Bicycle Safety

How fast do cars travel on Prospect Park West? Criminally fast. All the time. Members of Park Slope Neighbors clocked cars routinely exceeding the 30 mph speed limit -- including one sociopath racing at 65 mph -- during a ten-minute stretch earlier this month. Prospect Park West and Eighth Avenue form a one-way pair funneling drivers to and from the free East River bridges and the Prospect Expressway, a configuration that makes for hazardous conditions. Last summer a school bus driver struck and killed cyclist Jonathan Millstein on Eighth Avenue. A few weeks ago a 57-year-old pedestrian was nearly killed a couple of blocks away from the Millstein incident. Parents are afraid to walk with their children across the corridor's dysfunctional intersections. NYPD enforcement is sorely lacking.

About 40 Brooklynites turned out last night for a CB7-sponsored meeting to discuss the future of Park Circle, the asphalt expanse where Prospect Park meets traffic headed to and from the Prospect Expressway, Ocean Parkway, and the Fort Hamilton Parkway. There are two projects in the works here: the Department of City Planning is studying how to improve bicycle connections between the Ocean Parkway Greenway and Prospect Park [PDF], and DOT is looking to make some quick, low-cost safety improvements to Park Circle that can be implemented this year [PDF].

DOT's pedestrian projects group will present tonight at a public workshop about Park Circle, the roundabout at the southern tip of Prospect Park. Sponsored by Community Boards 7, 12, and 14, this is a preliminary meeting to define problems and collect ideas before improvements are designed. Given the vortex of auto traffic swirling so close to the park and the Parade Grounds, the emphasis is on safety. The proximity of the Kensington Stables also makes for an unusual modal angle: In addition to walking and biking, horse circulation will factor into the discussion.

One of the most encouraging moments in last week's PBS NOW documentary about Charlotte, NC came when Mayor Pat McCrory pointed out the importance of "complete streets" to the success of the city's new light rail system. "Transit alone doesn't transform neighborhoods," said McCrory. "The key is how you connect those neighborhoods to the train stations, with well-planned sidewalks that create a walkable community."

A new report from Transportation Alternatives confirms what New York pedestrians and cyclists have been forced to accept as a fact of life: A high number of drivers speed through city streets, regardless of the potentially deadly consequences for those around them.

Looking to circumvent a citywide bike lane injunction or avoid bike lane-related Community Board histrionics? Alex Tee and Evan Gant from the product design firm Altitude Inc. have a novel solution for you: Use laser beams to project your own lane from the back of your bicycle. Gant tells me that he and Tee developed their LightLane concept for a design competition aimed at encouraging bike commuting. For now, the idea exists only on paper but the duo has received so much positive feedback, they are planning to build a prototype.

A tipster sends this report from the New York City bike network following the season's first major snowfall:

As City Council Member Alan Gerson attempts to codify opposition to livable streets improvements, Lower Manhattan restaurateur Florent Morellet (a.k.a. the "Unofficial Mayor of the Meatpacking District") has filed a refreshing op-ed in The Villager, touting the commercial benefits of cyclist and pedestrian infrastructure.