vol

’3 Way Street’: Artist video tracks scary traffic

Wow, I didn't know was so close to a fatal accident many times in Manhattan!

Are any of you the cyclists in the video?

May I add that, although this may seem "normal" for Manhattan, each time you survived it without any accident, you think this is nothing to be worried about. But there is always a chance that one day you will have a bad luck and can't go home as you always had... then you may think, in retrospective, that having known such chaotic traffic, you should have avoided it.

P.S. See how many readers' comments are blaming the bicyclists.

ratdog

This is normal behavior for a lot of bikers, pedestrians and drivers in Manhattan. But what I am seeing a lot more of these days are pedestrians crossing the street when is is not their light a leisurely paces in front of oncoming traffic moving at 30 mph. They don't even run across anymore. They just dare you to hit them.

Papa Tom

Very interesting, but maybe a little misleading. If you've ever watched a massive swarms of ants from above, the activity looks very much the same; yet there is rarely - if ever - a fatal or serious collision between two of them. I think what the video is missing is the level of communication on the street that involves eye contact, hand motions, and just plain intuition.

I'm not saying it isn't dangerous out there, but let's give ourselves a little more credit for our survival mechanisms.

Good video. Thanks for posting it.

WhyFi

^^^ Yeah, I saw this video a few days ago, and the (virtual) audience was notably non-NYCers. Yes, there are a couple of cyclists in the video that are just plain stupid, but the comments were really alarmist. There were a ton of posts before anyone (me) pointed out that, for all of the 'mayhem,' there weren't any accidents in the video. At the end of the day, I'd be willing to bet that the per capita number of accidents compares favorably with Smalltown, USA.

Dahon.Steve

I think alot of those cyclists put themselves in bad situations. Did you notice a number of them going the wrong way? How may of them were breaking lights.

Lucky07

Clearly, some people in that video are doing whatever they want, but I'd bet the street level view would be vastly different. The timing of traffic lights sometimes forces cars, bikes and pedestrians to be in the crosswalk at the same time. Whose fault is that? Nothing you can do in that situation but watch out for each other.

jyossarian

No one mentioned the U-turning truck that backed up into traffic? Or the intrusions by cars into crosswalks? Sure there's some bonehead cyclists going the wrong way on a two-way street, but it's also edited to keep jaywalking to a minimum when in reality, it's a constant activity. And from rooftop level, it might look like close calls, but at street level, the speeds and distances aren't as bad as they're made out to be.

zowie

All I see is the same traffic behavior, or lack thereof, that I see every day in midtown.

vol

I agree that the view from the street can be less scary, and that the skillful NYC bicyclists and pedestrians do survive this normal scene every day in Manhattan. However, riding in this kind of traffic day in and day out is too nerve-racking and defeats the reason to cycle or walk for health (at least for me)!

Just surviving is not the purpose, enjoying the ride and feeling healthy is. (Someone may think getting to the movie theater in time is the purpose )