Worst City for Cyclists -- Babylon, NY?
 

Bicycling Magazine's article last month surprised me a little. I've been among the hundreds of cyclists to start the Montauk Century from Babylon on a few occasions. I've ridden through Babylon on my way to Eastern LI many times. It never felt like a cyclist haven but I never had any run-ins either.

Nassau County on the other hand is like running the gauntlet as far as I'm concerned. I'm always happy when I get through it. Babylon always felt to me like the gateway to better biking points east. But I just pass through so maybe I haven't paid enough attention.

Part of the reason, as far as I recall, is there have been a LOT of cyclists killed in Suffolk the past few years, which given the rural-ness of a good bit of the eastern part of the county, makes it a oddity. One killed and one injured in the past few days alone. This seemingly happens much more often in Suffolk then Nassau.

I guess this makes sense if the numbers of cyclists in Suffolk are a lot greater, which I imagine they are. And there's a big difference between western Suffolk County and eastern. The article made me start to reconsider my usual route. A few times a year, I leave Brooklyn on a Saturday morning at the crack of dawn, find my way to Merrick Rd/Montauk Hwy and just head east, usually ending up in Orient Point and taking the ferry to New London.

I've found that traffic is very light in Nassau early weekend mornings so I'm done with it and in Babylon by 10:00 or so. This past summer however, I was riding with my wife and a friend and we had a scary incident. Somewhere in eastern Nassau County, we heard loud screeching tires right behind us in the shoulder. A young guy (probably texting) had drifted toward us and was shocked to find his car bearing down on three bikes on an early Saturday morning. We had to pull over and calm our nerves before continuing.

I know this can happen anywhere -- and does. But seeing the article, it make me think about other routes.

A lot of the cyclist accidents happen early morning / evening involving people w/o cars commuting to their jobs. Better bike lanes in crowded areas would help, but probably will be made of unobtanium.

Another one on Sat 10/25 at 3:50. Somebody with no ID hit by a women in a Hyundai in Patchogue.

It could at this point be described as carnage.

Just heard on the radio that accidents involving cyclists are up 16% nation wide. 70% are not wearing helmets and 25% are legally drunk.