NYPD Launches Crackdown Amid Spike in Cyclists Deaths

[FlashUNC]

Nothing like some cyclists eating their own by blaming the dead for being run over by a semi.

And hey, if she wasn't on a bike and had taken the subway none of this would have happened at all, amirite? So let's just get rid of bikes. Dangerous things.

We are our own worst enemies on this issue.

[sjauch2]

F-Uck all you people blaming the cyclist. I hope you get run over by a car on your next bike ride.

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by sjauch2

F-Uck all you people blaming the cyclist. I hope you get run over by a car on your next bike ride.

2-week ban in effect for you, starting now.

the art of civil conversation will be enforced here.

expression of opinions is welcome. being a jerk, is not.

[nooneline]

you know what?
the whole point of agitating for safer streets is that small little pieces of abject BS that some of y'all focus on, like "oh she didn't have a front brake" (omg so many bikes only have rear brakes, coaster brakes fill the world outside of this internet bougie bike nerd bubble) - the whole point of it all is that small things that you consider unsafe SHOULD NOT BE PUNISHED WITH DEATH by an unsafe environment.

didn't wear a helmet?
strayed out of the bike lane for a moment?
swerved around a pothole instead of bunnyhopping it like you're peter ****ing sagan?

shouldn't kill you because the streets in our city have been wholly turned into highways and the rich drop their monocles and file endless lawsuits over anything that might inconvenience the wealthier minority who drive.

[fiamme red]

Originally Posted by nooneline

you know what?
the whole point of agitating for safer streets is that small little pieces of abject BS that some of y'all focus on, like "oh she didn't have a front brake" (omg so many bikes only have rear brakes, coaster brakes fill the world outside of this internet bougie bike nerd bubble) - the whole point of it all is that small things that you consider unsafe SHOULD NOT BE PUNISHED WITH DEATH by an unsafe environment.

didn't wear a helmet?
strayed out of the bike lane for a moment?
swerved around a pothole instead of bunnyhopping it like you're peter ****ing sagan?

shouldn't kill you because the streets in our city have been wholly turned into highways and the rich drop their monocles and file endless lawsuits over anything that might inconvenience the wealthier minority who drive.

Third Avenue has been a truck route for as long as I can remember. What do you propose?

[sonicCows]

Originally Posted by fiamme red

Third Avenue has been a truck route for as long as I can remember. What do you propose?

How about NYPD enforcement of oversize trucks, for one? See here for interesting photos of oversize trucks getting stuck in NYC: https://twitter.com/illegal53nyc

[jdp211]

Originally Posted by fiamme red

Third Avenue has been a truck route for as long as I can remember. What do you propose?

How about the mayor doesn't encourage and endorse people temporarily parking illegally in bike lanes? How about the NYPD issue tickets/make arrests when drivers blow through red lights and kill cyclists when doing so?

[AngryScientist]

to me, it's all about awareness. every driver in NYC should be well aware that cyclists are a legitimate form transportation and we all have to safely share the road.

vans and trucks present a unique problem, since many of them are not NYC locals and navigating the city can be a harrowing, stressful experience in the first place, and if you're not acutely aware that cyclists are all around, it would not be hard to get overwhelmed and have a catastrophe. unfortunately, what is a fender bender for a van is a potential life threatening situation for a cyclist.

it would never happen, but the ultimate solution would almost be a NYC 5-borough endorsement on a driver's license. you cant drive in NYC unless you get the endorsement and pass a pretty rigorous class laying out the rules of the road and specific hazards/concerns in NYC. then any incidents can lead to loss of NYC endorsement and loss of privileges to drive in the city.

half baked idea, but it might help.

[nooneline]

Originally Posted by fiamme red

Third Avenue has been a truck route for as long as I can remember. What do you propose?

I propose we ride around NYC for a day together, and then you try to tell me with a straight face that things are as good as they can possibly be.

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

to me, it's all about awareness. every driver in NYC should be well aware that cyclists are a legitimate form transportation and we all have to safely share the road.

vans and trucks present a unique problem, since many of them are not NYC locals and navigating the city can be a harrowing, stressful experience in the first place, and if you're not acutely aware that cyclists are all around, it would not be hard to get overwhelmed and have a catastrophe. unfortunately, what is a fender bender for a van is a potential life threatening situation for a cyclist.

it would never happen, but the ultimate solution would almost be a NYC 5-borough endorsement on a driver's license. you cant drive in NYC unless you get the endorsement and pass a pretty rigorous class laying out the rules of the road and specific hazards/concerns in NYC. then any incidents can lead to loss of NYC endorsement and loss of privileges to drive in the city.

half baked idea, but it might help.

If the job of driving a multi-ton delivery van in a crowded city is too stressful for someone to manage that they get people killed, they're in the wrong line of work.

[nooneline]

But if you're asking specifically about 3rd Avenue - I'm not a transportation planner so I think I'd be well out of my lane proposing how to improve 3rd Avenue.

However, it would be nice if the Mayor's Office took the advice of transpo experts on transpo policy. It would be great if, once safer infrastructure were installed, that the NYPD enforced it, so that a bike lane isn't rendered nonexistant by trucks parked in it or, just as commonly, NYPD itself parked in it.

It would be nice if there were fewer cars in the city - if car ownership weren't so blatantly subsidized, at everyone else's peril, and if the costs weren't so outlandishly shifted from those who benefit from cars to those who don't.

Enforcing the ban on semis, removing free curbside parking for cars so that trucks can have loading zones without blocking streets, parking in bike lanes, and forcing cyclists and autos to swerve into the same places - all these would be part of a nice and necessary network of changes that could improve safety significantly.

[nooneline]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

to me, it's all about awareness. every driver in NYC should be well aware that cyclists are a legitimate form transportation and we all have to safely share the road.

vans and trucks present a unique problem, since many of them are not NYC locals and navigating the city can be a harrowing, stressful experience in the first place, and if you're not acutely aware that cyclists are all around, it would not be hard to get overwhelmed and have a catastrophe. unfortunately, what is a fender bender for a van is a potential life threatening situation for a cyclist.

it would never happen, but the ultimate solution would almost be a NYC 5-borough endorsement on a driver's license. you cant drive in NYC unless you get the endorsement and pass a pretty rigorous class laying out the rules of the road and specific hazards/concerns in NYC. then any incidents can lead to loss of NYC endorsement and loss of privileges to drive in the city.

half baked idea, but it might help.

Not the worst idea.
There's already a very sensible, on the books ban on trucks over 53 feet - that is, semis/tractor trailers - on NYC surface streets. Why? Well, it's obvious why these shouldn't drive down narrow, residential streets. I see them stuck at corners all the time! Because despite the ban - which goes completely unenforced - they're all over the city.

So yeah, an endorsement would be a good idea.
But frankly - who'd enforce it?

Sometimes I wonder if the DOT could create a uniformed traffic enforcement force. Obviously the NYPD is completely unreliable - they won't address speeding, red light running, failure to yield, oversize restrictions, double parking, sidewalk parking, bike lane blocking, etc etc etc. What if the DOT took matters into their own hands?

[tctyres]

The recent deaths have all been from large vehicles: delivery truck, SUV, concrete truck, semi. What has not been reported on in any of the cases is which of these drivers was staring at their phone. In at least one instance, the cyclist looks bad for what happened (concrete truck) but no one asked what the driver was actually doing.

IMO, put trucks only in the center lane on 3rd ave with a mixing zone a lights, put a bike lane on the outside. It's not ideal, but it starts to solve the problem and alleviates the excuse, "I didn't see them." That BS only flies so far, and I've gotten it as a cyclist.

[tctyres]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

2-week ban in effect for you, starting now.

the art of civil conversation will be enforced here.

expression of opinions is welcome. being a jerk, is not.

Thanks for keeping things civil around here, Angryscientist.

I realize being a mod can be a major pita at times, but these kinds of posts are over the top.

[fiamme red]

I'd propose that we have a campaign to educate inexperienced cyclists. That section of 3rd Avenue has three lanes each way in addition to the parking lanes. Just take a lane, never ride in the door zone.

And two working brakes certainly can't hurt.