Crack-down on Traffic Dangers
Here’s to posters and banners in every government office reminding legislators that their first Constitutional duty is to protect public safety, especially now, when they’re planning to cut budgets for police, fire fighting and the safest travel mode, public transit.
Government evidently needs to learn that moving traffic violations are life and death matters. And bicycling violations are not mere quality of life offenses, especially when they are everywhere—even on low-traffic East End Avenue. Walking just one block home from the East 79th Street Neighborhood Association meeting, Ruth S. was almost struck by a delivery food bike speeding along the sidewalk. I yelled, “Off the walk!” The problem is, nobody else ever does, even though lawless biking is often deplored at civic meetings. Read more
NEW BIKE LANES COMING
Bicyclists should be celebrating, now that Community Board 7 voted in favor of the Department of Transportation’s plan to install protected bicycle lanes on Columbus and Amsterdam avenues.
Proponents say that protected lanes offer bicyclists a safe route, while pedestrians will see less bike-riding on the sidewalk. The extra lane would also break the street into shorter segments, making it easier to traverse for senior citizens and those who have trouble walking.
At Board 7’s Oct. 6 meeting, throngs of bicycling advocates young and old came out to support the new bike lanes.
“There was a groundswell of support for this issue not only from cyclists, but from seniors, children and pedestrians,” said Lisa Sladkus, an organizer for Upper West Side Streets Renaissance Campaign. “It gives cyclists a very safe place to be and little incentive to be on the sidewalk.”
The board, by a vote of 28-7 in favor of the project, called for the department to create a plan for a “class 1” lane, which is separated from traffic by a barrier, possibly parked cars.
But neighborhood business interests are skeptical about the new lanes. Shop owners have complained that bike lanes, especially ones that are protected, block off truck loading and unloading zones and restrict parking for customers.
Peter Arndtsen, head of the Columbus-Amsterdam Business Improvement District, supports the bike lanes, but urged city officials to heed business concerns when designing the new space.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for both the Department of Transportation and Community Board 7 to really rise to the occasion and meet with local businesses to come up with something that works for everybody,” Arndtsen said.
Bikes Need Regulation
To the Editor:
Bette Dewing is to be applauded for the many years she has tried to right wrongs (Dewing Things Better, “The Right Kind of Light,” May 14). I am writing about the bike situation. I agree with Bette that, not only should bikers who go through red lights, against traffic and on the sidewalk have some type of lighting so that they can be seen in the dark (both for their own welfare and the pedestrian), but I also feel they should be licensed as motorcycles so they can be identified. I wrote to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly about my heart-stopping experiences with bikers who do not follow the rules of the road and my letter was sent to my police precinct. Read more
