With the recent vilification of cyclists by the NY Post, NY Daily News, as well as many within the NYPD and Parks Department, allow me to bring a little balance and perspective to the situation.
While it's certainly true that some cyclists break traffic laws and are a danger to others, it's also true that cyclists seem to be receiving a disproportionate amount of anger from the public, media and law enforcement.
The NYDN's four reporters who wrote the recent piece said that they witnessed eight cyclists speeding over the course of four hours. Contrast that with the observations of Transportation Alternatives who recently watched traffic during the morning rush on Jay Street between Willoughby and Johnston streets. In eight hours they found that 48 drivers per hour parked in the bike lane for longer than 10 seconds, (including an average of three per hour among police vehicles on non-emergency business). 18 drivers an hour blocked the bus stop, and 141 illegal u-turns were observed. Good luck finding a story about that in the Daily News.
Paule Herodote, the T.A. Brooklyn Volunteer Committee member who spearheaded the traffic monitoring effort said "Drivers on Jay Street display a dangerous disregard for their neighbors when they block bike lanes and bus stops and engage in potentially lethal behavior. Just as troubling is that the police officers we expect to enforce the laws are breaking them as well."
Here are a few more facts.
• More people are killed in traffic than murdered by guns in New York City.
• A New Yorker dies in traffic on average every 35 hours.
• Half of the people killed are pedestrians.
Despite these facts, the media, law enforcement, and the public seem more concerned with the danger of a 20-pound vehicle than a 2000 pound one.
Irresponsible & Unbalanced Writing from the New York Daily News
Let me state a couple of things very clearly. First, there are bonehead cyclists who make things bad for everyone. I am not defending them nor am I suggesting that they don't exist. Second, the accidents mentioned in the article were tragic. But that doesn't make the News' reporting any less slanted and irresponsible.
First and foremost, the article is accompanied by a large photo of a cyclist in his sponsor's uniform. The photo shows a reading of 31 mph (6 mph above the legal speed limit) on the radar gun pointed at the rider. But it's clear that the rider in the photo is going at a leisurely pace up a hill, and is obviously not doing 31 mph, and not breaking the law. (Furthermore, the woman pictured walking with a stroller is in the bike lane and is in violation of Park regulations.) This is roughly akin to writing a story about a lawbreaking motor vehicle and then including a photo of a commercial van - complete with company logos - that had no involvement with the accident. It's a disservice to the rider and to his team.
Speaking of lawbreaking motor vehicles, I'll be happy to meet one or more of the four intrepid reporters who wrote this piece in Prospect Park one day. We can use their radar gun and see how many cars exceed the speed limit. They say they witnessed eight cyclists speeding in four hours. It wouldn't take four minutes to find eight speeding cars. (And if they want to talk about dangerous, I'll happily give them a physics lesson on the forces created by a 2000+ pound car vs. those created by a 20+ bike and its rider.) They'll also find numerous drivers illegally cutting through the transverses, walkers and runners in bike lanes, and lots of other infractions that endanger park users.
The News states "two women were nearly killed in collisions with bicyclists in Prospect Park in the last six months — but that hasn't slowed down riders, the Daily News has found" but it's not until paragraph 15 that they mention that she may have been at fault and that the cyclist has countersued her.
If the four authors are too lazy to look it up, I'll tell them how many pedstrians are killed by cars vs. how many are killed by cyclists in this city. And if they decide to take a break from making broad generalizations about cyclists, perhaps they can report on the dangers that we face and how the authorities ignore them. As brooklynspoke.com points out, "the same police force that says 'accidents happen' when explaining away its decision to not investigate the death of a cyclist killed by a hit-and-run truck driver apparently doesn’t apply that philosophy to accidents involving bicycles. Not only that, it now has the resources to station officers and vehicles in the park for hours on end to educate cyclists and enforce slower, safer riding."
No doubt that cyclists need to do better, but that in no way excuses the News for its biased reporting.
Posted at 05:36 PM in Coach's Comments, Cycling Advocacy | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)