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.
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.
Brooklyn
The writer is a former assistant managing editor of The Times.
To the Editor:
Re “As Cyclist Deaths Rise, Some Are Calling for Stronger Laws” (news article, Aug. 22):
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.
New York
The writer is a professor of medicine and population health at New York University.
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