Bicycle Safety

With the stroke of a pen, Governor David Paterson could make New York's streets safer for walking and biking. Hayley and Diego's Law, which creates a new charge for law enforcement to bring against drivers who carelessly injure pedestrians and cyclists, needs only his signature to become law. At a rally at City Hall today, elected officials and Transportation Alternatives joined the families of children killed by reckless drivers to urge the governor to sign the legislation.

New York's public transportation keeps children alive. New York City traffic kills them. Those are the fundamental facts that explain injury fatality rates among the city's children, according to the Department of Health.

Its fresh green paint is already bringing relief to car-free commuters, but that hasn't stopped anonymous opponents of a safer Prospect Park West from continuing to spread anti-cyclist tripe of the kind pictured above.

New York City's streets are safer than ever for cyclists, according to new information gathered by Transportation Alternatives. Injury and fatality data from the state's Department of Motor Vehicles show a continued decline in the number of cyclist injuries in 2009, a particularly encouraging trend considering how many more cyclists are on the road every year. 

At a Monday night meeting with the transportation committee of Manhattan Community Board 12, DOT rolled out a slew of much-needed street improvements for Washington Heights and Inwood. Several are still in the preliminary stage, but one major intersection in the Heights is slated for an overhaul this fall.

"You can't control what you can't measure," the saying goes. So to get a better grip on street safety on Manhattan's East Side, Transportation Alternatives started by collecting better data about local traffic collisions and injuries. Last night, a group of Upper East Siders used that information to begin imagining what a safer neighborhood might look like.

City Council Member Gale Brewer wants to open up traffic data to improve conditions for pedestrians and cyclists on Manhattan's West Side, a campaign that could lead to safer streets across the boroughs.

Of all the ways to improve your bike commute, riding with a friend might be the simplest. Not only do you have someone to talk to at red lights, you also become more visible and therefore more safe. With that in mind, Transportation Alternatives is working on a new tech solution called Bike Buddy to help New Yorkers find someone to ride with.

It‘s hard to be nice when you’re angry. Once your sympathetic nervous system kicks in -- the fight or flight response -- it is such a challenge to regulate your affect. I know. I struggle with it almost every time I get on my bike in New York City.