A New York City cycling club argues in a new lawsuit that the city imposed a 15 mph speed limit in Central Park through the “perversion” of a new law intended to reduce car accidents.
Just before he left office, former Mayor Eric Adams’ administration lowered the speed limit on Central Park Drives from 32 to 24 miles per hour. In a lawsuit filed last week, the New York City Cycling Club writes that the new limit will force competitive cyclists who normally train in the park onto the road. Two veteran competitive cyclists say in affidavits that the new speed limit unfairly prevents them from training for races by eliminating “one of the few safe areas in the entire city for intense cycling training.”
“Cycling requires me to ride at speed at various intervals; without that there is no way to develop the strength and fitness necessary to race competitively. This requires me to be extremely alert to my surroundings at all times, just as I would during a race,” Sarah Chubb Sauvayre, who has ridden at the park for 42 years, said in a legal filing.
The cycling club’s legal argument, which was first reported by Street blogfocuses on the government’s use of Sammy’s Law to lower the speed limit. The lawNamed after a young boy who died after being struck by a car on Prospect Park West in 2013, New York City gives the authority to lower the speed limit to 20 miles per hour on most streets and 15 miles per hour in school zones. The law was passed in 2024 after years of advocacy led by people whose loved ones died on the road.
The cycling club states that the law only applies to motor vehicles. The city’s Law Department, which did not respond to a request for comment, wrote in a legal filing that Sammy’s Law “applies broadly to vehicles, e-mobility devices and bicycles.”
“This particularly affects those doing training and practice rides… A speed of 15mph would put the kibosh on that,” said Peter Beadle, the lawyer representing the cyclists.
Colin Taber, president of the New York Cycling Club, said in a legal filing that cyclists already protect safety in the park through a “Central Park Protocol”, instructing them to train at high speed when the park is least busy, in the early morning and late evening.
One January report from the Department of Transportation, which tracked the average bicycle speed in Central Park, showed that the average speed of cyclists does not exceed 15 mph until before 9 a.m.
“[Cyclists] would be immediately and negatively affected if they were forced to enter or remain on the city streets from the safety of the park [and] risked traffic fines – often now in the form of a criminal summons – to train at the level they need for the sport,” Taber said.
In a legal filing, Taber called the city’s use of Sammy’s Law “a perversion of the purpose of that law.”
Beadle emphasized that the lawsuit is not an attempt for cyclists to evade the law.
“There have to be rules, and there are, and they can be enforced,” he said. “But what we should not do is follow an unfair process that is specifically aimed at punishing one population group.”
Betsy Smith, the president and CEO of the Central Park Conservatory, supported the lowered speed limit when it was announced.
“A clear, consistent speed limit helps reduce conflict between pedestrians and motorists and makes the Drives safer and more predictable for everyone.” she wrote.
Crowding in Central Park’s driveways has been a growing problem in recent years. The conservation group also supported a proposed ban on horse-drawn carriages operating through the park.
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