Put this in the category called “It’s About Time”: The NYPD announced Wednesday that it will crack down on bicyclists who fail to obey the rules of the road.
Over two weeks, Operation Safe Cycle will target cyclists who ride on sidewalks, travel against the flow of traffic, ignore traffic signs or fail to give pedestrians the right of way.
It’s good news. As the city debates whether cops should curb enforcement of low-level crimes, this is one quality-of-life issue that needs more, not less, attention.
Fact is, too many cyclists — deliverymen, hipster commuters, others — show little regard for anyone else. They freely terrorize pedestrians and endanger life and limb.
In the Bloomberg era, The Post argued that if the city was going to insist, as it did, on expanding cycling and making Gotham bike-friendly, the risk of accidents — bike-vs.-bike, bike-vs.-car, bike-vs.-pedestrian — was bound to rise, unless traffic laws were better enforced.
The city’s crackdown also comes as Mayor de Blasio pushes his Vision Zero plan to improve traffic safety and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton emphasizes the need to police quality-of-life infractions.
Our only problem with Operation Safe Cycle is that it’s a two-week pilot program. So at the end of the month, cyclists will feel free to go back to breaking the law — riding recklessly and endangering themselves and others.
Would Bratton do the same with other quality-of-life initiatives? We doubt it.
Lawless bikers require permanent reminders. Otherwise, the problem will just keep going round and round.