Editorial
Moped Riders Must Obey Traffic Laws

We grudge no one their right to make an honest living. We're also well aware that some ways of earning one's bread by the sweat of one's brow, literally or figuratively, are harder than others. And we also know, because we see them in action every day and frequently avail ourselves of their services, that the people who deliver food orders are among those who work longest and hardest at a job that ranks among the riskiest and hardest of all the occupations this city has to offer.

Our sympathy notwithstanding, we also feel that no one has the right to endanger the lives of other innocent people in the course of performing their work. Some food delivery people and the food establishment owners and proprietors who employ them, however, seem ignorant of both city law and common sense as they go about the course of their labors. Too many times we've had to engage in some fancy footwork to dodge mopeds that were being ridden on sidewalks. In each case, said moped was operated by someone obviously employed by a food service establishment. We say "obviously" because every moped rider we encountered under these circumstances was trying to steer his vehicle with one hand while holding a bag of comestibles packaged for delivery in the other.

According to the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law, the requirements to operate a moped are like those for motorcycles. Anyone operating a moped must have a driver's license and must register a moped in order to drive it on streets and highways. Most important, for the purpose of this discussion, it is, without exception, illegal to operate a moped on a sidewalk.

We can appreciate that operating a motor scooter in traffic, surrounded by much larger and heavier vehicles, is not the safest way to get from the restaurant where a food order was prepared to the home or office of whoever ordered it. The law is the law, however. It is illegal to ride a moped on a sidewalk in the city of New York, and anyone who violates the law is subject to the same penalties that attend any other conviction for reckless driving.

We can appreciate that the mopeds let the food get delivered faster and that the people who work as hard as the restaurant staffs of this city certainly deserve a break. We cannot, however, countenance disregard of the law, even if that disregard arises solely out of ignorance. We call upon the owners of these establishments to ensure that their employees obey this city's statutes and ordinances in the course of doing their jobs. The food won't get appreciably colder if the delivery people do their jobs within the limits of the law and we'll all be safer and happier for it.