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For Immediate Release: April 28th, 2004 Contact: Contact: Jordan Isenstadt (c) 516.991.3842 (w) 212.490.9535 (f) 212.490.2151 ***PRESS
RELEASE*** State Senator
Liz Krueger Proposes Legislation To Encourage
Safer Commercial Biking Focuses
on Holding Businesses Responsible New York, NY – Saying that, “we must
address the growing bike epidemic on the East Side,” State Senator Liz
Krueger (D-Manhattan) today announced the
introduction of innovative legislation to make it easier to hold businesses
responsible for traffic violations by bicyclists they employ. “Unfortunately, commercial bicyclists who
disobey traffic laws have placed the health and safety of pedestrians at
risk,” said Senator Krueger. “This legislation will go a long way
towards creating a practical and enforceable system for regulating the
actions of commercial bicyclists.”
Presently, the New York City Administrative Code prohibits the operation of bicycles on sidewalks due to the danger that bicycles pose to pedestrians in the event of a collision. “Sidewalks were created for use by pedestrians and not for speeding delivery bicycles attempting to shave minutes from their delivery time at a heightened risk for community residents on foot,” stated Senator Krueger. “This problem has not only been exacerbated by the difficulty experienced in enforcing the current statutory provisions which prohibit this activity, but also because of the lack of means to identify the culprit businesses. The bill that I have proposed will work to solve these problems.”
Under the current law, liability is assigned to the business providing the delivery service, employed delivery cyclists must wear upper body apparel with the businesses name and phone number, and they are required to carry photo identification cards with name, home address, as well as the businesses name, address and phone number. “The problem with the current law is that businesses have gotten around the regulations by hiring delivery bicyclists as independent contractors, rather than as employees,” remarked Senator Krueger.
Senator Krueger’s proposed legislation, S. 6385, would strengthen and facilitate increased enforcement of Section 10-157 of the NYC Administrative Code by expanding the code to include all commercial cyclists who provide a delivery service for a business, not limiting it to those who are actually employed by the establishment. The bill would also move the proceedings for any violation of the code from the criminal court to the environmental control board. Furthermore, the legislation would create a rebuttable presumption that the business utilizing or arranging for the services of the commercial bicycle operator had knowledge that the bicyclist was in violation of the law. This rebuttable presumption will make the businesses subject to a fine of $100 to $250 dollars.
“By making the businesses liable for the actions of the cyclists who deliver their product, it will encourage them to only associate with commercial cyclists who adhere to the requirements currently in place in the Administrative Code,” stated Senator Krueger. “By clarifying that delivery cyclists can be affiliated with a business and not necessarily employed by the business, it will promote a greater enforcement mechanism. By moving violations from criminal court to the environmental control board, it will cease the present system in which summonses and penalties are not seen through to their final conclusion.”
In addition, the City of New York will make a profit from increased revenue through the imposition of fines to those in violation of the Administrative Code.
“It is clear that we have a serious crisis on the East Side of Manhattan regarding commercial bicyclists,” stated Senator Krueger. “In the last decade there have been several attempts at refining and reforming the Administrative Code, but none have worked. We need to find ways to enlist the help of the businesses that employ cyclists in ensuring that their delivery people obey the laws of the road. The legislation that I have sponsored will put a cohesive system in place that will be enforceable, sensible and realistic.”
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