Essex

As Fissile and Vol have mentioned - parts of NYC must be ridden with caution. And I agree that the Brooklyn Bridge roadway is a MOST dangerous place to ride a bike. I rarely ride the area until cold weather reduces tourist numbers and other roadway hazards.

I think the Press knows how to generate more news. The wife of a CBS executive (media) will probably result in more news coverage vs. someone less affluent/mainstream. The resulting litigation will also create news buzz.

dynodonn 

Motor vehicles are greater dangers on our public streets and roadways, but pedestrian deaths caused by a motor vehicle collision has become so common place that the news media has become rather apathetic about them.

dynodonn 

......and paint an even more biased picture of cyclists, while letting the real danger to pedestrians to be figuratively swept under the rug.

no motor?

Has there been any mention of security camera footage? Those cameras are so common these days, did one record this accident?

I-Like-To-Bike

What "crime"; what "investigation" of a crime; the cyclist has not even received a traffic ticket let alone been informed that he is a subject of a crime investigation.

What is or is not evidence of a crime when no charges have been made for any crime? Just so much legal speculation; what about cyclists who use video cameras when riding, are they ever allowed to erase the recordings after any street side encounter with anybody? How does the cyclist know if somebody might want to use the video in some sort of "investigation"?

I-Like-To-Bike

Question for all the pseudo/jail house lawyers on BF:
Is every security camera that could possibly have taken footage of the area now locked down until any/every possible investigation of any crime complete?

vol

New York Times today:

Earlier in the day, zooming cyclists shared the road with horse-drawn carriages and women pushing jogging strollers.

Some pedestrians crossed against the light, and joggers ran in a bicycle lane, prompting one cyclist to yell, “What are you doing?”

......
Some say the danger from bicyclists in the city has never been greater. Commuters on Citi Bikes run red lights on the same roads where cyclists ride against the flow of traffic and race, they say.

“I’m turning to the right, I’m turning to the left, I don’t know where they’re going to come at me,” said Bunny Abraham of the Upper West Side, who has called for new rules that would require riders to have licenses. “They feel as if they own the city,” she said. "They feel as if they own the roads. And you cannot touch them.”


Considering the lives lost to taxis and other vehicles, the outrage at cyclists in general seems totally disproportional.

Coal Buster

It's called common sense. If I erase the dash camera on my car after I have a fatal accident, that's suspicious. If I erase the dash camera on my car after a bank robber drives by of which I had no idea or involvement, that's unfortunate.

I-Like-To-Bike

"Suspicious" activity is NOT a crime, nor is it evidence of guilt, nor that a crime was committed.

Essex

Very true. The interesting bit is that there is very little accountability on the peds., or tourists getting a free pass when ignoring posted signs. Or using common sense. It is never any kind of a surprise to see peds. walking in the middle of the roadway @ Central Park with nary a care in the world while cyclist, runners and others dodge around them.

Essex

Points to a trend. Spoliation of evidence.

vol

The "zooming cyclists" are the most visible and intimidating for the pedestrians, and sort of represent all cyclists in general for them. They don't notice bicyclists like me.

vol

More prominance revealed:

"Tarlov, a former 1010 WINS employee whose husband is CBS Television Stations Senior Vice President of Finance Mike Wittman."
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/09/19/former-1010-wins-employee-remains-in-critical-condition-after-accident-with-cyclist-in-central-park/

Never mind the word "former"

keyven

I've no doubt if a guy on a kick scooter killed a relative of a somewhat high profile figure, it would also get more attention than most random fatal car accidents.

I-Like-To-Bike

This "evidence" points to a trend; cyclist must have committed some sort of crime, eh?

UnfilteredDregs

This is the infuriating part...it's bull**** that the "authorities," allow this. If you're going to create a shared use facility then enforce accordingly.

Jaywalking is a HUGE problem.

kickstart

If that "outrage" is based on incidents one has actually experienced themselves, its Probably because its a more personal face to face encounter.

JoeyBike

I call this the "Disneyland Effect". People on vacation in tourist areas (I live in New Orleans - I am an expert) act as if they are strolling around in a theme park. Their brains do not tell them that the road they are standing in the middle of has LIVE TRAFFIC full of locals going about their DAILY BUSINESS just like the Downtown area of wherever the Hell they came from.

That being said, I have spent a little time in NYC (20 years ago). I don't know if this has changed but the only people stopping at Don't-Walk traffic signals on Manhattan Island WERE the tourists! If I had stopped to wait for a WALK signal I would be trampled if the coast was clear to go. Pretty much the same in NOLA, except that everybody on foot here is clueless, in a fog, or looking down at a glowing box in their hand and not where they are going.

JoeyBike

Motorist, cyclist, pedestrian, it does not matter. If you don't keep your head on a swivel when you step into a live roadway and LOOK AROUND all of the expectations in the world won't help you. Other people screw up all of the time. It is exactly the EXPECTATION of others yielding that pretty much causes 99% of accidents on the roadway. The other 1% is from loss of control of the vehicle.

When I am standing on a curb with intentions of stepping off of it onto a live roadway, my expectation is that all of the other road users are distracted idiots. I'm the one who still has all of my skin in proper configuration. Not the ones who expect the rest of the world will never mess up.

asmac

I agree and make the same point with my 20-ish children in other areas. Assault of any sort is wrong but people do wrong things and we have a responsibility to protect oûrselves -- it's self preservation, not fault finding.

spare_wheel

So when a kid is run over and killed are you going to give the family a darwin award?

JameB

I love how you guys are blaming the victim/cyclist without any idea of what actually happened.

All we know for certain is the lady's brain dead. Everything else is rumours...

spare_wheel

Only from the perspective of someone who views driving as a god-given right. Jaywalkers don't kill people, but motorists kill almost 5,000 a year. If USAnians drove with a modicum of caution the rate of pedestrian fatalities would plummet (see europe). Pedestrians should always have right of way and motorists should respect this right of way.

Avoiding killing a jaywalker, is for the most part, not rocket science. Speed kills. Lack of attention kills. If someone is driving in a manner that increases risk to pedestrians they should slow the @#$% down and wake the @#$% up. The narcissistic convenience of mindless and fast motoring is not worth a human life. And all of the above applies to strava addicts cycling in city parks.

After two fatalities in two months, I think there is a good case to be made for banning cyclists from central park.

spare_wheel

A cyclist slammed into a pedestrian and killed them. That is not a rumor.

JameB

That's exactly what I said.