let me know when the victim is someone whose passing a normal person would care about
I used to be a 4 season cyclist. I would ride a bicycle, regardless of the weather.
To keep safe, I would never ride a main road anywhere. I was always one or two blocks over on my route. It wouldn’t take much longer and I never had problems where I am.
ban bikes on city streets?
The proper attitude when riding a bike in traffic is to assume that drivers will not notice you. Be visible and be paranoid.
Dangerous ride in the city of 8 million naked bodies...
I don’t know.
I am living in Vietnam at the moment. Since I have been here, I have noticed people are a lot more aggressive riding than anywhere else I have been.
But the ratio of accidents is remarkably small. I think people here are more observant, as riders, than we are in the US. More defensive riding, if you will.
There is more aggressive riding happening in America I believe. That doesn’t work here, because if you hit something, people stop and say “oh, so sorry”. Then they move on.
I think there is less looking for a payout, if you get wronged. So people pay more attention, to their own safety.
I think. Not 100% sure, but that is what seems to be happening.
Everyone is always paying attention, to what is in front of them. Everyone. Always.
They should have special lanes for mothers with baby strollers, old people using walkers, people walking their dogs, bums defecating, pack packers sleeping, ... that would show that we really care.
Pedestrians and cyclists have the incentive to avoid collisions with cars. They should be given the responsibility.
Either that truck, or the bicycles should be removed from the streets.
This story has two sides. Bike riders consistently run red lights, stop in the middle of crosswalks so the pedestrians have to go around them, go the wrong way on a one-way street, and ride on the sidewalk (the worst, in my opinion, especially at night). The street that I live on has narrow sidewalks, made narrower by the trees and flower beds on the street side. Many times I have had a cyclist speed past me at night with no sound as warning.
At least on Fire Island it was the rule to beep your horn if you were coming up behind someone.
I have noted the restaurant that they come from and told them I was going to report them, but I never did because I hate that kind of thing. I also remind them of the law, as if they need reminding, and I am the only person who does so. If you ever hear anyone else telling them off, let me know.
Now they are bolder and answer me back: “The traffic is too heavy to ride in the street” (this one mostly in the Village) or “I’m just riding from the corner to here” (which just happened to be where I was walking). And a lot worse remarks, which I won’t repeat here.
As always, they are PC for riding a bike and so they are self-righteous. The illegals are the only ones who apologize or get out of your way.
also de Blassio wants $58 Million
https://nypost.com/2019/07/25/de-blasios-58m-bike-safety-plan-panned-by-drivers-and-cyclists/
Mixing bikes with vehicular traffic is reckless and irresponsible.
I spent my entire 5 years of college riding in and out several miles each way to school, sometimes twice a day. I observed several accidents, none involving me.* Bikers (and “bikers”) have to be super-defensive, but some are not. Some are just idiots, or foolhardy. I’d say about half those accidents I saw were the bikers’ fault. Luckily, none involved severe injuries.
*That’s not to say I never had a bike accident - I had a couple doosies B4 college. But none involved cars or pedestrians.
Same thing with all the "crisis" events happening in NYC. Every time someone dies by non-natural causes, the Mayor proclaims a "crisis".
Someone falls out a window: crisis.
Kid gets left in a car: crisis.
Little old lady gets hit in the crosswalk: crisis.
Bicycle rider gets clipped: crisis
NYers are numb to this word. We now see them for what they are; a chance to implement some sort of tax or redistribution scheme where revenue disappears into a black hole never to be accounted for. No thanks.
So the bicyclist swerved into traffic rather that hit the car door? Then the bicyclist either was going too fast to brake in time and/or was unaware of current traffic and chose to turn into an oncoming semi rather than the less risky choice of ploughing into the car door.
Sure, ticket the car driver for opening his/her door in the path of the cyclist, but the car driver wasn’t the only idiot on the roadway.
Just ban all cars in New York.
Move the bike lane so it is between moving Lanes of traffic. Move cars over closer to the parking lane so car doors open into traffic. Then dooring would not happen.
NYC is an obstacle course. I’ve been accidentally bumped into and shoved many times just walking the streets. Have to be at peak alertness all the time there plus sensory overload factor . NYC annoys me just walking its streets. Crazy traffic and some bicyclists are too aggressive riders for that whirlwind environment.
In NYC, people do have OPTIONS, they can take ‘mass transit’ as they call it, anywhere. And it’s not like Baltimore, where you put your life on the line (at least if you avoid late night). NYC also has lots have health clubs, some with stationary bicycles.
No need to run around cutting off cars.
Many “spandex boys” are arrogant and could care less there are 100 cars following them st 10 mph!
I cycle extensively in NYC and prefer it to trains in Manhattan. You must do it very defensively due to so many distracted people.
I never pass a parked car going fast unless I see it is empty. If it is tinted, I assume the door can open any moment and ring the bell before passing slowly.
If a street seems too narrow for cars to easily pass me, I avoid riding there. I’ll just walk the bike if no other route.
Sure I may get around slower than riders that take chances. But I’ve never had any close calls and been riding for decades.