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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

#121

Post by nemo44x »

With more bikes because of bike lanes, I hope the city will begin enforcing bike infractions more seriously. So many people on bikes are going way too fast in the bike lanes (and pedestrian pathways) and do not stop at red lights, etc. I was happy to see a person get stopped and ticketed for riding down a walkway to a bike path when there was a sign explicitly stating that riding on the path was not allowed.

I've seen so many pedestrians hit by people on bikes, in bike lanes that did not stop at red while someone was crossing the walk. It's invariably a Lance Armstrong type or a tourist on a City Bike with no idea what they are doing.

With the loss of revenue from parking tickets it will have to be made up somewhere and people on bikes should be the targets for fines. There should also be stricter requirements on registering bikes for a fee to be used in the city with unlicensed bikes being fined.

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

#122

Post by chadlavi »

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.

Lot of this. Most bikehsare rides in NYC are quick one-way jaunts like this.

Anecdotally, I know a lot of women who ride bikeshare bikes for the 5-6 blocks it takes them to get home from the subway in the early-sunset months as a safety precaution against sexual harassment.

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

#123

Post by btrettel »

de_Selby wrote: post #64
schrodinger wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing I like about the newer NYC bike lanes is they put them inside of parked cars. It means you’re generally protected from traffic by a row of parked cars. And there’s a large enough buffer that you don’t have to worry about getting hit by an open door.

How does that work if the cyclist is going straight and cars are turning across them (e.g. Making a right turn). Does it not make it harder for the traffic to see the cyclist?

This is a huge problem in Austin. There are certain protected bike lanes that I won't use because drivers have no visibility and won't yield to cyclists anywhere near as often as they should even when the visibility is good.

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

#124

Post by SwellJoe »

rb808 wrote: post #85
SwellJoe wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It'd be more popular if it were safer/easier. Which is true pretty much everywhere. Some of the places where biking is the most common also have quite harsh winters (e.g. Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, etc.).

Netherlands and much Denmark aren't that cold in winter, many years it wont even snow. Further the summers are cool.

Not unlike New York City. But, how about Finland? They also ride bikes a lot more than most US cities, and Finland definitely has harsh winters.

Edit: As for summers, I've regularly biked in Texas throughout the summer over many years (I've lived without a car quite a bit in Austin). The peak of the day is rough, but the usual commuting hours aren't too bad. New York has nothing on Texas summers.

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

#125

Post by btrettel »

CydeWeys wrote: post #115
trenning wrote: post #44

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

My main issue recently has been with delivery trucks. They're bigger (thus block the bike lane completely), and they tend to be in the bike lane for a much longer period of time than FHVs/taxis.

I've started blocking delivery truck drivers back. I'll stand directly in front of their passenger side door to block them from returning to their vehicle (not touching their vehicle). Some drivers seem really irritated to have to walk into the road, which just shows that they know their parking is dangerous to cyclists. The goal is to add time to their delivery, as I think they only park in the bike lane to save time. I think if enough cyclists did this then delivery truck drivers might start to avoid the bike lanes.

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

#126

Post by shaboi »

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…

Chicago has been doing a pretty good job of building out bike lanes. But it needs to be taken further still, and more quickly.

However, the initiative needs a more robust implementation, with more consideration of driver behavior and parking needs. This is evident as many delivery trucks, Ubers etc. park in the lane (albeit, with emergency blinkers on, but it's a moot measure regardless) and push bicyclists into traffic. So while the bike lanes probably improve safety and reduce deaths overall, it can and does introduce a new, very real hazard: the necessity of bicyclists to suddenly merge into traffic. And this abuse is pretty rampant.

The hanging fruit is simply implementing stiffer penalities for such violations but this seems lacking. Coupling this with more temporary parking zones might be a solution. Then again, I'm not a civil engineer, just my observations and half-baked thoughts concerning the matter.

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

#127

Post by gok »

This will get more people on bicycles, which will almost certainly make the problem worse, unfortunately. No amount of lane protection prevents collisions in intersections, which is where nearly all the deaths happen. The problem isn't the amount of protected lanes; it's the rampant amount of comically unqualified drivers. The two tearjerkers from the article are typical: an 18 year old blowing a red light and someone driving without a license.

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

#128

Post by objektif »

jacobreg wrote: post #98
bravoetch wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. NYC isn't some reference point for what other cities should do. Making a city bike friendly is available to all cities, and has been for decades. There's no trickle down bike policy, as other cities in the US are already showing.

It's not ridiculous to say the urbanest area should try to set an example for other urban areas

Why muct we accomodate the needs of bikers? Why do they hold a special place? Can we instead invest in subway?

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

#129

Post by bobbylarrybobby »

quartz wrote: post #105
wefarrell wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You're being irrational with that fear. Cyclists are basically never killed by other cyclists or pedestrians. In fact, 5 of the last 8 years had zero pedestrian deaths due to collisions with cyclists. [1] [1] https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bicyclists/bikestats.shtm...

You do have to weigh the severity of death against the frequency of lesser injuries. Hippos are more likely to kill me than mice, but I'm much more worried about the mouse problem in my building than I am about hippos.

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

#130

Post by vinceguidry »

jermaustin1 wrote: post #79
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.

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…

> The more egregious incident: I assumed he was going to stop, he decided he was not going to stop.

People look at me crazy when I say I feel safer around scooters than bicycles and this is why. Cycling inertia makes you super-reluctant to slow down or stop. Whereas with scooters all you have to do is twist the throttle to speed back up.

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