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After Spike in Deaths, New York to Get 250 Miles of Protected Bike Lanes

nytimes.com

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Re: After Spike in Deaths, New York to Get 250 Miles of Protected Bike Lanes

#71

Post by philwelch »

crazygringo wrote: post #45
kansface wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How popular is biking in New York - eg, do people bike in the winter?

A lot of biking isn't for your commute but rather a quick way to run an errand 5 avenues over using Citibike -- it's a 6 min ride instead of a 20 min walk. For that, super common to bike even in the winter. After all, you're already bundled up and will probably stay warmer just because you'll be outside for less time.

Also, biking itself keeps you warm. But I would be concerned about ground conditions.

Re: After Spike in Deaths, New York to Get 250 Miles of Protected Bike Lanes

#72

Post by msoad »

If you don't live in NYC you should know that a lot of bicycles in NYC are delivery guys riding electrified bicycles that go up to 20MpH. Many of them don't wear helmets and ride dangerously. I don't have anything to back this tip but the raise of deaths can be linked to raise of electric bicycles

Re: After Spike in Deaths, New York to Get 250 Miles of Protected Bike Lanes

#73

Post by TulliusCicero »

kansface wrote: post #26
pwthornton wrote: post #5

This is big time for America. If our biggest city can’t show leadership on pedestrian and bicyclist safety, we can’t expect any other city to as well. New York is really lagging behind where it should be. Despite being by far the biggest American city, it is overrun with cars. Protected bike lanes, street improvements to make crossing the street safer, and dedicated bus lanes will improve the city for all New Yorkers…

How popular is biking in New York - eg, do people bike in the winter?

I'm guessing right now, not very.

Cyclists will deal with bad weather or bad infrastructure, but not many will deal with both at the same time. The solution is good infrastructure.

Re: After Spike in Deaths, New York to Get 250 Miles of Protected Bike Lanes

#74

Post by xxxtentachyon »

kansface wrote: post #26
pwthornton wrote: post #5

This is big time for America. If our biggest city can’t show leadership on pedestrian and bicyclist safety, we can’t expect any other city to as well. New York is really lagging behind where it should be. Despite being by far the biggest American city, it is overrun with cars. Protected bike lanes, street improvements to make crossing the street safer, and dedicated bus lanes will improve the city for all New Yorkers…

How popular is biking in New York - eg, do people bike in the winter?

I live and work in lower Manhattan (about a 15 minute commute each way by bike) and I will ride a Citi bike to work unless there are multiple inches of snow on the ground

Re: After Spike in Deaths, New York to Get 250 Miles of Protected Bike Lanes

#75

Post by guelo »

wefarrell wrote: post #59
pwthornton wrote: post #5

This is big time for America. If our biggest city can’t show leadership on pedestrian and bicyclist safety, we can’t expect any other city to as well. New York is really lagging behind where it should be. Despite being by far the biggest American city, it is overrun with cars. Protected bike lanes, street improvements to make crossing the street safer, and dedicated bus lanes will improve the city for all New Yorkers…

I commute on my bike in NYC daily and I am far more terrified of pedestrians and other cyclists than I am of cars. Cars for the most part pay attention and obey traffic rules. Cyclists less so and pedestrians ignore rules entirely and frequently aren't even aware of cyclists.

I've never heard another cyclist express this sentiment. Most of us are scared of speeding cars grazing us or parked car doors suddenly opening up in front of us.

Re: After Spike in Deaths, New York to Get 250 Miles of Protected Bike Lanes

#76

Post by james-mcelwain »

sgillen wrote: post #53
product50 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I wish they also tell us how many accidents do bikers cause themselves as they are notorious for not following any traffic rules - thereby endangering the live of others.

You're being down-voted for the tone of your post I think. But I think it's an interesting point. If there is evidence that US bikers have a culture that does not following traffic laws that can and should seriously impact policy decisions. It's possible some of the great suggestions here that work well in other cities wouldn't work in the US for this or any dozen of other reasons. Not saying that there for is such a…

It's not an interesting point because this topic has already been studied. Cyclists break traffic laws at roughly the same rates as motorists.

Re: After Spike in Deaths, New York to Get 250 Miles of Protected Bike Lanes

#77

Post by 120photo »

nickles wrote: post #14
iamalexm wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that they have outlawed and happily tweet about confiscating e-bikes is digusting. NYC has a long ways to go.

> The fact that they have outlawed and happily tweet about confiscating e-bikes is digusting. NYC has a long ways to go. e-bikes have been legal in NYC for 1.5 years [0] [0] https://mashable.com/2018/04/04/electric-bicycle-nyc-ban-end...

Also many electric bike riders don't take the extra power into consideration when they speed down those bike lanes. I overheard a conversation at the office recently where the topic was the number of bike deaths this year (I work/live in Manhattan) and they did point out that many of those might actually be electric bike riders.

Re: After Spike in Deaths, New York to Get 250 Miles of Protected Bike Lanes

#78

Post by insickness »

trenning wrote: post #44

Don't get your hopes up, Uber drivers will still find a way to block the bike lanes.

If a bike lane is truly 'protected', that implies that between the road and the bike lane, there's a at least a curb if not an actual barrier.

Re: After Spike in Deaths, New York to Get 250 Miles of Protected Bike Lanes

#79

Post by jermaustin1 »

product50 wrote: post #37
joegahona wrote: post #31

> The dangers came into focus this year after 25 cyclists were killed on city streets — the highest toll in two decades. The "highest toll in two decades" gives some context, but I wish writers would share ratio metrics rather than absolute numbers in cases like this. I.e. the number of active cyclists on the road might be outpacing the deaths, but we don't know when you just say "25 cyclists were killed in 2019." Al…

And I wish they also tell us how many accidents do bikers cause themselves as they are notorious for not following any traffic rules - thereby endangering the live of others.

I feel I can answer this anecdotally, as well as put it in some context.

As a pedestrian I have been struck by a delivery bike running a red light exactly twice. The more egregious incident: I assumed he was going to stop, he decided he was not going to stop. Frogger ensued. I was flattened. He also went down and yelled at me. We were both "fine" other than getting a little bit of NYC on us. I know a couple of people have died from these guys, but I don't think it is a significant number.

The real problem IS the cars generally, but the semi-regulated taxis specifically.

As a biker I have been struck by a car also, exactly twice. Both times by a non medallion wearing driver, both on my way from the bike rack on 53rd to port authority (~11 super short blocks), both I was inside the bike lane on 9th avenue. One on instance the driver blindly turned without a blinker from the not turn lane. I saw it happening, but citibikes aren't known for how reliable their brakes are, and we collided at a VERY low speed. I was able to hop off before I fell. The bigger issue on 9th avenue is the turn lanes that are IN the bike lane... The other time I was hit, I was side swiped as the driver decided to not look that I was in the lane. I had my umbrella in hand as I was being side swiped and was swinging it against his driver window. He then flipped me off and pull further into the lane. Knocking me into another biker and we both went down.

I know these are anecdotal, but the 11 blocks I would ride a citi bike could have killed me twice in 2 years. I have been almost killed 0 times by delivery bikes in NYC for the thousands of miles I walked. I will side with bikers over cars in NYC any day of the week.

Re: After Spike in Deaths, New York to Get 250 Miles of Protected Bike Lanes

#80

Post by 120photo »

msoad wrote: post #72

If you don't live in NYC you should know that a lot of bicycles in NYC are delivery guys riding electrified bicycles that go up to 20MpH. Many of them don't wear helmets and ride dangerously. I don't have anything to back this tip but the raise of deaths can be linked to raise of electric bicycles

I'll second this. Many of them are fine but there are a lot of jack @$$3s out there on ebikes not considering they now have a motor powering their bikes.
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