Central Park

Gothamist: Cyclist Faces Points On License For Allegedly Failing To Yield To Pedestrian

Riding a bike could end up costing you your driver’s license, according to one cyclist who says the DMV is threatening to add three points to his license if he’s found guilty of failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk while biking in Central Park. Our tipster, who requested anonymity so his name isn’t associated with scofflaw cycling in future Google searches, insists he did nothing to deserve the ticket, which was issued on the afternoon of August 28th.

The cyclist in this incident will be appearing in court in November to contest the ticket. Attorney Steve Vaccaro thinks there’s no legal ground for the DMV to do this. “The points should not apply,” Vaccaro tells us. “And this guy should get a human being to tell him that they will not apply if he pays the fine, although that could take a lot of time and maybe a visit to court.”

Vaccaro thinks the cyclist in this instance has a good shot of beating the ticket and never seeing those points added to his license. “The summons is facially invalid because it is based on a rule that applies only to ‘vehicular traffic,’ which in this context does not include cyclists,” Vaccaro tells us. “Judges have been known to overlook such flaws, because there are other rules that could have been properly applied.” If he loses and the points end up being applied, we’ll let you know.

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