Thursday’s Headlines: Motopsycho Nightmare Edition

The big story yesterday was not only a fatal crash involving an illegal motorbike and a hulking SUV, but the news, broken by Streetsblog, that state Attorney General Letitia James will finally get involved by issuing a warning to consumers about the dangers of super-fast motorbikes.

It doesn’t sound like much — a consumer alert — but it could make a huge difference in informing parents that the e-motos that are marketed to kids as e-bikes are not only illegal, but go much faster than normal electric bikes. Part of the reason that New Jersey passed its strict anti-e-bike law last year was that parents were buying illegal e-motos online only to find out that this ain’t granddaddy’s electric bike.

As Sophia Lebowitz reports, James was not only motivated by the death of 17-year-old Gabriel Nacato (covered by Streetsblog, Gothamist, amNY, NYDN), but also a rally by activists and several pols demanding that James take action.

This is all well and good, but lest we forget, the North Star of any true Vision Zero approach to road safety is redesigning the streets so that the safest modes (walking, biking, transit) are encouraged and the most-dangerous modes (driving) are not only discouraged, but also have their dangers mitigated.

That’s done by redesigning streets for safety — bike lanes, wider sidewalks, pedestrianization — but also by taking space away from car drivers. Sure, it remains the third wheel of New York City politics to even mention that space for cars needs to be reduced, but here’s a fact: it does. Yesterday’s crash never would have happened if Lower Manhattan was mostly pedestrianized.

That’s not just our idea. We got it from a guy who once ran for mayor … and won.

“With congestion pricing finally operational and quickly proving an overwhelming success, we have an opportunity to transform large amounts of public space,” then-Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani once told us. “I would focus on pedestrianization … particularly for high foot traffic areas in and around Times Square and the entire Financial District.”

In other news:

• A man on a stand-up scooter was killed in Dyker Heights. (Brooklyn Eagle)
• The MTA will fix some subway bottlenecks with better interlocking. (Gothamist, amNY)
• People don’t like the LIRR’s new ticketing strategy. (Newsday)
• Meera Joshi’s hope for a Green-Wood greenway is getting some money behind it. (The Brooklyn Paper)
• Glen Hansard, of “Once” and The Frames fame, died in a motorcycle crash in Ireland. (NY Times, NY Post)
• The Janno-Zohran lovefest ended quickly. (NY Post)
• The MTA has settled a longstanding suit by the disabled community thanks to better elevators. (The City Reporter, Gothamist)
• I said it nearly 20 years ago and I keep saying it, albeit regrettably: The Plus Pool will never happen. (Gothamist)
• Kleptocracy alert: The billionaires whose money convinced Gov. Hochul to “reform” the car insurance marketplace gave her an award for her supposed courage. (NY Post)
• Hey, retired cop, the summons book called and it wants its discretion back. (NYDN)
• Thanks to enforcement of city law, the Mamdani administration has put an average of $2,287 in additional tips in delivery workers’ pockets. (Documented, NYDN)
• Bloomberg looked at the city’s plan to tame Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn’s notoriously un-grand clusterfuck.
• We like Amazon’s cargo bikes, but we don’t like assaulting an old man with one! (Our Town)
• The Port Authority wants to hear from cyclists about the experience of biking over its spans. Click here for survey.