Bicycle Safety

In September, State Senator Eric Adams introduced a bill that would add a component about interacting with pedestrians and cyclists to the licensing course for first-time New York State drivers. He said he's pushing for better driver education to "make the roads safer for those who use the roads other than vehicles."

For everyone curious about the bike safety bill from State Senator Eric Adams that we mentioned on Monday, here are the basics.

Earlier this month, the New York City Department of Transportation announced plans to experiment with 20 mph zones -- replacing the city's default 30 mph speed limit in one pilot neighborhood. Whoever gets the first 20 mph treatment will see benefits that residents of British cities and towns have become increasingly familiar with in recent years.

The driver of a private garbage truck ignored a bicyclist riding alongside and crushed him as the truck rounded the corner of Varick Avenue and Meserole Street in Bushwick last Wednesday evening, BushwickBK.com has reported, citing a preliminary NYPD investigation. According to police, the victim was Eling Rivera, 51, of East New York (a conflicting identification has surfaced in this Streetsblog comment thread).

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.