Old 02-12-20 | 11:50 AM
  #30  
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UniChris
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Joined: May 2017
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From: Northampton, MA

Bikes: 36" Unicycle, winter knock-around hybrid bike

Originally Posted by mr_bill
Yeah, you are right. It's simply not practical to have an officer at 8th and 26th and another at 7th and 26th and have them stop commerical vehicle operators who travel through that block without stopping at a destination on that block.
Indeed, it is in fact not practical to routinely do that. Given the connectivity is by one way avenues you'd need to monitor a stretch of three blocks. Maybe as a once in a while thing. It's unclear that infrequent stings would have any more effect on driver behavior than they do on cyclist behavior - unless there's a high expectation of getting caught, people tend to keep doing it and categorize any enforcement they do encounter as bad luck and unfair.

Something with cameras might work.

Let's be realistic about what that street is, too: it's a wide (at least without the parking) fairly commercial one-way, not some residential neighborhood with kids playing ball in the street. It's not the kind of place where you would be surprised at all to see commercial vehicles or expect them to be banned.

Much easier to stop people on bikes after a bus operator kills someone on a Citibike. Which is exactly what the NYPD did.
The video of that death is sobering to watch. And the bus drivers was convicted - but mostly of how they were driving.

That said, comparing the possibly passable right side lane position used by the deceased cyclist to the more obstructionist and left side position (similar to official lanes on those streets) used by others who rode through just before is instructive, too.

And wearing headphones while riding is illegal and unsafe - no, a cyclist does not have to yield to an overtaking bus as the driver's lawyer absurdly tried to propose in a failed argument, but in practice, hearing that someone is about to run you down when entering a chokepoint is probably useful compared to riding along unaware of your surroundings.

Also worth noting the contribution of the parked van - although it is not in a bike lane and by all appearances parked legally, it's a good illustration of why blocking them is so dangerous.

Last edited by UniChris; 02-12-20 at 01:00 PM.
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