Bicycle Safety

It was noted on the Brian Lehrer show this morning that the City's Bicyclist Fatality and Injury Report (PDF file) identifies three specific locations or "clusters" where bicycle fatalities were unusually common between 1996 and 2005. A "cluster" is defined as "three or more fatalities within 1,000 feet." The three densest clusters were found on the east side of Manhattan north of Midtown, Park Slope in Brooklyn and Hunts Point in the Bronx. From page 11 of the  report:

We are certainly still going to be wearing our helmets when we ride bikes on New York City streets, but here is an interesting study by Dr. Ian Walker a "traffic psychologist" from Bath University in Great Britain. Walker found that motorists drove more safely and carefully when passing cyclists who were not wearing helmets. These findings are similar to some of the ideas put forward by David Engwicht in his book, "Mental Speed Bumps: The Smarter Way to Tame Traffic," a very interesting read if you haven't already picked it up.

Charles Komanoff at Right of Way has churned out an initial analysis of the City's bicycle injury and fatality study. Here is his take:

(Photo by Will Sherman of Transportation Alternatives)

On Monday Streetsblog wrote that the New York Times had under-reported the number of New York City bicycle fatalities in 2005. A correction appeared in the Times today: 

The New York Times printed an error in the news brief reporting the death of Darren Lewis, the 20-year-old bike messenger killed by a truck in Midtown on Thursday. The Times reported that twelve cyclists were killed in New York City last year. According to the NYPD, 24 cyclists were killed on the city's streets in 2005, twice as many as the Times claims.

JK's comment in Another Very Bad Week to Ride a Bike in NYC:

In the wake of this morning's Midtown bike fatality, a correspondent reports: