Ferdinand, talk to somebody who’s into fitness training about what I wrote, or maybe if you have any cycling professionals among your friends talk to them. I’m neither, but I’ve learned a lot on the technical side. I also find it hard believing you’ve ridden 117 miles and stopped for every light unless most of the ride was outside of city limits. 117 miles in NYC stopping for every light easily means 1000 stops. No human being can do that, not even Bradley Wiggens. Point of fact, my longest ride ever was 60 miles. The most in one day was 70 miles, but that was broken into an afternoon and evening ride. Now I can barely manage 35 or 40 miles (that’s without stopping unless something is physically in my way). Stopping for every light, I’d be lucky to go 5 miles.

There’s lots of places in my area where I can go 20 mph and more. In fact, I’ve even hit 55 mph on some downgrades when conditions were perfect (and 65 mph once in NJ). I just make sure to ride at times and in places where traffic is at a minimum. I wouldn’t be caught dead riding in or near Manhattan unless traffic levels declined to about 10% of what they are, so it affects me not at all if that infrastructure is removed. In fact, I’m sure you’ll disagree with me, but as far as I’m concerned the golden age for cycling in NYC was probably from the late 1970s when adult riding started becoming mainstream until maybe the late 1990s. Things got worse once Guiliani’s quality of life initiatives went from arresting squeegee men to giving out tickets for public drinking, sidewalk riding (I got one of those in 1999), and other laws which hadn’t been enforced ever. He even briefly tried jaywalking tickets, but that fortunately didn’t last. Bloomberg more or less continued this policy. To add to that, traffic levels got MUCH worse, to the point I could no longer ride in my neighborhood except after about 9 PM.

It used to be you could do anything on a bike, even right in front police, and they just didn’t care. Now you’ll get a ticket for not having a bell. Once I had to start watching for police, the stress level of riding went way up. In fact, I barely rode at all for a long time after getting that ticket. I’ve only gotten back into riding in the last few years. If I ever get another ticket, I’m done for good with riding.

Sorry, if this is the price to pay for having infrastructure, 95% of which is substandard death traps like those protected lanes in Manhattan, you can keep the infrastructure. I can ride faster and safer in the street. If we’re really concerned about cyclists running red lights, we’ll do as I’ve said many times and make a network of bicycle highways, grade-separated if need be, which is comprehensive enough so one can do most of their journey off regular streets. If we had that, I’m more than willing and able to stop at the 2 or 3 red lights I might encounter getting to/from these bike highways. Right now most of what JSK and Bloomberg have built does nothing to make cycling safer or any faster. The biggest plus is there are a lot more connections than before. I doubt those will go away in the next administration simply because they’re concrete, not thermoplast. As far as Eastern Queens goes, the only thing useful here would be things similar to what exist along the Belt Parkway, or just getting rid of as many traffic lights as possible on regular streets.

As for scofflaw cyclists, you do realize the majority of ones people in neighborhoods like yours complain about are delivery people who have an economic incentive to ride the way they do. You think these guys care about some sort of social contract to obey laws in order to keep the bike lanes? Not a chance when it’ll cost them in tips. Until we fix that somehow, preferably by making these delivery people hourly employees, nothing you or I can do will make a dent in the way the public perceives cyclists. Your position of reciprocating infrastructure with better behavior is very noble without a doubt. I just somehow don’t think the city is going to suddenly lose infrastructure they spent many millions on in the next administration just because a minority of mostly wealthy city residents with no real problems in life complain about bikes. I feel now that bike share is coming, the lanes will stay. NYC makes a lot of money on tourism. If the word gets out tourists don’t have safe bike lanes, or they’re getting ticketed en masse, they’ll spend their tourism dollars elsewhere. Certainly other cities will compete if NYC drops the ball. NYC isn’t in a vaccum. This revival of cycling is a national thing. You really think a few wannabee tinpot dictators here are going to stop it? In fact, I plan to do my part in this election and send some letters making it clear to Quinn et al that if their stance on bicycles, especially e-bikes, continues they’re not getting my vote.

“What is certainly possible is to stop at every light if you keep your acceleration to what one might call a “more reasonable” level for urban riding.”

And then instead of hitting a light every 3 or 4 blocks you hit a light every 2 blocks. Yes, less effort per acceleration but twice as many accelerations. It still doesn’t work. And no, if cycling levels here reached “Amsterdam” levels, I would just do what I already do to avoid traffic-ride light nights. Cycling in traffic sucks regardless of whether you’re dealing with car traffic or bike traffic. Besides that, I would hope if the city had properly designed cycling infrastructure there would be room for faster cyclists to pass slower ones. If not, everyone moves at the speed of the slowest cyclist.

You need to realize there’s worlds of difference from the cyclists who might be going few miles within Manhattan to those who are riding much longer distances, either just for exercise, or because they’re commuting from the outer boroughs. 10 or 15 mph doesn’t work when you’re covering 10+ miles. Neither does stopping for every red light. The city needs to get on the ball and make more off-street bike paths if this cycling thing is ever to really take off. I might even consider riding into Manhattan during busier times if we had bike highways of a sort to get me there. Now such a trip would take well over an hour easily instead of the 30 minutes or less it might take me with proper infrastructure.

That’s funny, I thought the threat to pedestrians was the speeding motor vehicles that kill and maim them…

So right! I only became a bike-hater after years of “widespread law-breaking on the part of bicyclists.” I have had so many near misses it’s outrageous. I have also witnessed the most reckless behavior from bike riders and have seen the serious injuries sustained by pedestrians when bikes zoom into them.

Where is the evidence that “countless people are struck everyday by bicyclists”? Given that motor vehicles kill hundreds and injure over 10,000 every year in NYC, I think you have made quite a claim when you say that bicycles are the problem. Now is the time to back up your statements with proof.

As Ian Turner mentioned above, show me the statistics. I want to see the huge numbers of pedestrians killed and injured at the hands of cyclists. I don’t give a flying you know what about meaningless anecdotal evidence or hyperbole. I’ve seen people call a bike passing 5 feet away a “near miss”. And I’ve seen more than my share of people cross the street or wander into bike lanes with their heads buried in their gadgets. Just ask any pedestrian what they think? I’m often a pedestrian. I’ve never been hit by a bike (or a car). Then again, I got into a good habit years ago of looking both ways before crossing the street, regardless of where I’m crossing, and regardless of the color of the light. I suggest you try it. I look when I bike, also, and as a result I’ve never hit anybody doing that, either. Sorry, color me really UNIMPRESSED by your idiotic claims.

Sorry, but I don’t buy the sensationalist crap I read in the papers because it doesn’t mesh with my experience. Wow, so some small minority of rich people in well-heeled neighborhoods who have no real problems in life were “almost hit by bicycles”, whatever that means, and then run to complain about it to the local papers, or at community board meetings. You don’t hear this kind of garbage coming from working class neighborhoods. Also, most of the neighborhoods where the complaining comes from are full of delivery cyclists. Perhaps if they really cause the mayhem people say, I might suggest people start picking up their own food.

I have been riding a bike since I was 6, early on I discovered many things about NYC that other kids never discovered. That is the joy of cycling, its a freedom I grew up with, before bike lanes or smooth roads for that matter. So I learned many things about NYC, one is how to ride defensively (I assume no one sees me), Cycling is new to New York again but it always been there and always will be here. Bike lane or no Bike lane.

So if you want a civilized Cyclist on the road you must educated them when they are young, and build them bike lanes to explore.

Show me pictures or it didn’t happen. And while we’re at it show me the statistics for pedestrians hurt or killed by cyclists. I’ve been walking in the city for decades and never once got hit by a bike, or even almost hit. Then again, I look where I’m going.

And please get over this fucking fixation with bicycles not obeying traffic laws. Nobody in this city obeys traffic laws, and frankly obeying the laws has zip to do with safety. Everyone needs to look out for everyone else, period.

A taxi nearly ran me off the road yesterday but you don’t hear me bitching about it.

Also, you seem like an asshole so I’d probably tell you to fuck off too.

I have lived in New York my entire life and I can count on one hand the number of times I have been almost hit by a car. The difference is I do not worry about cars going the wrong way on streets or driving on sidewalks like bikes do.

Are some drivers jerks? Absolutely. I do not see how one group being wrong allows another group to also break the law.

I have no problem with bikes in general – In fact I ride a bike and so do my kids. But I follow the traffic laws and I have taught them to do the same.

My son actually yelled “Stop in the name of law” – not because I am in the habit of screaming at bikes but because he was 6 and was into being a policeman at the time. He also held up his hand to stop cars constantly and tried to arrest some pigeons.

Think of it this way: How mad do you get when a car drives or parks in the bike lane? Annoyed at least I would guess because bike lanes are for bikes, right? The sidewalk is the pedestrian version of a bike lane – it is for walking. It is the same thing. And it makes me angry when bikes ride on it and put myself and my family at risk.

Why is that unreasonable?

Do cars kill more people than bikes? Sure. But why is that the standard? Why does that even matter? French fries kill more people than than guns, should we stop trying to reduce gun related deaths because it isn’t as many as caused by fried food?

That is just stupid.

Please just follow the law that is all I ask.

I guess you don’t consider turning cars coming within inches of you in a crosswalk being almost hit then. Either that or you never cross the street, because it’s an everyday occurance in Manhattan.

It is usually within feet of me not inches and it is not a daily occurrence and I walk everywhere in Manhattan, miles a day. I am careful and look for turning cars. I also try to walk against traffic with my kids so that cars turn from in front of me not behind.

But again I do not understand this argument. I do want cars to be safer – not speed, give right of way etc. But I also want bikes to behave more responsibly too. Just because they do not cause the most injuries (and they do hit a lot of pedestrians look at the Hunter College study) it does not mean they should operate with impunity. I have never been hit by a car but I was hit by a bike and knocked down ( He hit me from behind as I walked down the sidewalk so looking where I was going would not have helped btw).

His excuse was that he was only going a short distance, as if whether he was going 10 feet or 10 miles made any difference

What does make a difference is speed and attitude—somebody cycling at a bit more than walking pace and keeping a sharp eye out won’t ram into you, no matter how oblivious you are—and “only a short distance” makes the cost of doing so much less onerous.

Even a hard-core balls-to-the-wall speed-demon like Joe R. can go slowly for short distances, I think… :]

So I think distance does make a difference, at least if the cyclist is sane, which may not always be the case…

“Even a hard-core balls-to-the-wall speed-demon like Joe R. can go slowly for short distances, I think… :]”

And I regularly do, whenever the situation calls for it. 🙂

I occasionally encounter some irrationally (or at least undeservedly) annoyed pedestrians and I don’t assume that they are crazy anti-bike lunatics, just regular uncontentious lunatics.

I think my favorite one was the guy who stepped out into the bike lane without looking, who I then passed with about 18 inches to spare. He started yelling at me to “come back here”.

A moral monstrosity? Absolutely!

Here is my top five moral monstrosities:

1) Genocide
2) State sanctioned rape of women and children
3) Allowing people to starve to death despite having plenty of food
4) Complaining about bikes

5) Medical testing on prisoners

Dude you seriously can not be this thick.

I never said bikes were as bad as cars in terms of death and injury. I never made that comparison.

All I said was I want to be able to walk without being hit or menaced by people riding bikes on the sidewalk, riding the wrong way down streets and blowing red lights while weaving between passengers.

Is that really too much to ask?

I really don’t get it.

If someone hits me or my son with a bike am I supposed to thank them for being an asshole on a bike instead of an asshole in a car? Seriously?

It is attitudes like yours that make people hate bikes.

To I’m walking here:
Bicyclists are hyper aware and hyper vigilant when they are riding. They have to be in order to avoid injuring themselves. Bicyclists pay attention 100% to pedestrians, motorists and street conditions. However, they need pedestrians like yourself to do your part. Bicyclists pay attention fully but need pedestrians to at least pay a little attention and to be predictable. If you are having a high degree of conflicts with bicyclists, then look at your own behavior.
Bicyclists are not self absorbed because they can not afford to be. They are extremely vulnerable and consequently they pay attention to everything in their path and seek to avoid collisions out of self-preservation. Perhaps you and your son could do more to share the road properly and to enable bicyclists to better avoid you.

So the city is getting more dangerous for pedestrians – the ones most likely to die and get injured.

Proof of the transparent dishonesty here: as has been pointed out to you over and over, pedestrians are essentially never killed by bikes. And there are no statistics on pedestrian injuries by bikes–though the police department is supposed to report them. So those statistics can’t even be argued over.

And then there’s the irony of claiming the city isn’t doing anything in an article that’s headed by a media attack on the city for . . . *doing something* about bikes (and pedestrians!) who break the law.

Hundreds of innocent people die in this city every year at the hands of scofflaw drivers, and the NYPD and the DA’s can’t be bothered to do anything about it, and we as a society are too apathetic to persuade them to take it seriously.

But now we’re supposed to be seriously worried about unsafe bicycles?

Yes, I would describe that attitude as a moral monstrosity.

The problem is bicyclists, and it isn’t motorists. It is this stupid attitude that we seem to be born with in the US that leads us to believe that whatever “I WANT AT THE MOMENT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW”. I just moved back to the States after living in Germany for a few years and that attitude seemed to not be a part of their culture at all. Also, in France and in the Netherlands. There cars actually stop at cross walks with no signs to let pedestrians (and sometimes cyclists) through. Cyclists all have bells (required by law) and signal to alert pedestrians that they are coming. Pedestrians typically do not jaywalk. Here, in America, we are all in a hurry and act like we and our desires are the center of the universe. I think we have issues as a culture.