The Coalition Against Rogue Riding (C.A.R.R.) demands strict enforcement of traffic regulations for all street vehicles, including bicycles, and supports measures that will enable these regulations to be enforced reliably and efficiently.
Attorney & investigative journalist from L.A. shows more awareness from 3000 miles away than
the NYC "visionaries" with their heads in the sky and their minds in the sewer. Also present greater statistical grasp of reality than serial sophist Charles Komanoff-who displays a reckless indifference to human life.
"The response to the accident was predictable to anyone familiar with
bike activists and their radical agenda. Rather than using the tragedies
of Freelander’s and Highman’s deaths as a teachable moment New York’s
bike activists (all 37 of them) went into full outrage mode."
Mr. Charles Cheeseboro perished from head trauma suffered when he collided with a 77 year old
man around a 72nd St crosswalk in Central Park. Wearing no helmet.R.I.P.
Man on e-bike killed in crash with pedestrian in Central Park
NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY)
- A man riding an electronic bicycle in Central Park who collided with a
77-year-old pedestrian has died, according to the NYPD.
Police responded to a 911 call about the man lying on the ground on Aug. 26 at about 3:21 p.m.
Charles
Cheeseboro, 43, of Manhattan, suffered head trauma when he was rushed
to NY Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He died on Wednesday.
Continue reading below
Cheeseboro was
riding the 3-bike on East Drive when he collided with the male
pedestrian who was crossing in the crosswalk at 74th St.
An investigation was ongoing.
Fellow
citizens: Another penetrating piece by Christopher LeGras. Here he pops
the bubble-the sophistry-the myth-the delusion of the "visionaries" and
the bodies connected to the arms they twisted-***THE EMPEROR WEARS NO
CLOTHES.*** Right from the misguided beginning Transportation
Alternatives displayed a holier than thou-know it all hubris. Refusing
to "cooperate" with city agencies to establish a responsible bike
culture. Moreover in another act of high arrogance they twisted the arms
of Mayors Bloomberg and De Blasio to suppress enforcement by the NYPD. A
neat act of subversion. At once undermining the authority of the NYPD
and likely undermining the morale. Note the number of police suicides.
Note the likely spillover acts of disrespect. The irrational reasoning
is that the more bike riders-the safer the streets.( &
SIDEWALKS-please ?!). This displayed a reckless disregard for human
life.
By conflating a climate change panic with an
outsized projection of the virtue of "going green with bikes"-"Praying
to a false green God"
the city
unleashed bike bedlam. Further the bike infrastructure constrained
emergency vehicles. Set the table for world class congestion. Generated
35 billion dollars in lost business in NYC in 2017. Let's give credit
where credit is due. Serial sophist Charles
Komanoff
and principal funder Mark Gorton have realized one aspect of their
goal. Within the exercise in zealotry they have exerted an undue
influence on New York City. Acutely damaged the quality of
life.Successfully become an anti-Robert Moses presence which in the
relatively short term has created a comparably unwelcome effect on city
well being.Now acknowledged wouldn't it be fair and appropriate to have
them be liable for the deaths-the injuries-the level of stress their
machinations brought about?
Let's give credit where credit is due.
Now
it's time for a turnabout. An independent study is critical. Please
extricate the people from this miasma of irrationality and hubris.
Faulty thinking. High minded rhetoric and low ball tactics. Time's Up.
The Emperor Wears No Clothes.
More accounts of the Delivery agent pedestrian accident in CP.77 year old ped-43 year old helmetless
biker. Biker seriously injured. Both to Cornell Hospital. All too common occurence. Now tell me citizens do you think this is what the "VISIONARIES" of Transportation Alternatives envisioned? Or did they just overshoot by the dimension of their ego and the profiteers they front for? Think on it.
Another Day Another BIKE CRASH-***Try 3 in one hour*** in Central Park.
NYPD out motioning for cyclists to slow down. Try enforcing the law. Try establishing a
responsible bike culture-if one existed helmets would not be so vital. Another lack. Is it
the New York hustle that creates the bike bedlam? Well if Transportation Alternatives
had run toward instead away from a RESPONSIBLE BIKE CULTURE NYC would be a
safer more prosperous place.
Electric scooters have overrun downtown San Francisco. The city is setting a 1250 scooter limit-total-
on the last mile transportation vehicles. The darlings of venture capitalists contend that in the end
demand will prevail. Bring on the San Diego scooter Repo Men.
The electric scooter deluge is dividing San Francisco
Electric scooters have overrun downtown San Francisco
In cities all over the U.S., electric vehicles have been popping up from companies like LimeBike, Spin, Bird and Uber’s
Jump Bikes. These start-ups have raised hundreds of millions of dollars
to solve what some call the last mile transportation problem — the
symbolic distance between public transit and the final destination.
While consumers may be excited about this influx of new vehicles hitting
the road, cities aren’t quite ready for them yet.
Here’s how they work:
First,
you use an app on your phone to find a scooter or bike you want to
rent. Then walk to it on the street. You unlock it by scanning a QR code
on the handle and then you’re off. There’s a brake on one side and a
throttle on the other that’ll propel you up to 15 miles per hour.
In downtown San Francisco,
the number of electric scooters has surged recently, introducing a host
of problems, including people illegally riding on sidewalks,
vandalization and parked scooters blocking the walkways. The city even
began impounding scooters that are parked illegally.
Aaron
Peskin, an elected official from San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors
has been swamped with thousands of complaints from frustrated residents,
including some who have actually been injured by a scooter. The city’s
laws require electric scooter operators to not ride on the sidewalk and
to wear a helmet, but looking around this city you’ll notice that barely
anyone is following these rules.
“I don’t want these folks ending up in my hospital at the taxpayers’ expense,” Peskin said. “I want our sidewalks to be safe.”
San
Francisco will soon start seeing fewer scooters on the road. A new
permit process will begin limiting the number of scooters to just 1,250
for the entire city and require companies to register them with the
Municipal Transit Authority.
But executives at these companies say
this is just the beginning. Ben Bear a VP at Spin told CNBC that
“consumer demand will win out in the long run."
Apparent delivery agent hits 77 year old woman in or near crosswalk. Cyclist-no helmet-wouldn't want to suppress ridership. Unconscious. Woman knocked to ground. Who had light? Both in hospital. #170**REPORTED*** pedestrian hit by bike 2019.
Cyclist seriously injured in collision with pedestrian in Central Park
Posted 6:50 PM, August 26, 2019, by Jennifer Bisram, Updated at 06:52PM, August 26,2019
CENTRAL PARK, Manhattan — A cyclist was seriously injured in a
collision Monday afternoon with a pedestrian in Central Park, officials
said.
The 43-year-old cyclist flipped over and ended up on the side of the
road around 4:30 p.m., police sources said. He was not wearing a helmet
and hit his head.
The 77-year-old pedestrian was also injured.
Both victims were taken to Weill Cornell Medicine for treatment.
Follow this story to get email or text alerts from PIX11 when there is a future article following this storyline.
Another insight into the exercise in zealotry brought to NYC by Transportation Alternatives.
"New York is better than this."
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts with The New York Times community.
Jack Brown | New York City Transportation
Alternatives is hoist on its own hypocritical petard-and taken the
public with it. They made no effort to establish a responsible bike
culture. Fearing that obeying the law would diminish ridership. Claiming
that the more riders the safer the street-and SIDEWALK? TA controlled
the Dept of Transportation under Janette Sadik Kahn. Refused to
cooperate with NYC agencies. Then Mayor Bloomberg told JSK "Do whatever
you want just don't screw up." TA and DOT operate on an "Ends justify
the means" assault. Bloomberg also had his arm twisted and agreed to
suppress enforcement by the NYPD. Again TA didn't want to depress
ridership!! Where is it written that going green and promoting bike
riding requires enabling bike bedlam, blowing up a public safety crisis
and bludgeoning the New York quality of life? New York is Better Than
This. New York is conspicuously missing from the list of the top 20
cycling global cities. From jump importing bike programs from Europe was
misguided. Logistics of street width and vehicular and population
density are vastly different. This was a narcissistic fantasy.Trying to
put a square peg in a round hole.Pandering politicians have been
bought. The public euchered The authority of the NYPD has been
undermined-while the bike zealots clamor for enforcement.
No one benefits from an irresponsible bike culture.NO ONE.
Education and enforcement-coming from behind-are the bottom line. Here's
to a Better New York.
Making City Streets Safer for Cyclists and Walkers
Readers
call for stricter enforcement of traffic rules for bike riders and
stricter punishments for reckless drivers. Also: When Obama picked Joe
Biden; whose history gets taught.
Workers preparing a new protected bike lane along Central Park West.CreditMisha Friedman for The New York Times
To the Editor:
“Bike Paths or Parking Spaces? Something Has to Give”
(news article, Aug. 19) describes tensions over putting bike lanes on
city streets to make them safer for cyclists, drivers and pedestrians,
but what about enforcing traffic regulations for bike riders? In many
Brooklyn neighborhoods, people joke that you have to look both ways
before you cross even a one-way street, because so many bikers are going
the wrong way, even in bike lanes.
But
it’s no joke. My wife was struck by a rider neither she nor I saw or
heard coming from the wrong direction as we stepped into a bike lane a
few years ago. And she wasn’t hurt as badly as the bicyclist, who
crashed to the ground after hitting her.
Bike
lanes were recently installed on both sides of Ninth Street between
Prospect Park and Third Avenue, but the lanes are only four feet wide
and, astoundingly, are between the sidewalk curbs and the parking spaces
for cars. There’s also a narrower space for opening car doors but no
barrier. The downhill side of the street is steep, and many cyclists
come down it fast.
Riding a bicycle in
city traffic is tricky and can be dangerous. Yet no instruction or
training is required. In 19 years, I have never seen a traffic cop
confront a cyclist for riding the wrong way, running a red light or
riding on the sidewalk. Cyclists would probably be more careful if they
had to worry about getting tickets. We’re all in this together.
Craig R. Whitney Brooklyn The writer is a former assistant managing editor of The Times.
As
the author of a book on drunken driving and the uncle of a 9-year-old
boy killed by a reckless driver, I remain baffled at the different ways
that violators get punished. Drunken drivers who injure or kill people
are subject to criminal prosecution, but reckless drivers who commit the
same offenses (and have no history of other traffic offenses) are
charged with a misdemeanor at most.
Yet
in both cases, drivers make willful decisions to violate laws
established to protect the public’s health. The fact that you can run a
red light, kill someone and get a slap on the wrist is a disgrace. And
stop calling these events “accidents.” It’s an insult to the victims and
their families.
Barron H. Lerner New York The writer is a professor of medicine and population health at New York University.
Paco Underhill is an expert in marketing and urban anthropology. Distinguished lecturer at the Harvard Grad School. Op Ed writer for NYT and numerous other publication. Three books "What Women Want" and counting. Below is Mr. Underhill's insight into the unsustainable and un
ecologically friendly delivery systems established to service the quick fire digitally generated needs of companies like Amazon, Walmart & Target. Getting "buzzed" numerous inconvenient times of the day? You know what Paco means. Read on.
Green
planet issues are real, and government is failing in its responsibility
to keep up with the evolution of shopping.
Just as commercial buildings have fire codes and construction standards
it’s time to apply the same principles to changing digital delivery of
analog stuff.
There seems to be some reluctance on the part of NYCDOT to unleash dockless bikes in The Rockaways-possibly Staten Island and The Bronx. Given that there are areas called transportation deserts there could be a benefit. However there is clearly a nuisance value to unfettered bikes
being abandoned willy nilly. See the San Diego Repo Men. Further bike share does not call for
maintenance on the part of the rider. Less responsible attitude are invited.Bikes without a responsible bike culture means bike bedlam.
Okay folks. Straight from the Die at Washington Square Park. Reporter Gary brings out the good, bad and ugly from CARR Spokesman Jack Brown. Special mention for former DOT Commish Janette Sadik Khan. She who got the green light from then Mayor Bloomberg to "Do anything you want. Just don't screw up." She who put all her eggs in the Transportation Alternatives basket. She who is now
sequestered in the warm wallet of Bloomberg Enterprises masquerading as a transportation sage.
Note any potential client considering engaging Ms SK-An open invitation to come to New York City.
Take a walk on the wild side. Take a ride on the rogue side. Have a light and dark at McSorley's
Old Ale House on me. Then go back with your head screwed securely on.
Lina really lets it go at serial sophist Charles Komanoff. Justly outraged for many reasons-her partner was struck by a cyclist in Central Park-"Hasn't been the same since." Writer approaches
the theme of the supremely narcissistic power players being swayed, manipulated, arm twisted
by the ever confident shamelessly arrogant Charles Komanoff. He of the bottomless drivel of
statistics. How about starting a Go Fund Me campaign to stake Komanoff to an extended head
shrinking by a registered cycling psychiatrist? No wait It's like bike riders and licensing.
If they ride for free-no license-they ride without responsibility. Pay your way and respect the road
and rights of others.Komanoff will have to go 50/50 to get the campaign. And he'll need to wear a helmet while consulting.
hh how neo-Marxist/Leninist Komissar Komanoff envisions himself
at the helm of the People's Car Culture Court, sitting on the
bench in his Lance Armstrong biker bro outfit with his gleaming
$500K Trek Butterfly Madone leaning casually behind him as he
metes out scarce vehicular registrations.
So many tough decisions.
Do illegal immigrants now being given NYS drivers licenses get a
car, that classic piece of the American Dream they risked their
lives for?
Do people of color, having lived under White Privilege now get
denied?
Do the elderly get to keep their cars or must they now head to
re-education camp and learn how to peddle trikes?
Do contractors now have to lug their tools and supplies to jobs on
the subway?
Do food suppliers in the Bronx have to hire teams of bikers
harnessed to wagons to get their staples to their customers?
OH what JOY to be in control of such an important authoritative
division of the new totalitarian dystopian utopia!!!!
BTW: My partner was slammed into by a speeding biker in Central
Park and had to have brain surgery within the hour. She had the
green light in the crosswalk. She hasn't been the same since.
LinaLina
Lets use real democracy and find out how many NYers want to ditch
their vehicles instead of a few ideologues shoving policies , like
bike lanes, down our throats. Where's your so called
"democracy"when the totalitarian ideologues like Komrade De Blasio
and King Bloomberg rule without consent of the masses. Proof: bike
lanes have been pulled from neighborhoods after residents fought
back. Car-centric mostly Latino Inwood, where many immigrants have
new gas guzzling SUVs that they often idle as parking is ever
scarcer went berserk after bike lanes were put in. Less than 6
months later they're gone. Try that in Queens and the mayor and
his army of progressives are going bersek against the complaining
residents. So yes, this is how communists work. A small group of
totalitarian ideologues against the masses...NOT even remotely
resembling democracy!
LinaLina
Marxism/Leninism totalitarianism all balled into one when a tiny
group of power hungry Leftists pose as "social justice warriors"
and impose their dystopian "utopia" on the masses. Who doles out
the registration permits to the few Komossar Komanoff decides are
exempt from Car Culture Crackdown??? Krackhead Komanoff, of
course! That's REAL Marxism.Leninism at work. That's how the
communist s**t show AlWAYS turns out. They rule, you OBEY! Anyone
who opposes gets shouted down, mocked, trashed & condemned on
social media, and eventually as "progressives" gain more and more
power masses wind up in gulags or "disappear" like under their
benevolent predecessor and mentor Uncle Joe... Stalin.
A possible remedy for the 14th St push. Experiments on the experimenters.
Voice of the People, August 20,2019
Placebo effect
Manhattan:
The Daily News is quite ready to experiment on the families and
businesses of 14th St. (“Look both ways,” editorial, Aug. 19). It is
just too bad, says the Daily Snooze, that hardships are multiplied for
the disabled, businesses are shuttered, and their employees out of work.
Just too bad if the communities around 14th St. are overwhelmed with
traffic. The experiment must go on. I suggest that we first experiment
on the families of The News staff and then move on to de Blasio, Polly
Trottenberg and Corey Johnson.
The blog notes that 5 blocks away from the site of the accident there is a BIKE PATH that
goes from Prospect Park to Coney Island. Already exists. Serviceable. Separates vehicles from
cyclists. Save all the expense and angst. Why not?
A cyclist perished when one driver ran a red light and drove an SUV into the cyclist. DOA CIH.
3 cyclists injured within hours. CHIEF TERRENCE MONAHAN promises education and ENFORCEMENT of laws re cycling and motor vehicles. Pub Adv. Jumaane Williams rides a bike and calls for safe streets. Let's see if Chief Monahan delivers on his promise. Its been nearly 2 decades of avoiding a responsible bike culture due to the reckless indifference to human life by
the cult like zealotry and undue influence of Transportation Alternatives. Enforcement is the bottom line. You can talk till you're blue in the face but when a bike is confiscated. Fines levied a difference is made. Attention grabbed. Adherence to public safety enhanced. What's more respect for the NYPD
is restored. 9 cops have died by their own hands this year. There is a spill over effect of disrespect for law and cops when cyclists are allowed to ride with impunity. That can't help the self respect of NYPD officers. Let's establish law and order and safety on the streets and sidewalks.
Two pedestrians fatally struck this year. 169 people injured by bike.No statutes on the books to
charge rogue cyclists. Ted Panken widower of Donna Sturm struck on 57th & Fifth by rogue delivery
bike says of her death and lack of legal remedies-"It's a waste."
Reporter Gary with a Go Pro eye view of 2 participants in the protest at the residence of Att. Arthur Schwartz. Schwartz has stymied Trans Alt & DOT;s plan to create a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
Attorney Arthur Schwartz has successfully delayed the best laid plans of Transportation Alternatives and the NY Dept of Transportation. TA is angling to make a temporary and necessary repair of the
Sandy Storm damage of the L line in to a permanent solution. This would eliminate bus stops on
the M 14 and drive motor vehicles on to side streets adjacent to 14th. Of course the bike lanes
would become the primary focus.
Operating much like the NRA which prays to a false God of GUNS-TA prays to the false green God
of BIKES. They are also exceedingly well funded-now backed by the Donald Trump backer to the tune of $6 million and counting the Related Companies controlled by Stephen Ross. Owner of health clubs Citibike and oh Yes the Hudson Yards empire. The peoples mode of transportation has become
big business. Driving bike shop owners out of the field. They who built the bike culture. Scooped up
like so much dog poop by Stephen Ross-did I mention-$6 million to the current occupant of the White House-fellow real estate operator.
Anyway here is Attorney Arthur Schwartz holding the fort against the dupes of the money and ego
boys of TA. New York City's version of white nationalists.TA does NRA.
Trans Alt in a tizzy. Taking up torches and white bike helmets to harass Att. Arthur Schwartz
who has thrown a three way wrench into the "visionary" plans of the 14th permanent solution to a temporary problem. Meanwhile back at the corporation-The Related Companies is calculating
current and future profits from C bikes.Mark Gorton is scheming how to manipulate the market so he can front run it. A $1000 ticket per couple is set for October at Columbia U. These poor dupes are risking their lives on the streets and sidewalk. Protesting and harassing a man who REALLY represents the people. Perhaps they can find something more edified to do.
1 day ago · At the pressconference, Schwartz will announce his second lawsuit related to the 14 th St.
traffic changes — to demand that the city restore the removed bus
stops. His plaintiff in that case will be Disabled in Action, a group
representing disabled New Yorkers.
It appears the cyclist was NOT wearing a helmet. Young and vigorous. No talk of lawsuit.
How did the encounter occur? Fault? There is no possible safety in bike lanes if cyclists disregared
the law and common safety sense. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GT5NLZ1Pb5k
Here you have a paid acolyte of the False Green God engaging in serial sophistry according to the playbook of Transportation Alternatives. The disruptors and the profit mongers. An illegitimate enterprise from the initial importation of the bike program. Without establishing a responsible bike culture. Suppressing the enforcement of the NYPD and undermining their authority. Setting the table for world class congestion. Causing in 2017 $35 billion in LOST NYC business. I think we see what the "green wave" consists of Polly. You inherit the mantle of public offender from Janette S Khan. Now conveniently succored in the warm wallet of Bloomberg Enterprises. Bully Bully.
Subject:
Trottenberg Op-Ed Exclusive: Riding the ‘Green Wave’ —
and the Choppy Waters Ahead – Streetsblog New York City
Garlick gives us the flavor of the vigorous expansion of the C bike and most other ride share programs across the USA. Mr, Ross is currently enjoying a boycott of Equinox, Soul Cycle and possibly Blink workout clubs.("Health is the new wealth") all Related Co properties. Ross is majority owner of Related-includes The Miami Dolphins NFL team. It becomes eminently clear that with
big bucks backers like Ross-who now infamously donated $6 million dollars to fellow developer Donald Trump's campaign and Towers Financial hedge fund operator Mark Gorton( liable for $105 million from lawsuit by Recording Industry of America)-ALSO Towers F was once run by Stephen Hoffenberg-did nearly 20 years for a Ponzi scheme-Hoffenberg was mentor to the recently deceased
Jeffry Epstein-birds of a feather and all that. Its clear that this is far from a promotion of a people's mode of transportation. The "false green God" is driven by profit. The desire to undermine the NYPD
and an apparent desire to outstrip Robert Moses in the game of who has the biggest ego and the tightest riding shorts.
They're boycotting equinox and soul cycle. Someone just asked why not citi bike?
The W 15th St Block Association behind Attorney Arthur Schwartz brought reason and balance to
the radical plan put forward by the NYCDOT and Transportation Alternatives. NYTET said the court. Months of a stay to find a better way.
What a difference a few hours make.
Late this afternoon, the Court of Appeals issued another temporary restraining order against the DOT. The city cannot touch 14th St. for MONTHS!
Big thanks goes to Arthur Schwartz whose
dedication and commitment to our neighborhood is the reason there will
not be a line of traffic down our block on Monday morning.
Congratulations Arthur. And thank you so very very much.
Since when do bike riders have a license to kill? They don't even need a license.
R.I.P. Michael. Fellow New Yorker. A victim of the of the reckless disregard for human life
perpetrated by Transportation Alternatives and off shoots. Would be appropriate to have them be liable-and the politicians who enable the irresponsible bike culture.
Manhattan man struck by hit-and-run cyclist dies from injuries
A 60-year-old man struck by a hit-and-run cyclist in the
Flatiron District last week has succumbed to his injuries, cops said
Wednesday.
Michael Collopy was standing in a bike lane at Sixth Avenue and 23rd
Street when a cyclist heading north in the lane rammed into him and kept
going at about noon on July 31, cops said.
Collopy, who lives a few blocks from the scene, died Monday at Bellevue Hospital.
The city Medical Examiner’s Office said Wednesday it had determined that Collopy’s official cause of death was the collision.
Police said they are looking for the cyclist, but couldn’t immediately provide a description.
Collopy’s death left his Chelsea apartment-building doorman stunned.
“He was one of the good ones in the building, a nice person,” said
the worker, who identified himself only as Jay. “He was always full of
jokes. I’m pretty much in shock right now. He always used to come and
say ‘Hi.’
The doorman said Collopy lived alone and has been in the neighborhood for at least seven years.
At the intersection where Collopy was mowed down, The Post on
Wednesday night witnessed several bicyclists blow through red lights.
“These cyclists are getting out of control!” one woman said.
Another local recalled how the other day she witnessed a cyclist nearly slam into a little girl.
“Officials have to start getting firmer with these bike lanes. Maybe start giving tickets,” she said.
Collopy is the second pedestrian to die after getting struck by a
cyclist in Manhattan since May 4, when 67-year-old Donna Strum succumbed
to injuries suffered 10 days earlier when a cyclist blew a red light
and slammed into her in a crosswalk.
Strum suffered a fractured skull and doctors put her into a medically
induced coma after she was struck on West 57th Street near Sixth Avenue
at about 1:40 p.m. on April 24, police said.
The 40-year-old unidentified cyclist remained at the scene. He told
cops his gears weren’t shifting correctly and his brakes weren’t
working, according to police sources. Cops issued him a summons.
In 2014, 58-year-old Jill Tarlov — the wife of a CBS executive — was
rammed by a speeding cyclist in Central Park. The impact left her
brain-dead and she died three days later.
Bike lanes can’t cure stupid, but they can disrupt communities.
In response to community outcries, officials in cities nationwide are
recognizing reality and starting to remove some of their more
ill-advised bike lane and road diet projects while shelving plans for
others. The elimination of traffic lanes on major thoroughfares has
proved disastrous not only for commuters, but also local businesses and
emergency responders. Cities reconsidering such projects include include
Baltimore,San Antonio, West Palm Beach, Des Moines, Annapolis, Akron, Columbia, San Rafael, Memphis, Boise, and elsewhere. In countless other communities, from Tahlequah, Oklahoma to Los Angeles, California,
opposition to certain bike lanes and other bike facilities have
reversed road diets and stopped others in their tracks. And in still
more cities and towns, from Waverly, Iowa to New York City,
individuals and community groups are coming together to confront the
seemingly overnight transformation of their neighborhoods. A group of
business owners in The Bronx recently obtained a temporary restraining order
against a proposed road diet on Morris Park Avenue (full disclosure: I
have provided legal research and other assistance to the plaintiffs).
Lawsuits also are pending in Los Angeles.
Perhaps the most surprising reversal has come in Seattle. To hear the
bike activists (or “non-auto mobility advocates”) tell it, Seattle
ought to be a premier bicycling city. It’s one of the country’s most
progressive locales, with substantial populations of Millennial and Gen Z
folks who are the most likely cohorts to use bikes and other
alternative transportation. The metro area is fairly compact, with a
downtown core and other dense pockets like Ballard, and it’s well-served
by transit. It’s increasingly expensive to own a car, and traffic is
getting worse all the time (of course much of that congestion has to do
with all the bike and transit infrastructure). The city even has a
former mayor nicknamed “McSchwinn” (not intended as a compliment, mind you).
But to the extent there ever was one, the city’s love affair with the
velocipede is proving short-lived and tempestuous. A recent Seattle
Times/Elway poll revealed that barely 40% of city residents support the
continued expansion of bike infrastructure, while 56% oppose it. Most
revealingly, slightly more urban Seattlites “strongly” opposed more bike
lanes. To be sure, like any poll there are flawswith
this one, in particular its over-reliance on homeowners who are more
likely than renters to own cars. Still, it reflects a national trend of
cooling enthusiasm and even outright opposition to the mindless
expansion of bike facilities at the expense of drivers and bus riders,
not to mention first responders. And alternatives to cycling such as
ride sharing, car sharing, e-bikes, and scooters continue to
proliferate, giving people more attractive options than old-fashioned
pedal bikes.
The bike wars came to a head in the Emerald City over a proposed
“road diet” on 35th Avenue. Part of the city’s Bicycle Master Plan, the
project would have reduced the street from four lanes to two, with
protected bike lanes in both directions. Two competing groups, Save 35th (opposed) and Safe 35th (in favor) spent the last 18 months engaged in a sometimes ugly clash over the proposal. The city even hired a mediator to try to find a compromise, to no avail. Eventually the city announced that it would move forward with the project, but sans protected bike lanes.
Despite a decades long push by a small but well-funded,
well-connected, and above all noisy cohort of activists the proportion
of Americans commuting by bicycle is decreasing. According to the Census
Bureau, between 2016 and 2017 bicycle commuting dropped by 25.8% in
Oakland, 19.9% in San Francisco, 24.1% in Austin, more than 13% in
Atlanta, and more than 12% in Boston. According to the League of American Cyclists,
during that same period the overall number of people who regularly
commute via bicycle declined in 30 of the 50 states. Reason Magazine reported
similar statistics last year. Only four cities – Davis, Santa Cruz, and
Palo Alto, California as well as Boulder, Colorado – cracked double
digits, barely, and those are all locales with considerable populations
of students and other young people.
Of course, these trends could just be blips. After all, overall
cycling increased by nearly 43% nationally between 2000 and 2016.
Bolstered by federal highway funds hundreds if not thousands of cities
and towns across the country, from New York, New York to Waverly, Iowa,
continue to invest untold billions
in infrastructure, lanes, and other improvements for bicycling. And, of
course, one year hardly makes a trend. Then again, while the increase
sounds significant in percentage terms the number of Americans for whom
cycling is their primary mode of getting around remains vanishingly small.
Regardless, considering those billions of dollars that federal,
state, and local agencies collectively have spent on bike infrastructure
(at one point the City of Seattle was willing to spend as much as $12 million per mile on dedicated bike lanes) these reversals amount to a stunning rebuke. Commence the activists’ gnashing of teeth and rending of garments.
It’s the activists’ standard operating procedure to smear anyone who
so much as questions the wisdom of bike lanes as anti-bike, anti-safety,
even anti-children (at a presentation regarding the safety implications
of the Venice Boulevard road diet in Los Angeles, we were accused of
caring so much about cars that we don’t care if kids are killed; you
can’t make this stuff up).
The fact that you don’t support a particular bike lane in a
particular place doesn’t make you anti-bike. Wanting to balance the
interests of cyclists and pedestrians with those of motorists, local
businesses, and emergency responders doesn’t make you a frothing climate
change denier. Pointing out that some bike lanes and road diets make
things worse rather than better doesn’t make you a muscle car driving
Neanderthal.
If common sense prevails scenes like this will soon be bad memories….
Yet that’s the attitude of advocates (and, unfortunately, a lot of
local politicians). Bike lanes, Vision Zero, Complete Streets, transit,
and density comprise a religious fundamentalism that brooks no dissent
and enforces a strict orthodoxy. Show an activist videos of ambulances,
fire engines, and police cars trapped on gridlocked road diets in Queens, Mar Vista, or Oakland
and they will respond with straight faces that it’s proof we need more
road diets. Suggest that perhaps bike lanes are best on secondary roads
and you’ll get an earful about how cyclists deserve direct routes as
much as anyone else. There is simply no compromise.
Suffice it to say, aligning themselves against emergency responders,
mom and pop business owners and average citizens is not a winning
strategy. If even Seattle is reconsidering its bike policies the
activists – not to mention elected officials – may want to recalibrate
and actually listen to alternative viewpoints.
Don’t hold your breath. Zealotry is intoxicating. Activists have convinced themselves they’re doing nothing less than saving the world. They are addicted to the high of their own self satisfaction.
Facts? Where they’re going, they don’t need any facts.
Apparently the "False Green God" is not limited to the narcissism and reckless disregard for
human life promoted by the irresponsible bike culture in the Big Apple. Imbedded in this
truth telling piece is a video within a New York Post piece that shows Devra Freelander
being fatally struck by a truck in Brooklyn. R.I.P. Devra. The "False Green God" of the activists
admits no culpability for lawbreaking cyclists. The spate-epidemic-of reckless riding actively promoted by a small cult of advocate creates a high risk low reward environment. FOR ALL.
NO ONE BENEFITS FROM AN IRRESPONSIBLE BIKE CULTURE. NO ONE.
Where is the NYPD? Why was there NO sustained EFFORT to create a responsible bike culture? Why has the NYPD been kept on a short leash? Those who have funded and been serial sophists the bike zealotry-and those who have succumbed to the vociferous clamor seeking votes and political contributions are to blame. This bike zealotry is akin to the NRA-as presidential candidate Mayor Pete has said it's like praying to a false God. In the case of the irresponsible bike disruptors
it's a "False Green God."
Ignoring
a dedicated bike lane, a cyclist dangerously splits lanes down San
Vicente Boulevard in West Los Angeles in mid-day traffic.
The video out of Brooklyn, New York on July 1 is as gut wrenching as
it is heart wrenching. A cyclist speeds down the sidewalk and into a
blind intersection, against the light, without slowing down. Tragically,
she tries to cross the street just as a cement truck enters the
intersection. She swerves at the last second, but it’s too late – she
hits the front of the truck, falls off her bike, and is crushed under
the truck’s back wheels. A surveillance camera caught the accident
(warning, the video
is extremely graphic and will be disturbing to some readers). The
victim was a 28-year-old woman named Devra Freelander, an artist who
lived in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood.
In Manhattan on June 24th, a
20-year-old bicycle messenger collided with a delivery truck in morning
traffic. Robyn Hightman was riding in traffic when they* hit the truck from
behind. The driver, who continued to drive several more blocks before being
flagged by a taxi driver, claimed he never saw them.
The accident occurred near the intersection of Sixth Avenue (aka
Avenue of the Americas) and 24th Street in Manhattan’s Chelsea district.
Ironically, in response to pressure from bike activists, in 2016 the
New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) installed a protected
bike lane on Sixth Avenue between 8th and 33rd Streets. In December of
that year Streetsblog NYC gushed
that “the new protected bike lane on Sixth Avenue … has turned one of
the city’s most stress-inducing bike routes into one of its best.”
The
protected bike lane, left, on Sixth Avenue at 24th Street, near where a
cyclist was killed in an accident on June 24. The cyclist wasn’t using
the lane at the time of the collision.
According
to CBS affiliate WKTR, “police determined [Hightman] was not in the
bike lane and was traveling between vehicles when they were struck.”
Likewise, the New York Post reported
Hightman “was pedaling between cars” when the crash occurred.
Eyewitnesses, including the cab driver who stopped the truck driver,
confirmed that Hightman struck the Freightliner truck from behind.
Images of the scene show a mangled bicycle in the middle of the street,
several dozen feet from the bike lane.
The response to the accident was predictable to anyone familiar with
bike activists and their radical agenda. Rather than using the tragedies
of Freelander’s and Highman’s deaths as a teachable moment New York’s
bike activists (all 37 of them) went into full outrage mode. Instead of
taking a hard look at the circumstances, they raged about “reckless
truck drivers,” “dangerous drivers,” and of course, “traffic violence.”
These are the same cohorts who gleefully boast about bike rage, and howl about evil school bus drivers (seriously). They even claim to be an “oppressed class” (again, seriously).
In short, they do everything but
take responsibility for their own lives.
Yet the simple fact is that
cyclists often are their own worst enemies. They routinely blow through red
lights and stop signs. They lane split in rush hour traffic while listening to
music and checking texts. They ride the wrong way down one-way streets. They
ride at night with no lights or reflective gear. They bait and taunt motorists.
These are all incredibly risky actions yet they are the norm for far too many
cyclists. If cyclists don’t take responsibility for their own safety, there’s
little the rest of us can do. Indeed, in the name of speed and convenience many
riders routinely ignore roadway features specifically intended to protect them.
A memorial gathering for Hightman the night of the accident was a
prime example of the activists’ warped ideology. What started as a
(relatively) peaceful vigil quickly turned into a protest that
ultimately erupted into an Antifa-style riot.
Several activists dragged two men from their car and beat them in the
street. They also damaged the men’s car along with multiple others.
Nothing calls sympathy to a cause like intentionally, violently
assaulting innocent individuals (not unlike the Antifa riot in Portland
last weekend that left journalist Andy Ngo with a brain hemorrhage).
This man, with visible injuries, claims he was attacked by rioting bike activists.
Despite the activists’ self-righteous outrage and violence,
Freelander’s and Hightman’s deaths are tragic illustrations of how bike
lanes cannot prevent every single accident and death, particularly when
cyclists themselves don’t obey traffic rules. A reporter from the New
York Villager visited the scene of Hightman’s death a few days
after the accident. He observed, “several cyclists…veering out into car
lanes near the intersection to avoid heavy pedestrian traffic and slower
bicycles, and then turning back into the bike lane midway up the
block.” Cyclists swerve out into traffic in order to maintain their
preferred speed rather than slowing for pedestrians (as required by
law). That, in a word, is unsafe. If they won’t prioritize their own
safety, Vision Zero and all the bike lanes in the world can’t help them.
Activists often point to
confounding factors like cars, trucks, and buses parked illegally in bike
lanes. They point out that some drivers are simply oblivious to bicycles and
sometimes overtly hostile, with dangerous consequences. Those are valid points.
Again, however, the law requires bicycle riders to observe the rules of the
road. If a driver encounters a double-parked car, the solution isn’t to swerve
into the oncoming lane without slowing down. Given their inherent vulnerability
cyclists should be even more cautious. If they encounter a slower rider ahead
of them they have to slow down themselves until it is safe to pass. These are
the rules of the road.
Alas, a drive through most any
downtown core these days involves navigating among a constant scrum of law
breaking velocipedians. As bike lanes and other “bike infrastructure”
proliferate nationwide, attitudes among cyclists have shifted from self
preservation to privilege. Even though they comprise a vanishingly small proportion
of road users (with the exception of few college towns no U.S. city has a
bicycling rate higher than 4%), they wield outsize influence in city planning
offices and even city halls. Groups like New York’s Transportation Alternatives
are extremely well-funded and dominate the narrative over traffic safety. In
their narrative, cyclists are never responsible for their own actions, much
less their own safety.
If someone decides to drive drunk
and ends up crashing into a tree and dying, we don’t blame the tree. Yet in
every single cyclist death the activists blame everyone and everything but the
cyclist, even when that cyclist flouted traffic laws intended to protect them.
A cyclist ignores the protected bike lane and weaves through traffic on Spring Street in downtown L.A.
The fact that riders like Freelander are responsible for their own
accidents doesn’t make it their fault. Even when they’re 100%
responsible, they’re still victims. Victims of an increasingly entitled
and aggressive lobby of bike activists who blame everything on cars and
drivers even when the evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. It’s the
only message young people like Hightman have ever heard. They have
grown up in an era in which American cities collectively added tens of
thousands of miles of bike lanes, routes, and paths, giving riders a
sense of primacy. Cyclists are taught to ride aggressively rather than
cautiously and defensively. The ultimate tragedy is that it’s the bike
activists themselves who lure innocent people to their doom by imbuing
them with a false sense of priority and safety.
The fact of the matter is, choosing
to ride a bicycle is choosing to take certain risks. Cycling on city streets,
particularly major thoroughfares, is an inherently dangerous act, one made
inestimably more dangerous by many cyclists’ own conduct and decisions. When it
comes down to it there’s nothing between a rider’s body and the pavement.
Unless and until the bike activists
are willing to acknowledge so much as a scintilla of these realities people
will continue dying on the streets.
