Stacy

[QUOTE=tomg;5424448]Sometime back a cyclist trying to do away with Fairway trucks parked in the bike lane under the Riverside Ddrive Viaduct gave me a card that reads "NYS Law S4-08(e) states that a bike lane is a "No Stopping Zone"" and goes on aksing cyclists to contact Sgt Ellis at the 26th precinct.

Maybe there's a sympathetic sergeant in the 10th Precinct who would be willing to help this law get enforced?

Izengabe

Hopefully the new ad campaign that Bloomberg is starting in NYC will help. I think a lot of drivers are just unaware of the danger they can cause by stopping in a bike lane. If the city can help educate drivers and make them more aware of cyclists hopefully we can cut down on accidents in the city.

Recumbomatic

And hopefully, after construction is done, a motor vehicle in the bike lane will stick out like a sore thumb.

Air

Trucks won't care - there needs to be a way for them not to get in there in the first place. And if it's that easy then it will be easy for a drunk driver to barrel down one too (yeah, reversed of what I said before).

Air

Maybe these guys will help give out some tickets

Stacy

I was in the neighborhood so I decided to give it a try. Between 23rd and 16th Street there were three vehicles in the bike lane. One was a cab dropping off a fare. As it is now, the only advantage over traditionnal bike lanes is that you don't have to worry about cars to your right as you manoeuver around stopped cars, but cars making a left turn seem to come into the intersection faster and seem to be less aware of bikes in the bikelane. All in all, it's better than, say, the Fifth Avenue bike lane though I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to use it. Let's hope it's better once it's completed.

blacknyc

is that a bag of dunken donuts in that cop hand?

and i think its safer to ride in traffic if its goin to be like this.......jk..

Air

The worrisome part is that if cars are using it as a drop off/loading area and then they put in a planting area you won't even be able to bike down it.

blacknyc

ya.. the plant thing looks nice , but i dont think its practical

Air

Another video about it - includes some new lights to stop cars from turning directly into a bicyclist, pretty cool. Bigger problem is still cars and trucks parking in them though.

Stacy

Yeah the lights look great but the lane really needs some bollards in the middle to keep cars and trucks out

Air

Completely agree.

Lucky07

I'd ditch anything but very low shrubs or ground cover. Have you ever biked down the Westside Greenway near Battery Park?

They have shrubs that block the view of the bike lane. So if you're a car taking a left hand turn, you can't see a bike coming until you're almost in it's path. That's assuming if the driver is even looking. I've almost been creamed on that path when a driver took that left not even bothering to look for pedestrians or bikes.

sukram

Good point. Hopefully the bike signals and the left turn corral are effective in keeping the risk down.

So, how do we get something nice like this on the East Side (would be nice on 1st and 2nd), and a few cross streets through midtown?

Air

Write to the council, tell them how much you appreciate this and would love to see it all over. Cause you know the auto people are sending in thousands complaining that they've taken away their lanes of traffic.

sukram

Defintely... and the DOT as well.

NewYorkMantle

i prefer no bike lane; i feel fastest and safest hugging the lines.