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Photos: Citi Bike Rider Takes Brooklyn Bridge Motor Vehicle Level
By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 27, 2013
Modified Jun 27, 2013
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 27, 2013
Modified Jun 27, 2013
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Biking over the packed pedestrian walkway on the Brooklyn Bridge is an exercise in abject futility, with tourists waddling into the bike lane every five feet to take photos of each other getting run over by cyclists. If only there was some other way to get across the bridge... like, say, just riding your bike across the freaking automobile level. Motorist Jonathan W. Gray and his daughter snapped these photos yesterday afternoon as he drove home from Manhattan. In his words:
I was turning onto the bridge to go from Manhattan to my home in Brooklyn with my daughter in the back at 4:15 yesterday. As I pull up the ramp onto the bridge I see the woman ahead of me to my left. She was in the far left on the bridge. I was afraid for her. She was about 20 feet ahead of me the entire time.
As I finally passed her (we were almost off the bridge) my daughter snapped those pics with my phone. I was in the left turn-only lane waiting for the arrow when she pulled up and got off the Citi Bike to walk it across the intersection. Curious to see if she was a bike activist, I called out, "Did you do that on purpose?" She looked at me abashed and said "No, that was a total accident. It's my first time across the bridge."
Luckily for the unidentified cyclist, her misadventure occurred close to rush hour, so traffic on the bridge was somewhat subdued. When you think about it, this was probably the least deadly time for her to make this sort of blunder. Unfortunately, she's in for a rude awakening when she realizes how much more pleasant the car level is compared to the pedestrian level.
Courtesy Jonathan W. Gray / @elmcitytree
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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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