Queens Boulevard Needs Better Barriers to Protect Cyclists From Idiots Like This Guy

In a matter of months, Department of Design and Construction crews are supposed to start cutting up Queens Boulevard to build out the new bikeway and pedestrian improvements in permanent materials.

Before they do, DOT should update its design to fortify the bike lane and protect people from reckless drivers like the one here.

In this clip caught by Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson Jr., a truck driver backs down the bike lane near Albion Avenue in Elmhurst, putting people at serious risk in the process.

Clarence said the truck driver flattened the plastic flex-posts that delineate the bike lane along the way.

As much as the Queens Boulevard bike lane has reduced crashes and injuries (which is a lot), it's not perfect. Incursions into bike lane aren't rare. Local car dealers have been known to use it to store inventory.

But DOT's design for the Queens Boulevard capital project calls for placing the bike lane on a mountable curb, which would do little to prevent incidents like this trucker chugging down the bike lane in a massive oversized vehicle. Work is scheduled to begin next year, according to DOT.

There are better ways to keep drivers out of the Queens Boulevard bike lanes. The bike lane could be protected by a full vertical curb, for instance, like on Allen Street in Manhattan.

However DOT chooses to do it, keeping cyclists safe from idiots like this guy demands more than a mountable curb.