Fortunately, there's a simple way to nip these traps in the bud — don't stop for cops, and don't pay jaywalking or cycling tickets! Nothing happens if you refuse to pay, and the last city to try issuing arrest warrants for this — NYC under Guilian — got a storm of national bad press over it.

It is very, very difficult for cops to stop a cyclist by force without escalating to lethal force, regardless of the vehicle they are using. There is just SO much traffic that bikes can penetrate and cars cannot, and no fat, donut-eating cop could ever hope to catch a bike on foot.

In addition, in the 1990's an arrest resulting from a pedestrian refusing to show ID over a jaywalking ticket cost the city a $400,000 judgment when she took the government to court.

I have ridden by those areas all the time — with no ID — seeing cops but not being bothered, no doubt as these cops know damned well I'm not stopping.

If enough people decide to directly resist this twisted sort of law enforcement, the city will have no choice but to throw in the towel.

Back in 1999, the Golden Triangle BID got police to launch a crackdown of a similar sort, and made the mistake of declaring on FOX News that "unlicensed bike messengers" would be a specific target. The messenger licensing law had never gone into effect, sunk by heavy courier resistance, so they were blowing smoke.

After I warned them in person and over the Internet that this could provoke street blockades in places like Connecticut and K(in their turf), they went back on FOX the next night to announce that messengers would not be targeted, and soon the whole program died.

I'm going to guess this is going to be another short-lived publicity blitz, leading to fistfuls of tickets that can't ever be collected — and a lot of very, very angry bikers and pedestrians!