Welcome to the Nanny State: A Post-Soda Ban Look At New York City’s Biggest Crackdowns
Bikes
If you think the city is tightening the reigns on wayward bikes now, just be grateful you weren’t around in “olden times.”
When these two-wheeled demon racers first hit the scene in the late 19th century, they caused quite a stir. As one person at an 1881 hearing to determine whether or not to allow bikes in Central Park put it, “I consider the bicycle to be the most dangerous thing to life ever invented. The gentlest of horses are afraid of it.”
In response to the booming trend the Parks Department issued a series of regulations in 1885, requiring “wheelmen” to register and wear a badge in order to ride in city parks and to “carry lighted lamps after sundown.”
The report noted, “the use of the bicycle and tricycle for recreation and exercise has considerably increased in Brooklyn,” and in order to adjust accordingly officials worked closely popular bicycle clubs including the Long Island Wheelmen, Kings County Wheelmen, Brooklyn Bicycle Club, and Bedford Cycling Club.
It would appear that not much has changed.