Closing Bell: New Bike Lane and Parking Cuts on Dekalb

I saw some cars speeding really fast down dekalb this morning, by pratt. trying to both outrun the speeding street cleaner. i stepped back on the curb and waited that one out. it has always been a speedy strip but damn!

Posted by: guest at June 5, 2008 4:22 PM

One car lane on DeKalb is certainly not enough for the volume of cars. Traffic will back up which will cause cars to drive down the bike lane and merge back into a single lane; which will cause more traffic. The City should have taken out the left side parking and made a separate bike lane with a barrier to protect both cars and bikers.

Posted by: guest at June 5, 2008 4:34 PM

Yes I agree with 4:34. The bike lanes don't do much good if cars are driving and double parking in them. There needs to be a separate lane with a barrier for cyclists. In the meantime the police should enforce the traffic laws. Just takes about 5 minutes before someone drives in the bike lane, you'd think they would be all over that.

Posted by: guest at June 5, 2008 4:58 PM

Somebody will be killed dining al fresco at one of those restaurants along Dekalb.

Posted by: guest at June 5, 2008 6:19 PM

I agree, one lane for car traffic is not enough and creates traffic and encourages cars to drive in the bike lane.
I don't know why the bus would be doing it as the bus stops are on the right side of the street.

Posted by: guest at June 5, 2008 6:51 PM

6:51, the bus is running (way too fast) in the bus lane, not the bike lane.

Posted by: guest at June 5, 2008 7:40 PM

What the poster is experiencing is what occurs on Bedford Ave. regularly with the Bike Lane and bad, selfish drivers who either feel too privileged or hurried to use the other TWO available lanes. What is occurring on DeKalb is very distressing, however it does not surprise me.

I must say for the first time, I witnessed cop, in an unmarked vehicle pull over a driver on Bedford Ave. last week as they pulled one of those maneuvers. They must have been traveling well over 45mph in the bike lane as they sped by me. The cop let them merge in front of their unmarked car and then they pulled them over.

Hope the ticket was a whopper.

Posted by: guest at June 5, 2008 8:17 PM

All comments so far are right on, especially 6:17.

Why paint up the streets like a Christmas tree without explanations or instructions about what the street graffiti means? I keep my car out of the bus and bicycle lanes, duhhhh, but nobody else does. More to the point, what's the penalty if you don't keep your car out of the bus/bicycle lanes?

Posted by: guest at June 5, 2008 8:18 PM

Eh, the cops are too busy ticketing people on bikes to care about ticketing people in cars. There's been a crazy rash of people I know getting ticketed for various bike offenses. One cop even told my friend that it's because there's been an increase in bike-related accidents. So clearly, we should go after the bikers in that case. The ones who, I don't know, might get KILLED if they're in an accident.

I mean, we all agree that riding on the sidewalk is rude, but seriously, $100 ticket because you hopped on your bike between your front door and the street?

One of my friends recently got TAKEN TO JAIL because he was riding on the sidewalk and a cop stopped him, and when he checked his ID, he had an old summons for some other minor bike offense. Yessiree, that's what cops in the city should be spending their time on. Taking bike riders to jail. Forget the maniacal speeding cars who could actually kill someone, driving in the bike lane.

Posted by: guest at June 5, 2008 8:28 PM

NYC cops seem to be part of the Car Culture. I would bet that cops tend to live in areas where cars are necessary. They identify with car owners. To them bikes are the problem, not the solution.

Posted by: guest at June 5, 2008 10:00 PM

Here's the problem with the bike lane on DeKalb...there are no bikers using it. I traveled from Dekalb and Stuyvesant to DeKalb and Classon yesterday at 6:30pm before I saw the first person in the bike lane. Unfortunately it was some idiot on a fixed gear riding AGAINST traffic.

The problem with the bike lanes is that there is currently not enough bike traffic to support the number of bike lanes that are currently popping up. In addition, DOT seems to choose busy multi-laned streets with bus routes as their favorite sites for bike lanes, even where there are more sedate one lane streets that are wide enough to support a bike lane close by.

I know that this administration has a "build it and they will come" mentality towards the bike lanes, but I have yet to see more than a handful of people using the new bike lanes. In fact, I drive down Bedford every Saturday morning at 8:30am (a time with little car traffic) and I can honestly say I've only seen people in that bike lane on one or two occasions. If there were more bikers, car drivers would not feel as if they have carte blanche to drive in the lane with impunity. But so long as it sits there empty, drivers will continue to use it to get around the slow buses, double parkers, and cars loading and unloading people and materials.

Posted by: guest at June 5, 2008 10:33 PM

Thanks for the heads up! I will now be using DeKalb to get to downtown Brooklyn. All you bikers and pedestrians get the FK out of my way.

Posted by: guest at June 6, 2008 1:09 AM

i was always under the impression that the cops in this city are under instruction to only serve tickets that earn the city money. i was told that speeding ticket fees go to albany but parking tickets go to the city.

Posted by: guest at June 6, 2008 1:35 AM

Rehab:
Your logic is crazed.
1) I support reducing the use of cars.
2) I feel I cannot reduce my own dependence on cars.
3) Therefore, bikers on Dekalb or any other street in Brooklyn that I deem unsuitable for a bike lane should die.

Happy world inside your head! Happy! Happy!

Posted by: guest at June 6, 2008 9:17 AM

I agree with a commenter above. The bike lanes should be placed next to the curb. I was recently in Budapest and that is what they have there. And it works very well. There are a lot of bicycles in Budapest. I was quite surprised. Also on some of the larger sidewalks bike lanes are installed. I recall that the same was in Amsterdam though I haven't been there in over 20 years. . . I'm 63 and it's getting harder and harder to ride on Brooklyn Avenues --especially downtown--as I'm not as agile or quick as I used to be. We need better bike lanes and better policing of them

Posted by: guest at June 6, 2008 10:37 AM

Try renting a pickup truck from zipcar whenever you need to move that sheetrock.

You'll save a bunch of cash over owning a car too.

NYC is not a good place to own a car.

Posted by: guest at June 6, 2008 10:49 AM

The DeKalb bike lane is great! I've been using it to get to the Manhattan Bridge from Prospect Heights for the past week and a half. Before that I'd been taking the Bergen path as the traffic on DeKalb was just too horrendously scarey. Now if they just put a bike path along Washington....!

Only neg experience was actually around the corner on Ashland Place. Car traffic was backed up and a car used the bike lane instead. Then it got stuck behind a parked van. And almost squashed me in between the two.

Posted by: guest at June 6, 2008 11:25 AM

10:49 there are plenty of other reasons that make owning a car the only option. I have a little one and hopefully will be blessed with more and there is no way I'm getting on a bike to tote her back and forth to childcare and the train/bus during rush hour with kids is not an option so don't go there. When you weigh the choice between owning a car and public transportation and your regular/daily travels extend beyond a daily commute into Manhattan (or elsewhere) round-trip for work it just doesn't make economic or common sense to rely on public transportation or a bike. Many people have cars because they need them to shuttle their children back and forth to school and run errands not because they enjoy moving them back and forth during alternate side restrictions, trolling around for a parking space, digging them out of snow, buying gas (esp. at these inflated prices), paying for the maintenance and upkeep and last but not least the damage to the environment.

Posted by: guest at June 6, 2008 12:32 PM

I walk from St. James to Flatbush on Dekalb almost every morning, and I've noticed a slight increase in the number of bikes using the new lane. It isn't very well marked yet though. And I don't think that traffic is going FASTER down Dekalb - cars always speed by between Classon (after they break out from the single lane created by police parking) and the stoplight at Hall/St. James. And cops RARELY ticket them. And they NEVER ticket them for driving/parking in the bike lane. The blocks between the Hospital and Flatbush are the WORST because people always double park in the bike lane and I've never seen anyone get a warning or a ticket (and there are two lanes for cars there).

I agree that they should have built the bike lane on the inside of the parked cars - like in Amsterdam.

Posted by: guest at June 6, 2008 1:38 PM

FYI: Map of Brooklyn Bike lanes & paths...
http://www.nycbikemaps.com/maps/brooklyn-bike-map/

Posted by: guest at June 6, 2008 2:57 PM

"I notice that I make decisions based on not having a car...shop locally, for instance, walk, bike, get things delivered, etc."

LOL You have no choice. keep it real.

The same no it alls who are car bashing, are the same fools renting those zip cars on the weekends and effing up the flow of traffic.

Posted by: guest at June 6, 2008 3:05 PM

This bike lane make my commute from Bushwick to Dumbo so damn pleasant. I ride the entire length of it every day. My ride is much faster and safer than it was last summer.

It seems like car traffic backs up around Dekalb & Classon, near the police station, but this is because the road narrows even more (the cop cars often park over the bike lane, but I think they've stopped... which I really appreciate)... And there are more stop in this area lights.

Posted by: guest at June 6, 2008 4:06 PM

Wow, so much hostility towards bikers here! (I get the same thing in real life each day I commute to Manhattan on my bike from Brooklyn). Bikers and bike lanes are not the problem here--it's our over-dependence on cars, and the sense of entitlement that drivers have.

Posted by: guest at June 6, 2008 5:09 PM

I haven't seen much hostility towards bicyclists in this thread at all. It's about too many cars going too fast.

I DO have a question for frequent cyclists though - today, I saw a young family, mom, dad and baby in a seat on bikes dodging WITH A KID UNDER TWO YEARS OLD in and out of traffic, totally ignoring the bike lane. I don't get it.

If the bike lane is intended to keep bikers safe, it seems to me as if this same family could value their kid enough to wait a beat, cross the street with the light in order to travel in the bike lane instead of weaving in and out of speeding cars.

I guess you had to be there.

Posted by: guest at June 7, 2008 4:44 PM

As I ride my bike around the city, I find it hysterical that people have more respect for material things (ie their cars and others cars) rather than human life (ie, a pediestrian or a person on a bike).

I, personally, cannot wait until until gas hits $7 to $10 a gallon. Finally, smaller cars and less of them on the street. Maybe then people will realize that bicycles aren't the problem here.

Posted by: guest at June 7, 2008 4:45 PM

I agree with you 4:44. Why expect cars to obey traffic rules if bicyclists don't? This morning I was using the bike lane on Bergen and someone ahead of me was on the right side of the street, not using the bike lane. He is putting himself and other cyclists in danger.

Posted by: guest at June 7, 2008 5:27 PM

When will they make a cab lane?

Posted by: guest at June 8, 2008 12:13 AM

But fat greasy locals and black people NEED their cars don't you understand! They're just being practical driving 5 blocks and double parking to get to Dunkin Donuts.

Posted by: guest at June 8, 2008 4:22 PM

A pedestrian was hit by an SUV, a few weeks ago, on the corner of Dekalb and Washington. Hopefully, no one will have to loose their life before the speeding is addressed!

Posted by: guest at June 12, 2008 9:42 AM

I agreed w/many of the posts here, dekalb ave's speed have def. increased recently. The speeding cars are so loud that it keeps me and my 8 month old awake at nights. I have to close the windows just to reduce the noise.

Posted by: guest at June 20, 2008 5:13 PM