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Bike Lanes: NYC's Holocaust Or Just Hiroshima?
By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 25, 2011
Modified Apr 25, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 25, 2011
Modified Apr 25, 2011
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As we noted earlier, a cyclist was killed yesterday in an accident with a car in Gravesend; as it happens, the scene of the accident isn't far from Bay Ridge Parkway, where a proposed bike lane was shot down by local politicians earlier this month. If the initial report about the accident is accurate—that the driver had a green light—there's little a bike lane could have done to save the victim. But the tragic collision serves as another sobering reminder of the dangers of cycling. And it comes as both the Daily News and the Post fan the flames of the cyclist backlash with even more anti-bike lane articles today.
The News focuses its derision on Park Slope, where the DOT is planning improvements to the Prospect Park West bike lane, requested by the local community board. Pulling numbers out of thin air, the tabloid guesstimates that the changes could "cost the city hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars... Are all this effort and money really worth it to create room for bicycles on a 1.8-mile strip of roadway? Before you answer, consider this: A mere stone's throw away, there are beautiful cycling paths provide [sic] unfettered freedom to ride inside Prospect Park." Perhaps it's worth noting that the park is not open 24/7, and that cyclists are required to bike in the direction of traffic in the park, which doesn't help cyclists who want to bike north, against traffic on PPW. On the other hand, SPANDEX HIPSTER BIKE NAZIS ARE KILLING GRANDMA!
Meanwhile, the NY Post assigned three reporters to the intersection of Lafayette and Prince, where two bike lanes cross paths. For five days, they counted cyclists and found—contrary to the tabloid's assertions in previous anti-cyclist diatribes—that the bike lanes actually got a lot of use. But they weren't used the right way, according to the Post, which reports that out of the 7,182 cyclists who pedaled by between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. that week, 1,759 of them, about 24 percent, ran red lights. And 15 percent rode the wrong way or "bolted in and out of the lanes," which, as anyone who bikes along Prince Street knows, is unavoidable, because pedestrians use that bike lane as an extension of the sidewalk (when cars aren't blocking it).
The Post didn't bother counting the numbers of motor vehicle violations, of course. But the article does feature a classic photo of a cyclist talking on a cell phone while looking back over his shoulder at a woman's behind. According to the Post, so far this year, the NYPD has issued 9,427 summonses to cyclists, up 65 percent more than a year ago at this time. And local restaurant owner John Buffa provides the perfect demonizing hate-filled quote to complete the diatribe: "I can't stand them. They think the streets belong to them, and they don't." Cyclists—they're all the same! Why don't they just move back where they came from?
Tagged
bike lanes
cyclist crackdown
cyclists
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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