumper along most sidewalks and you have to go to the corner to get on or off the sidewalk, which is where you have to park your bike. It's not like joyriding on the sidewalk, it's just part of riding. If there are too many peds, you get off and walk it, but if there is no one around, it's not irresponsible to ride a few feet on the sidewalk at the start or end of your ride.

I'm sure that a lot of these drivers figured that since it was an empty sidewalk in an industrial area, they weren't inconveniencing any pedestrians by parking there. They're wrong. The sidewalk is designed for pedestrians, and having cars parked all over it gives pedestrians the feeling they don't belong and discourages return trips to or through the area.

I've ridden on many sidewalks in my life, particularly when I was younger, even crowded sidewalks on college campuses, ringing my bell and telling people to get out of my way. Sometimes I look back and think I was a jerk, sometimes I think I just didn't know how to ride in the city. Either way, I've come to the conclusion that it was a bad idea, and I don't do it any more.

My moral test for this is not just whether I would get in the way of any pedestrians who happen to be walking on that stretch of sidewalk, but whether anyone might see me riding and be discouraged from walking there, or anywhere. I also want to avoid giving people a bad impression of cyclists, but I recognize that I don't have much control over that.

For those who claim that there's nothing wrong with riding on the sidewalk in some areas outside of Manhattan, I'd be interested to hear whether you also think that there's nothing wrong with parking cars on the sidewalk in these areas. If you think it is wrong to park a car on the sidewalk, I'd like to hear why you think one is okay but the other isn't.

1) Is it illegal to ride on the sidewalk where you were ticketed?

2) Did you ride on the sidewalk where you were ticketed?

If the answers to 1 & 2 are yes, plead guilty.

If one answer is no, plead innocent.

I find it hard to believe that readers of this site actually defend riding on the sidewalk. Legality aside, some people talk about sidewalk riding like it's some pleasure that they long for, or like it's somehow desirable. I really don't understand.

Furthermore, soliciting advice, ostensibly to help an admitted offender beat the system, does not lend credibility to SB. The only advice is "pay the ticket and don't ride on the sidewalk again."

The actions of the NYPD can be debated when they set up blockades to ticket every rider coming off the WB bridge for no reason or when they ignore speeding cars, and it would have been cool if the cop had just warned him, but there is really no room for debate or complaining here.