Eyes on the Street: Biking the Beat

On Sixth Avenue... at 28th street or so, around 10:20 a.m. I came upon an NYPD officer biking his beat. It was thrilling and immediately brought both a smile and sense of calm to my commute. Not only was this officer getting a sense of frustrations and dangers every biker feels in nyc, he was in a position to change it. When a cabbie had inched across the intersection at 29th street and was then about to block the crosswalk... from his bike... he yelled to the driver "you're heading north now." It forced the driver to go uptown rather than cram into pedestrians who now had the walk signal. Then at the next intersection, as I had to swerve into traffic because cars were waiting in front of the hotel at 30th street, he stayed in the bike lane and cleared out each blocking vehicle.

I snapped this pic of him as he cruised up Sixth, between 35th and 36th, and wish I had a chance to give him a handshake and thank you. Without a doubt it was a surprise to see. Not only did it make me as a rider feel safer... I think it helped pedestrians immensely. Every morning, you cross the street and have to squeeze around or between cars that block the box and cause tie-ups in every direction. This officer didn't need his gun, handcuffs, or a squad car... all he needed was two wheels to make the street safer.