Treehugger posted an article today about a cyclist in New York City who was fined$1,555 for blowing three consecutive red lights. Apparently NYC has some aggressive traffic fines that increase with each violation. The cyclist is contesting that the fines are excessive for the violation and that the red lights being blown consecutively (rather than on three different instances) should be treated as one violation…
If a person robbed three different but adjacent stores consecutively, should s/he receive only one penalty? We think that the cyclist was engaging in reckless riding and that the fines are minimal compared to the problems that could have occurred (particularly injury or death to him or others as unexpected drivers are forced into reaction).
What do you think?