So this is a double post from underachievers, but since i don't think most of you read that and I know there are several people in NYC who ride bikes on here, I figured I'd post this here too.
In the last month three cyclists have been killed in NYC and I know of one other who was doored by a cab and then his legs were crushed by a bus. It's rough out there, but way rougher than it needs to be, and it's sad. As a city of 8 million people, with countless people commuting in each day, you'd think NYC would want to reduce the number of cars on the streets, which making it safer for cyclists would do. It would also cut back pollution and related medical problems, road wear and repair costs, and improve the overall fitness of the city. Plus, in most cases what is good for cyclists is good for pedestrians. Still, NYC has no cycling vision while it's peers like London and Chicago are making a great effort to make their cities bike friendly ad recognize the great benefit in doing so. NYC has a 10 year old "Bike Master Plan" (pdf cause, of course, the websites regarding this don't actually work) that has no set time frame and has been almost entirely ignored since it's creation.
This morning I went to an 8:45am rally at city hall. About 70 cyclists showed up and people from both TransAlt and Times Up! spoke about the current state of cycling in NYC and the dangers we face. Do I think the rally really accomplished anything? No, not alone. But the media seems to be giving a bit more attention to the fact that cyclists are dying, no one is being ticketed or held accountable, and conditions aren't improving.
There is a memorial ride tonight at 6:30 for the recently fallen cyclists. Here's a NY Times article about two of the accidents and here's some blogging about it. Derek, the 23 year old kid who was killed was a friend of a friend and was run over after his bike slipped out from under him on construction plates similar to these:
Those are some pics I took in Brooklyn yesterday. The gaps between the plates - which are required to be slip proof and flush to the ground which they aren't - create 4inch drops with abrupt edges. I called 311 and reported them so I'll be going back soon to see if they've been repaired. This sort of shit is seriously ALL OVER New York. It's ridiculous. After a deadly summer last year and what seems to be the beginning of one this year people seem to be getting quite bothered by it so maybe something will change. We'll see.
Time's Up! MEMORIAL RIDE: Thursday, June 29, 6:30 pm
Hudson River Greenway at 46th Street (in front of the Intrepid)
6:40 at 38th Street and the Greenway
7:30 at LaGuardia Place and Houston Street
josh [email] said at 1:06 PM 06-29-2006: ive always wondered how they could get away with those sketchy plates that have gaps and stuff... i guess the answer is it's illegal. sorry to hear about the deaths, that really sucks. you'd think nyc would be a lot more forward thinking about their cyclists
craig [email] said at 1:08 PM 06-29-2006: NYC is a scary city to be on a bike. I would never ever attempt to ride a bike in most places in Manhattan. Maybe some places downtown, like in the villages. There are probably way more bike related deaths than you are even aware of.
I have often wondered how many pedestrians were killed each day in NYC.
craig [email] said at 1:15 PM 06-29-2006: I also remember those street plates being everywhere. There was an article in The Village Voice I believe, about a year ago about a woman who fried to death while walking her dog. The dog stepped on a manhole cover and an electric charge went from the dog to the woman and fried her. Scary shit. I think the article even mentioned a polic horse being fried and killed.
evan [email] said at 1:25 PM 06-29-2006: she was actually walking two dogs which stepped on a plate like this, freaked and began attacking each other, and when the woman tried to break it up she stepped on the plate and was electrocuted too. it happened a few times this year as well, but no only on plates.
kaycee [email] said at 1:34 PM 06-29-2006: I am really sorry to hear about this.
I have been having sorta the same problem in st. louis. The city, apparently, is sectoned off into
"so-so safe"
and "NO.DO.NOT.EVER.FUCKING.GO.THERE.ESPECIALLY.ON.A.BIKE"
zones.
it is impossible to get from one place to the next. people keep getting stabbed on the crappy busline, so that seems to be off-limits, too.
my biggest gripe, though, is that people, streets, and stores are completely disrespectful towards people on bikes.
if i ride on the sidewalk, i get dirty looks, but if i ride in the street, cars honk, yell at me, and throw things. outside of shops, the only place to lock up a bike is to a tree, and even then i was told not to do that. what should i lock up to, then? air?
it is amazing to me how aggressively anti-bike this city is.
i refuse to get a car, mostly because i am BROKE... but also because i dislike them and my lack of ability to fix them. but i am really frustrated at the constant badgering i receive, compiled with the lack of bikelanes, or even a safe place to lock my bike if i want to leave it outside.
myriam [email] said at 2:16 PM 06-29-2006: if i ride on the sidewalk, i get dirty looks, but if i ride in the street, cars honk, yell at me, and throw things
i didn't know people do things like that, that's shitty. interesting to see your side of things. i thought bikes were SUPPOSED to ride on the street--didn't the drivers in st. louis have to pass a test with that on it?! ridiculous.
shelly [email] said at 2:16 PM 06-30-2006: in Seattle bikes are allowed on street or sidewalk but most of the bicyclists are too hard core to ride on the sidewalk.
denman [email] said at 1:36 PM 06-29-2006: Man I freakin hate those plates. They are never flush to the ground, and are always a huge obsticle to get past in traffic. It's really sad to hear about this kind of thing esp with no accountablility.
myriam [email] said at 1:54 PM 06-29-2006: Interesting that you bring up those plates. The mayor of Boston just shut down ALL construction on the streets here because the construction people were ripping up the streets to work and then just leaving those crappy plates raised up on top of everything and not following proper procedure to fix what they'd ripped up. People are ripshit here and the mayor finally pulled the plug. Those things are AWFUL.
marcia [email] said at 2:00 PM 06-29-2006: jeez, that's horrible. i should check out the statistics in DC.
i've had relatively few problems riding around in DC, except for the occasional minivan running me off ramps and flat tires from broken glass. i've found DC to be a pretty bike friendly town, actually.
i wish there were better/separate places for commuter cyclists to ride that wasn't so close to traffic, but DC has some prettty excellent bike trails for long rides, and rock creek park is pretty cool.
getting doored is one of my worst fears. my friend anna got doored and she almost got her head squashed by the car behind her after being flung out in front it. she had horrible bruises all over her. it was brutal. i try to be as careful as i can be, but people sometimes just don't see you, especially if you're going fast. more often than not, people in cars notice other cars, not cyclists.
and cyclists are a strange breed. we're considered equal to cars, but in the same way we don't always follow the rules. and i think that can cause a lot of irritation and frustration by pedestrians and car/truck drivers. we sometimes in traffic, next to traffic, between traffic...sometimes we go through red lights, stop signs...we can move faster in heavy traffic, weaving anywhere we want. there are plenty of shitty cyclists out there that take too many risks and hate car drivers as much as car drivers hate them.
a friend of mine in NY rides her bike constantly and ended up breaking her collarbone after kids started throwing stones at her. she's been yelled at a lot, too, from people on her way to work.
i'll send this info onto her in case she's not aware of it.
and thanks for posting this stuff--and please keep doing it!
shelly [email] said at 2:18 PM 06-30-2006: Those metal plates do suck! I have to ride over a few of them on my way to work and I really hope they are done with the work there before the rainy season comes.
myriam [email] said at 2:12 PM 06-29-2006: and i think that can cause a lot of irritation and frustration by pedestrians and car/truck drivers.
Thank you for understanding this. I have come closer, more often, to being hit by cyclists than by cars--it happens over and over again in this city. The problem comes in precisely the attitude that you cite--shoddy bikers who choose to obey rules as it suits them, thus you as a pedestrian never know what to expect. The order of knowing what to expect on the road is essentially the only thing that keeps us all safe--the common pact to obey orderly rules. I have seen cyclists coming from behind, very quickly, who cannot be seen by a pedestrian, and whose responsibility it is (as the more aware and reflexive instrument) to avoid collisions, slam into pedestrians and then yell at THEM for getting in the biker's way, ON THE SIDEWALK. It makes me mad as hell, and scared all the time. The sidewalk is supposed to be safe for ME, not for a biker that I can't see coming that is going 10x my speed!
evan [email] said at 4:05 PM 06-29-2006: yeah, some cyclists disobey laws and it leads to near collisions or collisions, but it's been my experience that FAR more often than not, when the paths of cyclists and pedestrians cross it is usually the pedestrians fault. WAY more pedestrians jay walk or walk against the signal than cyclists run red lights. pedestrians walk out into the middle of a street without looking because they don't hear a car coming, or they're too busy changing songs on their ipod or texting. they pop out from between cars in the middle of the block and try to cut through stopped traffic. i've heard a lot of people say "i've come closer, more often to being hit by cyclists than a cars." that's because people pay more attention to cars, give them more respect, and do their best to stay out of their way. the same isn't true of cyclists, even when they are obeying every traffic rule their is.
this issue came up today during the rally when a reporter asked how much reckless riding leads to accidents. i think one thing that people who don't ride don't realize is that much of what is seen as reckless riding (traveling between lanes, weaving through traffic) is survival tactics and defensive riding. it is impossible to simply ride on the far right (or left) side of the road safely. double parks cars, potholes, steel plates, car doors, and pedestrians all endanger cyclists. much of this behavior would be reduced if cyclists were given a safe space to travel in.
lastly, any collision on a sidewalk is the cyclists fault. i yell at cyclists i see on sidewalks all the time. it's stupid. however, cyclists would likely never be on sidewalks if the streets were safe for them.
myriam [email] said at 4:26 PM 06-29-2006: Interesting and informative points. It's nice to hear the other side of the story--I wish it was safe for bicyclists, too. It seems ridiculous that anyone in a city should be denied safe passage! And bikes need to be encouraged and better managed because they are non-pollutive and non-resource abusing. In CA there are bike lanes everywhere which makes a huge difference.
I would like to point out, however, that for pedestrians it is simply much, much easier to see a car coming than to see a bike coming, especially when you're trying to peek around things like SUVs parked at the curb. In Boston also the pedestrian crosswalks don't work, so jaywalking is a must for anyone attempting to walk in the city, or you'd never be able to get across a street. It is dangerous, of course, as is running red lights, whatever vehicle you're on.
evan [email] said at 4:32 PM 06-29-2006: you're right, it is much easier to see a car, but every day dozens of people walk in front of me who i never even saw look! it amazes me. to be honest, i do my best to scare the shit out of these people in hopes that it'll wake em up a bit and teach them to look out. i only do that though when they are at fault. maybe i'm a dick, but maybe it'll save their lives.
and i'm not saying people should never jay walk, i'm just saying people should do it in a safe fashion, the same way i run red lights on my bike ;)
anthony [email] said at 2:23 PM 06-29-2006: Those plates suck, and so does metal grating. I find my only real problems to be when I'm moving along at a fairly decent pace and I hit a good sized hill. I'm sorry to hear that these people died riding. Hopefully it own't deter anyone.
kiche [email] said at 2:32 PM 06-29-2006: the reason our naition is so hostile towards bikes, pedestrians and public transportation is because the oil and auto industries have such a stranglehold on our government and culture.
evan [email] said at 4:07 PM 06-29-2006: true. riding a bike, especially as your primary form of transportation, is seen as being almost unamerican. owning a car has become a large part of the american identity and getting your first car is a rite of passage. even in NYC, a city where cars are totally unnecessary for every day life, many people scoff to find out you don't own one.
myriam [email] said at 4:50 PM 06-29-2006: the CTA in chicago runs the best mass transit ads I've seen, and I keep wishing the MBTA here in Boston was smart enough to just fucking MARKET themselves instead of bitching and moaning about how they have no money:
It is a huge ad plastered on the side of the constantly jammed freeway, with an icon of the train, then and equals sign, and then like a bazillion little car icons. It says something like, "Tired of congestion? Support mass transit"
Isn't that great?! A reminder of the way the world works for all those suburban jackasses who refuse to allow their tax money to go to city train systems, and then bitch and bitch about how their freeways into downtown are clogged constantly and how we should somehow build MORE freeways to accomodate them.
evan [email] said at 4:57 PM 06-29-2006: still, because america is such an individualist society, most people abhor the idea of being in a train car with ::shudder:: other people and would prefer to be isolated in their own little cage, congestion or not. they need to be given incentives to ride the train, or penalties for not doing so which i'm hoping rising gas prices will be.
myriam [email] said at 5:01 PM 06-29-2006: I saw a piece on TV in Chicago last weekend about how ridership has spiked since gas has gone up. Apparently this is also the case in LA (which is insane since LA has the shittiest mass transit ever). But isn't parking, traffic, and high cost enough of a penalty?
myriam [email] said at 5:20 PM 06-29-2006: Yeah, I'm definitely not surprised the bike won! It is ALWAYS the fastest option in a city. Actually that's why I don't understand why bikers are so uptight about speeding all the time. Can't you guys chill out a bit?
kiche [email] said at 11:34 AM 06-30-2006: still, because america is such an individualist society...
how, in god's name, is sitting in traffic on a highway, paid for with public tax money, more individualist than riding a bike or walking home?
the u.s. highway system is one of the largest public works programs in the history of mankind. if not the largest. enormous government agencies keep our public highway and road system working. and at that, people still have to sit in traffic.
you are trying to act like sitting in traffic, commuting, with millions of other people, in a system that the government has spent trillions of dollars collectively setting up for a public system is the same thing as a guy riding a horse, alone across untouched wilderness in the early 19th century.
this is the most banal, auto & oil industry fellating, propaghanda i can imagine. please never repeat this crap again.
craig [email] said at 11:53 AM 06-30-2006: It's not crap. It's the way many americans see things. They live on the great suburban frontier and ride their steel carriages into work every day.
josh [email] said at 1:46 PM 06-30-2006: if you don't think people see it that way, you are crazy.
cars are a form of personal freedom, or people percieve them as such.
i would like to switch to a working from home or in walking distance job, but i will not go carless, ever, unless i move to NYC. having a car opens up a lot more things to you, especially if you dont live in a city like nyc that has excellent public transportation.
evan [email] said at 11:56 AM 06-30-2006: i'm not saying it makes sense, but that's the way it is. people see their cars as an extension of themselves. cyclists see their bikes as the same thing, but because cars are part of the american identity it's magnified with cars. asking people to give up their cars is seen as unamerican. you might not think this way, but drivers do.
kiche [email] said at 12:05 PM 06-30-2006: true. but i ask the question, "why do people see it this way?"
i mean, george washington, thomas jefferson, ben franklin, et al. weren't fighting a revolution to keep the brittish from taking away their cars.
all one has to do is look over at the propaghand being spewed out by the auto and oil industries. it really comes together when you see the national review singing the joys of the radical individualism of sitting in traffic.
as henry david thoreau expressed his radical individualism by opposing the mexican-american war by refusing to pay taxes and going to prison for his principaled stand; so the modern suburbanite expresses his radical individualism by sitting in traffic and voting republican.
i know bullshit when i see it. and i refuse to perpetuate a lie.
craig [email] said at 12:22 PM 06-30-2006: Cars = freedom to people. How is that hard to undestand? Getting your drivers license at 16 is considered a rite of passage.
Cars will go wherever you want whenever you want. You don't have to wait at a bus stop for an hour and stop every other block along the way. Also, you can get in your car at 3am to go over to your girlfriends house across town, a diner, or wherever. You can also cram the trunk full of groceries, clothes, or god knows what else. Have you ever tried to go grocery shopping on the bus?
A lot of this has to do with the way American Society has involved in the industrial age, especially after WWII. Cities have evolved and are now set up for cars. Everything is far away. Everything is spread out. There are no community centers.
kiche [email] said at 12:28 PM 06-30-2006: it stops being about freedom the minute you spend an extra hour commuting because of traffic. it stops being about freedom the minute we no longer have community centers and you have to drive all over the place for miles and miles just to run a few errands.
we need to face the fact that we aren't a rural society anymore. and that you don't just hop in a car and drive on some empty roads in the middle of nowhere.
craig [email] said at 12:33 PM 06-30-2006: I know what you are saying, but "the people" don't see things that way. I mean, I am in 100% agreement.
I moved away from NYC, and I bought a car. Driving can be fun at times, but it mostly sucks. A car is a very expensive, very complicated machine. It depreciates in value considerably the moment you drive it off the lot. They are expensive to maintain. They pollute the environment.
I am telling you, though, that moving away from cars will require people to totally re-think their lifestyles and also cities will have to be re-designed. People do not want to do this.
myriam [email] said at 12:33 PM 06-30-2006: That extra hour for your commute, to most americans, is still less time that it would be to take public transit. That's simply the reality of the situation in this country at the moment.
In many places, you CAN just hop in a car and drive wherever you want in the middle of nowhere. people in the cities forget that the vast majority of America is total empty wasteland--whenever you drive across country this point is driven home (har har) forcefully. And the reality of public transit is such taht--even in cities, like DC and boston--you CAN'T completely meet your transit needs using only public transit. If you could, why would we have cabs, zipcar, and rental cars? I cannot buy most things I need using public transit only. I can't get to the grocery store, I can't carry my things home, and you can forget about getting home furnishings or even making it to a Target--even if I could lug my purchases home it would still take me 2 bus transfers and 2 hours just to get there. And I live in BOSTON!
NOTHING is a perfect solution or answer. Even in Paris you need a car sometimes. That's just life. there has to be a balance of options.
evan [email] said at 1:39 PM 06-30-2006: no one is asking you to perpetuate a lie, and i'm not perpetuating one either. i'm simply pointing out the mindset of MOST people in our country. since cars were invented they've represented freedom to most americans, and this has been perpetuated by countless tv shows, movies, and novels.
Arguably, cars have shaped America more than any other invention. Without cars cities would not have been allowed to develop the way they have. Sprawl would not be able to exist the way it does. Communities and collectivist attitudes would be stronger without cars. Compare neighborhoods in Brooklyn to neighborhoods in Baton Rouge. Places where people function more as a community by supporting neighborhood business and interacting more with neighbors inevitably rely less on cars. People in Baton Rouge don't shop at neighborhood businesses. They travel miles in cars for groceries and whatever else they need.
Living in Brooklyn, when I need bread, i walk around the corner to Caputos. Coffee, up the street to D'Amicos. Groceries I walk up to Park Natural. Hardware, right around the corner to Mazzone. Sure there's a huge Lowes and a Home Depot near me, and of course both of them have HUGE PARKING LOTS. attachment to cars is symptomatic of a larger "American" way of thinking that devalues community and meaningful human interaction. You can safely isolate yourself in your car, control your environment, and forget about anything outside your window. that's why it's "individualistic," that's why people are WAY braver/bigger assholes inside their cars than outside, and that's why so many cyclists get hit.
kiche [email] said at 11:39 AM 06-30-2006: in fact, when i see people sitting in traffic, i think they are a bunch of mechanized sheep. baa, everybody else is commuting in a car, baa, i need to too, baa everbody else lives in a suburb i need to too.
i do also hope that gas prices will put a dent in this shit.
art [email] said at 11:49 AM 06-30-2006: ha! I also find my self thinking so many people are sheep, like when they are all lined up in the same toll lane because 'everyone else is doing it, it must be right'
craig [email] said at 11:57 AM 06-30-2006: I really don't see gas prices putting a dent in anything. Unless you live in an older city with an actual thriving city center with a good public transportation system, people are going to drive to work. If gas gets too expensive, people will switch to ethanol, hybrids, smaller efficiency cars, and other possibly other types of fuel down the road.
I actually wish more people had the option of telecommuting. Then they could just work from home. Obviously this would not be 100% effective, but it would be nice if most companies allowed their employees, the ones who can, telecommute up to at least 50%.
myriam [email] said at 5:23 PM 06-29-2006: Honestly the scariest, tightest close calls of this video all seem to be because the biker is hellbent on going as fast as possible. Do you really need to speed so crazily? That bike line is definitely a joke, and I agree that there should be more attention paid to how cars can share the road safely with bikers, but seriously, you don't have to make it that dangerous for yourself. Just slow down and chill out! That lady getting out of the cab doesn't even have a chance to see the biker--when she's opening the door, he's across the interesection far away--and then a second later he's got to brake for her. I appreciate how all of this is frustrating and scary and dangerous--but cars don't just go as fast as they possibly can on the streets, and I don't see why bikers should expect to be able to do that either.
art [email] said at 9:31 PM 06-29-2006: The cyclist isn't going fast, I can 'feel' the pedal work here and they are just working their way down the street. From this I can definitely sympathize with the cyclist - nobody pays attention to the bike lane, at all
evan [email] said at 9:39 PM 06-29-2006: are you kidding!? if you think that is anywhere near "as fast as they can possibly go" you have no idea. that cyclist is moving very slow for a bike, less than 10mph. most of the cars are stopped waiting in traffic, so it might appear that he's moving faster than he is.
the woman opening the cab door almost opens it DIRECTLY INTO THE CYCLIST in front of the camera man who she could easily see if she had looked, which she obviously didn't. the car that then pulls over into the bike lane has no business being there. you then have a pedestrian walking directly into the cyclist in the bike lane. a car parked in the lane, another ped in the lane, and a bunch of boxes in the lane. all of this forces the rider into traffic and puts him at risk, REGARDLESS of how fast he's going.
this is part of the reason many cyclists don't bother to follow laws - because regardless of how lawfully you ride you are still treated like a criminal and blamed for anything that might happen. when that's the case, what's the point in obeying laws?
myriam [email] said at 11:18 PM 06-29-2006: Actually, people drive really slowly here. They constantly have to brake, so I think after a while they just get used to it and kind of mosy along. (Generally.) Bikers tend to race here. I disagree with you about the lady in the cab entirely, he gets to her from across the street faster than she could react from seeing him. I agree with you that there needs to be more education of citizens about the presence and role of bikers in their city, and there needs to be more work done to accomodate bikers. That bike line, like I said, is a joke. But that cyclist is riding as fast as he can, and I don't see how he can complain about things like people stepping in front of him if he's rushing from obstacle to obstacle in the first place. Of course he's going to keep encountering obstacles! It's like the dude who bitches about red lights but races up to every one just to have to stop at them again. Argh!
evan [email] said at 12:33 AM 06-30-2006: if he can't complain about people walking in front of him then you can't complain about cyclists almost running into you. that's what it boils down to.you don't see how he can complain about the obstacles? cyclists can complain about these things for the same reason you can complain about bikes on the sidewalks. they don't belond there and they make things unsafe. is that really that hard to understand?
and again, if you think that guy is going as fast as he can you're totally clueless. when was the last time you rode a bike? you want to see someone going as fast as they can, watch this video. and the sad fact is that it is actually SAFER to ride like that in NYC because to survive you have to be aggresive.
the woman who opens the car door begins to do so when the man on the bike is 10 feet behind her. this is exactly where people exiting cars need to look, if not further back. it's not about not being able to see, that's a bullshit excuse. it's about not caring enough about a cyclists safety to make a real effort to look.
also, just before that a cab makes a left turn in front of the camera man with no blinker.
you had my sympathies as someone on the sidewalk until you proved yourself to be of the same mentality as the people who make the road unsafe for cyclists, that anything that happens is the cyclists fault.
myriam [email] said at 9:29 AM 06-30-2006: When did I ever say that anything that happens is the cyclists fault?! Nor do I imply that.
If I don't understand this video, that's because you're right, I've never ridden a bike in a city. So instead of becoming antagonistic, please explain things to me. It is helpful to read your comments, but you need to not get huffy as though I am attacking you. I have not been antagonistic toward you or cyclists in this post--I have said over and over that you're right, and that people need to be educated. So, educate me! I'm ready!
Your point about the cab is a good one, I had missed that. I hate it when people don't use blinkers, too--it is bad for other cars, pedestrians, and cyclists alike. Maybe I don't understand what's going on in the video, having never been in that situation. Can you tell me without insulting me everything that's happening? It seems to me that he is going as fast as he can. You all say he isn't. Fine, I will believe you. Can you say WHY you know that? If your problem is that pedestrians don't understand cyclists, then why don't you help me understand, instead of becoming antagonistic? You started out very helpfully, and I thought this was a fascinating and enlightening discussion, and certainly did not intend at any point to make you feel like I was attacking you or other cyclists. If that is the case then I am truly sorry. I had been pleased that you didnt' seem to have the same self-righteous attitude that bikers around here seem to have. For one, I have never heard a biker admit that bikers shouldn't be on the sidewalk--that won me to your case immediately. Let's proceed from a common point and not deride each other. We have a common goal!
evan [email] said at 3:48 PM 06-30-2006: sorry, i just saw this response. i don't mean to be antagonistic, but it's frustrating to hear you blame the cyclist for the obstacles he faces in this video. you did indeed fault the cyclist by saying that the close calls were the result of him going as fast as possible. that's putting the fault on him. it's the same mentallity most drivers, pedestrians, and politicians have in this city - that cyclists should accomodate everyone else as opposed to being treated as part of traffic like they should be. It's why cycling isn't safe.
I know that the man isn't going as fast as he can because I know what it looks like to go as fast as you can on a bike in NYC, and that's not it. He brakes well in advance of each FORESEEABLE obstacle and brakes quickly when unexpected obstacles come at him. He did not ride aggresively towards any obstacles. Do you expect him to stop riding, walk his bike? That is unsafe. he gives each obstacle space and deals with it in the safest way possible. This is model riding.
the man in the video traveled 4 blocks (.2 miles) in 1 minute and 20 seconds. this means he was averaging 9mph. his peak speed was probably around 12mph. this is a very slow speed for a bike. it's about the average speed of a runner. a bike in a clear bike lane would have no trouble averaging 15mph. Most experienced cyclists can maintain speeds over 20mph without much problem.
if you want to compare speeds, just look at his speed compared to that of the other man on the bike who is going faster, yet still far from sprinting. compare it to the moving cars who immediately after a light are soon going faster than him despite heading towards stopped traffic. how fast do you think they are moving?
And again, you fault cyclists for riding on the sidewalk. It should be easy to realize that this is a direct relationship between how safe streets are for cyclists and how many cyclists ride on sidewalks. Just look at Kaycee's response. Making excuses for and justifying what happens in the streets will just lead to more cyclists on the sidewalk.
myriam [email] said at 9:33 AM 06-30-2006: Ok, so, on that note:
Your point about people not supposed to be in the bike lane just as bikes are not supposed to be on the sidewalk is a good one. How can we avoid being in the bike lane and getting in your path of travel? What should pedestrians do to stay out of bikers' way? If I don't know what it's like to ride a bike, then help me understand. Tell me what to do about the bike lane. Tell me how better to walk in the city without creating obstacles for bikers.
Also, for the record, I had planned to be a cyclist in this city until I lost my health insurance. I don't have a choice now, or I'd give it a shot. I have a respect for cyclists in general and frankly wish I could get around as easily as they do. But I can't take the risks, as you point out in this post, because it definitely requires health insurance to partake!
evan [email] said at 10:55 AM 06-30-2006: haha yeah, riding without health insurance is a risky prospect. one good thing about NYC is that it has No Fault insurance which means that all vehicles are required to have a minimum amount of insurance and if a cyclist/pedestrian gets in an accident with a car, regardless of whose fault it was, the vehicles insurance pays for the cyclists/peds medical bills and property damage. there is also MVAIC which pays the medical bills of people hit by cars without insurance or for people involved in a hit and run. it affords people on the streets a bit of security even if they don't have insurance.
as far as pedestrians staying out of cyclists way, they should do the same thing you want cyclists to do, stay where they belong. the only time a ped should be in the road is when they are crossing in a cross walk. this, of course, being unrealistic, they should at the very least not stand in/walk down bike lanes and cross them quickly only after looking for oncoming bikes.
yesterday on my way to the memorial ride there was a man in a suit standing IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BIKE LANE typing something on his blackberry. he took a step forward right into my line without even looking up. i yelled 'WATCH IT! You're standing in the middle of a bike lane!" at him. When i stopped for a red light a block later i looked back and he was back on the curb where peds should be while waiting for the light. however, all to often they use a bike lane as a buffer and safe place for them to stand before crossing.
myriam [email] said at 11:08 AM 06-30-2006: Ok, gotcha. The man standing there is ridiculous! You were right to say somethign to him. I didn't point it out earlier but I can appreciate it when you say you make a point to scare people a little in order to remind them of the hazards on the streets--that's a useful tactic (as long as it's safe, of course). The man on the blackberry is clearly and idiot and needs a reminder.
We don't have bike lanes here so it's a little harder to know what to do. Often in order to see if cars are coming and you can cross the street, you have to edge off the sidewalk and into the road at the corners because of parked cars that you can't see around. So that's a tougher problem in Boston it sounds like. Also I hear street crossing systems actually work in NYC... amazing thought.
evan [email] said at 11:26 AM 06-30-2006: cabs pulling into bike lanes sucks, but it's necessary i guess. i don't know if they are legally allowed to though. they might be required to just let out their passengers from the lane of traffic. as long as cabs use their blinker, signal in advance, and check for cyclists before pulling over i'm ok with it. the bigger problem is the doors (NYC refuses to require a sticker be put in cabs warning people to watch for cyclists) and cabs recklessly FLYING to the side of the road to pick up a fare. i'd actually rather a cab pull over to let a fare out because you then at least know someone will be getting in or out. when it's done from the lane of traffic it's usually without warning. i have many friends who have been doored in this way. one recently had surgery to repair a destroyed finger from such an accident.
myriam [email] said at 11:32 AM 06-30-2006: Yikes! Yeah in Chicago it's CRAZY: cabs will be in, say, the extreme left lane of traffic, and will suddenly BOLT over to the right, cutting off all kinds of vehicles with no warning, because they've spotted someone lingering by the side of the road. Ridiculous.
NYC refuses to require a sticker be put in cabs warning people to watch for cyclists I've never heard of this idea, that's a great idea. I imagine this would go a long way towards raising awareness.
myriam [email] said at 11:47 AM 06-30-2006: The thing is, I have a lot of biker friends here, but I STILL have not heard of any of these simple solutions or concrete examples like you are explaining.
It is helpful to think of things like stickers on doors. Frankly simple things like that make me really start to think that the mass cycling rides as a way to "raise awareness" actually are only creating larger divides in the public without giving any concrete help to the situation.
evan [email] said at 11:51 AM 06-30-2006: yeah, i don't do Critical Mass and I even had problems with the ride yesterday. Too many cyclists are needlessly hostile and it just creates more tension. For example, on a 3 lane street the bikes should stay in the right lane, but many people felt the need to block all of the lanes. At least one lane should be open for cars. The point would still be made, without alienating as many people.
evan [email] said at 11:00 AM 06-30-2006: honestly, i don't feel at danger riding in the city and most people i know/ride with don't either. it's partially because we have a lot of experience, but also because we ride aggresively and like we are traffic as opposed to something that should be forced to the side. we ride around 30mph and take a lane of traffic. it's actually the safest way to ride.
the people i worry about are the same people who are being killed - largely older commuters (two of the people killed this month were above 40) and new riders (the 23 year old guy had just got his bike 3 weeks ago). these people should be able to ride safely on the street, and they aren't.
people's response to bike deaths is "the way they ride it's no wonder they get killed" but it's almost never the people who ride aggresively who are killed. it's the people those same people would point to as "good cyclists."
i mean, fuck, dr. carl nacht was killed (by an NYPD tow truck) while riding with his wife ON A GREENWAY!
myriam [email] said at 12:54 PM 06-30-2006: Ha, funny, there's a bike interview on WBUR right now, talking about how bad it is to bike in Boston, how the mayor is doing a lot of things in Chicago to make it great to bike there (apparently he's a biker himself), etc etc. It's interesting! It's with the guy who runs the Biking mag that has Biketown in it.
myriam [email] said at 1:01 PM 06-30-2006: Ok it was with the editor oc Bicycling Magazine, and the interview was on "Here and Now" today and is probably archived online. I would recommend it. He talked about bike safety and things that both the public and the bikers need to be educated about. He also mentioned that the doctor that was killed in NYC wasn't wearing a helmet, and warned that that's the number one thing that will keep a biker safe. Interesting stuff.
evan [email] said at 2:09 PM 06-30-2006: i hadn't heard that Dr. Nacht wasn't wearing a helmet. That's surprising and unfortunate if true. I always wear mine.
