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Raising Bike Consciousness
By The Changeling | December 20, 2007
A sign on the ground on Willoughby
I found the bike lane sign above on Willoughby. The sign was uprooted and laying on the ground, and it represented how little people care about cyclists in this city.
A reader disturbed by the recent bicycle fatalities in Brooklyn and Manhattan wrote to me bringing up some issues that have been bothering me regarding cycling in Brooklyn. As someone who relies on a bike to get around the neighborhood, I’m shaken each time I hear about a cyclist’s unnecessary death. Cycling is great for your health (or, it is when you’re not mowed down by an SUV or when someone takes the time to look before opening their car door) and it’s good for the environment, so why aren’t Brooklyn neighborhoods (beyond Williamsburg) more bicycle friendly? I’ve come close to getting hit so many times in Bed-Stuy, simply because drivers are not paying attention to driving or they just don’t expect someone to be actually using the bike lane. Sometimes it can be very frustrating.
I’m not asking for a completely protected bike lane like the one on 9th Avenue in Manhattan. I mean, it sounds great and it protects cyclists, but what does it do to change drivers’ perceptions about cyclists’ rights to use the road? Nothing. Besides, they’re not building any of those special bike lanes in Bed-Stuy. So for all of you cyclists out there, what can we do to raise bike consciousness in our area so that riding your bike does not guarantee brush with death or a trip to the morgue?
Brooklyn Bike Lanes
Transportation Alternatives
December 20th, 2007 at 11:44 am
i’m about at the point of bringing a bb gun with me so i can peg cars that sideswipe me. but i guess that might not have the most positive outcome.
i used to wonder why car insurance was more expensive in brooklyn than any other boro, it’s becuase brooklynites are the worst drivers in the industrialized world. i mandate drivers be forced to take an IQ test before they get a license.
December 20th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
I second that, but I’m not so sure all of them have licenses. I have never seen such horrible driving in my life. Speeding up as you approach a red light? NEVER signaling when you make a turn? THROWING TRASH out of the car window?
The southern states are partially to blame, namely, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. It’s not just guns that come up from the south. There are way too many people going down south to get a car, registering it in their cousin’s name (their cousin who lives in the aforementioned southern state) and then driving it back to Brooklyn. I betcha half of ‘em don’t even have insurance.
December 20th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
I’ve had this idea for quite awhile, but let’s try to create some community noise and really do it:
**Make the Bedford Avenue bike lane an actual viable transportation option.**
Who’s willing to talk with Transportation Alternatives and put together a local effort? I am. I live in Flatbush, not Bed Stuy, but I would love to use that lane more and currently don’t feel safe doing so.
Imagine if this bike lane were actually safe and people felt comfortable sending their kids or their grandma out on it! This lane goes all the way from Greenpoint to Brighton Beach, and passes by two colleges (Medgar Evers and Brooklyn College). It connects neighborhoods where the subway lines don’t link up (A,C and G don’t play well with others).
Bedford Avenue would be an amazing location to do something like the Ciclovia in Bogota, Colombia, where they close off the streets to cars and have recreational events:
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/ciclovia/
I actually think protected bike lanes are the best way to get more cyclists out there, and i think they do improve drivers’ awareness (if only because they’ve had some of their precious road space reallocated). IMHO the best way to accomplish this is to put the bike lane next to the curb and put the parking next to the car traffic. it’s been working in cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam for decades, and they have 20% of the population commuting by bike. But at the very least the existing lane should be enforced and perhaps painted green like the ones in Brooklyn Heights, so people start to think about what it actually is.
December 20th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
I used to take Bedford to work (back when it was nice and I biked to work), so I was excited when it got its own bike lane. I’m looking forward to taking it to work once Spring/Summer comes around again. But hell, people just ignore bike lanes these days. It’s viewed as the perfect place to double park.
Buses travel in the bike lane as if it’s a reserved bus lane (I take the B26 all the time, and they love using that lane, except when too many cars are double parked).
I would kill just to have some enforcement of the laws already on the books.
And I’m totally sick of the macho bullshit that people believe driving really fast in their Escalade indicates to everyone else that their balls are really big.
December 20th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
hey everyone,
it is local community initiatives that make the most difference. i live in bed stuy, and i would be more than happy to help you out with ideas on how to get some bike improvements in your neighborhood.
as an every day cyclist i know that enforcement is a huge issue. so i would also be willing to discuss ways to work on that issue at a local level.
feel free to be in touch if you are interested.
Best,
caroline
bike campaign coordinator
transportation alternatives
December 20th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
I often ride my bike down Bedford from my apartment in Midwood to the school I teach at in Bed-Stuy. These silly drivers who take up the bike lane are completely infuriating.
I’ve often wondered why more people aren’t ticketed, the city would make a ton of cash. I wonder if painting them green like the bike lane down town would help.
December 21st, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Okay, Caroline… what would it take to get our Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan (a cyclist herself) to take a ride on the Bedford Avenue bike lane with us and come up with some improvement ideas? DOT has done some work recently to try to fix the lack of continuity in this route, but that doesn’t help much if it’s still horribly unsafe.
Not to take anything from Bed Stuy here, but I’d especially like her to come down our way (Flatbush) and see what a wasted opportunity that lane is around Brooklyn College. I imagine a lot more students might consider cycling to classes if there were anything resembling a safe bike infrastructure to get there.
December 21st, 2007 at 4:08 pm
I am so happy to see this exchange. I am trying to organize a local bike ride (Bedford Stuyvesant) for the late spring /early summer. I’m hoping this type of event will get more folks concerned about safety and sharing the roads with cyclists. Also, we lack bike paths in this area. Can you believe they designated Gates Avenue as one of the preferred bike routes in Bed-Stuy? A two way street with parking on both sides of the street and a bus route… But I digress.
I am going to try to have the first meeting to plan the bike ride in late January. I have reached out to a few folks already but I would love to have others involved because this is all new to me.
Please reach out to me at tremaine@commongroundsny.com if you are interested in participating.
December 21st, 2007 at 4:11 pm
How about those little bumps that they have along highways to let people know when they’re riding on the shoulder?
December 21st, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Do you think it’s worth approaching the transportation committee of the community board? I don’t know what they can do (or are already doing) but i get the impression they are mostly interested in driving (car) issues so it might be worth bringing our concerns to them.
December 21st, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Count me in on that planned bike ride, Tremaine.
December 22nd, 2007 at 2:12 pm
I can’t speak for the whole city, but as for the new Bedford Ave. bike lane: the bike lane has simply made the street too narrow to handle the amount of traffic it receives. Most people, realizing there’s not enough room for their car, would rather drive into the bike lane than hit into a car.
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:53 am
One goal of bike lanes is to calm traffic by narrowing the street so that cars have to go slower (meaning, the speed limit) to negotiate it. There’s enough room for the cars to stay in their own lane if they drive carefully and don’t talk on the phone or text message their friends while driving. But they’re supposed to do that anyway, right?
December 24th, 2007 at 10:12 am
I hope some of you participating in this exchange will attend a Transportation Comm Meeting at the Community Board. Rev. waterman is the Chair and I think he would be very interested in hearing these concerns. The meetings are scheduled for the 2nd Tuesday of the month, 7pm at Antioch Baptist Church - I think he provides dinner! But just confirm with the Community Board 718-622-6601.
Merry Christmas.