You Told Us: Did This NYPD Officer Write too Many Tickets for Bicyclists?

UPPER WEST SIDE — Upon hearing the news DNAinfo broke that an NYPD officer from the 20th Precinct handed out the most bike summonses in the city in a three-year period, readers took to social media with their reactions.

Officer Joshua Vincek handed out 1,249 tickets to cyclists between Jan. 1, 2012 and Feb. 26, 2015 — far outdoing other officers in the city who handed out a combined 51,841 tickets, DNAinfo New York found. 

Bicycle safety and enforcement has stirred controversy in the neighborhood for a long time — advocates have argued police are tougher on cyclists than on drivers in Central Park, while others have pushed for a crackdown on rogue delivery bikers.

While some readers thought Vincek was unfairly targeting cyclists...

"Why not go after reckless drivers who run red lights, hit cars, hit cyclist, and pedestrians. Let alone reckless automobile drivers kill people."

— Facebook user Richard D Fab

"I want to see him stand in front of an empty one lane intersection on a bicycle for 3 minutes while the stupid light changes. Let's come up with some more reasonable traffic laws for bikes and I will follow them."

— Facebook user Constantine Clamatoff

"Bicyclists are an easy target. I'd like to see any level of enforcement for cars running red lights, drivers talking on cellphones, cars speeding, distracted driving, dangerous driving, illegal right turns on red, etc, etc, etc."

— Neighborhood Square user NaibunStoag

Others — and the apparent majority — praised Vincek. One person even described him as a "hero":

"...as a resident of the UWS and a stroke survivor I've been dodging cyclists for years. I'm glad he is taking the law seriously,"

— Facebook user Tom Reidy 

"keep up the momentum officer Joshua Vincek. great job. cyclists can be just as dangerous and more dangerous as motor vehicles,"

— Facebook user Jacqueline Nesbitt.

"i suggest that officer Joshua Vincek keep the momentum going, it is well needed, cyclists are more dangerous than cars, they should also ride with license plates on their cycles, just like motorcycles have."

— Neighborhood Square user shalala.