WhyFi

I think that commuting in NYC daily for years has given me better perspective than reading a blog ever will. The most significant systemic problem, by far, is of the human variety - get together any reasonable sample of people and there will be idiots contained within.

3alarmer 

...predictably: Bike Snob NYC

Campag4life

Now that is funny if not ironic. You just indicted the whole human race. In case you haven't noticed, yes humanity can be rather sad. Best never leave home...even then someone can break in.

Velo Vol 

Except here.

UnfilteredDregs

Incidents like this always lead to the cyclist versus pedestrian versus car debates...and it goes round and round and round. That's a useless discussion.

Reality is the laws were written for motor vehicles, the infrastructure is designed for motor vehicles, cycling infrastructure in many instances is tacked on like a bandage, and pedestrians behave like random hordes of wildebeest .

The bike commuting crowd has jumped up significantly in NYC in just the last year as well, on the order of 20% unless I'm mistaken.

Cycling needs to be holistically incorporated within the transportation infrastructure.

indyfabz

Actually, I just rode my bike home from northeast Ohio last week. Nine days on the road fully loaded. Bad hehavior doesn't stop me from getting out there and doing things.

And, BTW, the only time my house was burglarized I was home.

Campag4life

I have just given you that assignment. You are welcome to post a link to your Powerpoint if you want any input on your rough draft.

Campag4life

It would have had we never read your post.

UnfilteredDregs

There's plenty of canned articles on quite a few European cities that have already accomplished such...and I hate Powerpoint!

AristoNYC

This is a terrible incident on many levels.
First obviously, someone got hurt (possibly fatally). Second, it puts a bad image on a healthy sport.
To be a bit biased and defend bikers I will bring up these points:

Way too often am I riding and have people just walk out in front of me, and I don't mean in the pedestrian walk ways, I mean from behind parked cars, trees, or objects that give me little to no response time to stop. And while I think its terrible that the person got hurt, it was an adult with a proper thought process. What greatly concerns and upsets me is when I have children running around on the bike path I ride, where are the parents? I've almost hit a child because the idiot parents either couldn't care less about their children safety, or they are just too stupid to understand that I can kill a child going 30 mph on a bike.

People who walk entirely across the bike path (don't even think about biking on the Brooklyn Bridge) without a care in the world.

The Hudson Greenway has two separate sections, one for biking & rollerblading, and then an isolated portion right on the water for pedestrians and runners. While Riding south on the Hudson Greenway bike path I move to the edge of my lane to pass two bikers riding double wide. When I get to the edge to pass them I have a woman running in the middle of the lane between north and south traffic. I signal for her to move since I didn't want to hit her, her response was to give me the finger and keep staying her course. I had options, cut left and hit oncoming traffic and her, cut right and hit the two people I wanted to pass or slam on by brakes and then cut back right and hope there was no one there. I honestly wanted to stick my elbow out and hit this woman in the head.

Long story short,
Both reckless bikers and careless pedestrians are a big problem with cycling in the city. It unfortunately can lead to situations like this. I'm running out of places to safely ride. I work 12 hour shifts and want a place where I can do a quick ride so going over the GWB is not a feasible option.

WhyFi

The biggest thing that NYC needs, and that those European cities benefited from, is time. I think (hope?) that the critical mass necessary (to ensure progress continues) is already there, despite the loud protestations every time a bike lane is assigned where a car might otherwise park or drive.

bruce19

I know this all too well having grown up across the GWB from the Big Apple.

merlinextraligh

I agree with Datlas, but I didn't think he needed to soften it with the "hindsight's 20-20" qualifier.

mystang52

Local news just reported that the cyclist will "probably not see jail time." Don't know if that's pure conjecture or based on reliable inside info. They also noted that NYC police were doing a major crackdown/enforcement in Central Park today, ticketing cyclists for riding with headphones, going thru red lights, etc.

Doohickie

He had enough time to yell at her to get out of the way, but not enough time to hit the brakes or veer? Probably reckless.

UnfilteredDregs

Yup, it's a damned shame that growing pains require grievous injury and fatalities. Humans are such a senselessly lazy organism.

3alarmer 

...if you read a slightly more informative report, it appears that, as in the unfortunate crosswalk fatality in San Francisco, there were other pedestrians involved.

Cyclosaurus

in NYC, Out of 134 pedestrian fatalities in 2013, 9 were charged with homicide, with 5 of those coming because they were driving under the influence. "Only once in 2013 was a sober driver charged with homicide for killing a pedestrian or cyclist in a crash that did not involve a personal dispute or fleeing police."

It would seem if the cyclist is handled consistent with how drivers are treated by the justice system, they won't charge him.

I'm all for more criminal consequences for killing pedestrians, whether by car or bike. As long as they are applied with consistent standards.

on the path

Makes me think back many years ago to when in NYC, as a pedestrian, I was hit by a cyclists. I was in a crosswalk with the light in my favor. The guy yelled at me at said I should watch where I was going. Re-injured a broken leg of a few months previous.

I think the majority of us cyclists, if only out of self preservation, are respectful and safety conscious. Sure are some dicks out there who make it harder for the rest of us..

Campag4life

There are no consistent standards because sometimes both parties are complicit. In this case it may in fact be negligence with both bike rider and pedestrian. To me riding on aero bars with no braking fast in a populated area is irresponsible. So you can't extrapolate from statistics or if you do only broadly. Each case is different.

Nachoman

Last night's burrito.

Doohickie

Still going too fast for conditions. Reckless.

Riding on aerobars without ready access to brakes. Reckless.

Cyclosaurus

I'm not sure what your point is here. The statistics tell the tale of what the standards are, namely, that killing someone with your car because of distraction, negligence, or ordinary recklessness (speeding, running lights, etc) is not an offense that is prosecuted. If the cyclist is not charged either, then it seems the de facto standard is applied consistently. If the cyclist is charged, then it seems inconsistent, because it's not really credible to think that all of the drivers who killed someone but weren't charged acted more responsibly.

Just because the facts differ doesn't mean you can't have consistent standards. It's sorta the purpose of having a justice system.

Brian Ratliff

It's entertaining that people are passing judgement based on a tabloid article with, like, three sketchy details. Good Friday fodder, I suppose...

Bathwater

Nah, I'm not in NYC. I'd love to train with him or Renzo, though.