Closing the Bike Lane Gaps
As you can see from this map Fort Greene and Downtown Brooklyn have had their share of pedestrians and bicyclists getting hit by cars. The area has made a lot of progress in the bike land department in recent years, but there are still plenty of awkward (and dangerous) gaps that need to be filled…
As you can see from this map Fort Greene and Downtown Brooklyn have had their share of pedestrians and bicyclists getting hit by cars. The area has made a lot of progress in the bike land department in recent years, but there are still plenty of awkward (and dangerous) gaps that need to be filled in. To address the issue, Mike Epstein recently made a presentation to Community Board 2 in which he made some specific suggestions on the lane creation front. There are bunch included in the presentation (including problems crossing the major thoroughfares of Flatbush and Atlantic) which can be viewed here, but one in particular that resonated with us was the gap in the eastbound route where the Lafayette bike path ends at Fulton and the next eastbound path doesn’t start again until Willoughby and Washington Park. Epstein suggests extending the Lafayette route to Carlton and then providing a northbound lane on Carlton to Willoughby. (Image on the jump.)
Uh, there is ALREADY a bike lane on that stretch of Carlton. The new bike lane proposal in that case is for Lafayette, to connect to Willoughby via the existing bike lane on Carlton.
” It is also incredibly and moreso dangerous for pedestrians. Some enforcement of laws is necessary. These people are largely out of control.”
Dibs & donatella: If you guys lived in most other non-US cities, you would not even be thinking of complaining about this. Ever been to Rome? Even scooters wander all over pedestrian areas. India? France? bikes and buses share lanes.
If you can’t see a moving cyclist, you should not be driving (or walking, either.) That is not to say that there aren’t dangerous cyclists, just that the argument you and other make about “not being able to see cyclists” is specious. I drive, and I cycle, and I walk, and I have no problem in any mode, it’s called being aware and being defensive. And yes, I do go against traffic to get to my house. But I do go slow and “politely”.
That said, when I was crossing my street (with the light) and a cyclist came pretty close, I just stood my ground and yelled “watch out, idiot” to the (helmeted & spandexed) woman.
I really don’t understand why there are so many comments about “rude” bicyclists on these types of blog posts. Have you ever ridden a bike in this city?
this is what cyclists face on a daily basis:
– Cars park in the bike lane ALL THE TIME forcing you to stop and maneuver into general traffic where people honk at you and almost run you over. Parking in a bike lane is supposed to carry a $115 fine but is NEVER enforced. How often do bicyclists stop and park in the middle of a busy street, preventing traffic from moving?? SO RUDE.
– Cars speed up to pass you then turn right in front of you across the bike lane. If you are riding 10-15 mph and someone makes a turn directly in front of you, you can’t stop in time without crashing into them. I have had people almost kill me and proceed to then yell at me for touching/scratching their vehicle due to the accident that they caused.
– Cars honk at you for no reason, which is highly startling and unpleasant. People also yell at you for no reason.
– People exiting cars fling their doors open without looking, often causing severe injury or even death to cyclists.
– Pedestrians step out right in front of you when you have the right of way.
– Sometimes there’s no bike lane to use and cars will pass way too close to you and generally endanger your life. Motorists, does cyclist behavior ever threaten your life?
The fact is, we need more people to ride bicycles in New York! Cars need to be phased out. We need to make the streets more accommodating for cyclists by adding bike lanes and keeping existing lanes clear of illegally-parked cars. We also need cars and pedestrians to realize that bicyclists exist and act with more awareness.
[By the way, I am not a jerk. I am a polite and courteous (female) bicyclist who never rides on the sidewalk, and is generally sane. I do run stop signs and red lights if there’s no one coming the other way, especially if I’m on a hill and don’t want to break the momentum. If you rode a bike, you would also do this!]
they won’t put a bike lane on that stretch of carlton, just installed 2 MASSIVE speed bumps in front of the school.
Thanks for the specific descriptions of what they do that’s so annoying, which prove the point if you hadn’t noticed. “Street chaos” is a particular winner.
Anyone look at the proposal before people started flaming about asshat cyclists?
On slide 23 of the pitch “…Safe and direct cycling routes
* Encourage cyclists to ride safely, legally, and politely
o Recent NYCDOT protected bike lane projects have reduced sidewalk cycling by huge factors (>80%)
o Many cyclists now ride wrong-way on Lafayette near BAM and on DeKalb near Fort Greene Park; these proposals would provide right-way bike lanes
* Make it clear where bikes should be, reducing “street chaos” and helping pedestrians predict movement
* Connect dead-end bike lanes, connect neighborhoods, improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians
* Legitimize natural flow of cyclists in areas with no other options, and do so in a safe manner
* Encourage cyclists to ride across, not along, busy streets”
Well, wel’ll just meme away then, Snarky. What was your point?
Easier for a cyclist to see a car than a pedestrian to hear a bike zooming up behind him, though. I STILL don’t hear any cyclists discuss why they are so rude to pedestrians. It’s always, I’m afraid of cars.
I vote the bicycle “issue” to be the most tedious post-baiting meme on this site.
The idea of extending the Lafayette bike corridor is a good one, however, only extending it to Carlton is not sufficient. Most bikers will tell you they will not go N two blocks so that they can go East. Although Willoughby is less trafficed, Lafayette is more heavily used by bikers and should be extended to at least Bedford, especially since the traffic speed accelerates significantly after Clinton Ave.
In regards to Donatella’s comments, there is lack of regard for the regulations, however, many drivers park in the bike lanes or worse use them to jump the lights. This activity forces the biker to migrate into the car lane. The only really effective solution, and likely least likely is to create bike lines like on the 8th and 9th ave corridor above 14th street in Manhattan.