I’ve been meaning to write a post about biking in New York for some time, but
this little film says so much of what I wanted to say that you should watch
it instead.
At the moment, everybody in New York hates the bicyclists – not only
the car drivers, but the pedestrians too. The reason is that we don’t have anywhere
to be: everybody’s trying to crowd into the same space, to disastrous effect.
And the absence of safe bike lanes means that there’s relatively few bikers,
which means that pedestrians, especially, don’t expect or think about bicylists
– which means that they’re perfectly happy stepping out into the road
without looking, especially if traffic isn’t moving (but bicyclists might well
be).
It’s simply not realistic to expect drivers to think about potholes when they’re
driving down the street. Me, when I’m biking, I’m on the lookout for potholes
all the time. If I see one, I need to ride around it – and often that
means swerving out into traffic. But often when cars whiz past me, and taxis
are prime offenders here, they pass so closely that the tiniest swerve would
take me straight into them.
What New York needs is more cyclists. That will reduce traffic, and also increase
consciousness that we cyclists exist, especially on the part of pedestrians
who currently consider that they basically own the small margin of the streets
between parked cars and driving cars, which is the only piece of street real
estate where we cyclists are allowed. Think about it: when you’re walking in
New York and you hit a red light, do you wait on the sidewalk? Or do you walk
out a little bit into the street first and then wait? Thought so.
At the moment, New York is simply too dangerous to cyclists for the number
of cyclists to increase substantially. So separated bike lanes are a must. I
use the Grand Street bike lane now every day, and it’s certainly better than
nothing. But it’s not remotely good enough to increase the number of cyclists
substantially. Much more radical change is needed, and needed now.
One question for my bike-riding readers: I know we’ve all been in this situation
many times. We’re riding crosstown, and there’s a red light in front of us.
A car is behind us, and honks aggressively until we pull over, at which point
the car speeds past us and stops at the light. Of course, we reach the light
ourselves a few seconds later. Is there anything, at that point, we cyclists
can or should do? Or is the only thing to be zen and let it wash over us? I
get very angry at car drivers who think I have no right to be on the road and
who tell me so in no uncertain terms – is there nothing I can do about
it?
Nice film. I had to laugh though when they held up London as an example of great planning for cyclists, because there are very few decent lanes and it’s still a long way from being Amsterdam. I’ve been riding in London for the past five years and cycling over here has exploded during this time, especially since they introduced the congestion charge. The increase in cyclists has indeed increased awareness and respect among drivers. But now there’s a problem with irresponsible (and inexperienced) cyclists who jump lights, ride on the pavement and generally give motorists an excuse to hate them. Until cyclists grow up it’s hard to expect motorists to play fair either.
Biking in London might not be good, but at least people are serious about making it better. The thing they were talking about is , if you’re interested.
But you’re right, cyclists can be their own worst enemy. Especially when they’re combined with street cuts for the disabled, which make it very easy to pop on and off the pavement. But if there’s a clear bike lane, the cyclists *almost* never use the pavement…
The main reason why Amsterdam is good for cycling is because there are so many of them that motorists and pedestrians have no choice than to pay close attention to them. I don’t think the facilities are necessarily the reason; bikelanes are not all that common there either.
great work felix. there’s a tipping point coming in major american cities regarding cycling, advocacy and traffic. when you juxtapose pieces like this one with the anarchistic slant of the mass-rides and related police tactics, it seems bound to come to a head sooner than later.
“A car is behind us, and honks aggressively until we pull over, at which point the car speeds past us and stops at the light.”
Why pull over?
I think there’s a lot to be said for being assertive and letting the driver know (without words) that you have the right to be on the road just as much as they do, especially if you’re both approaching a red light.
“A car is behind us, and honks aggressively until we pull over, at which point the car speeds past us and stops at the light.”
Why pull over?
I think there’s a lot to be said for being assertive and letting the driver know (without words) that you have the right to be on the road just as much as they do, especially if you’re both approaching a red light.
honk honk. I’ve come to realize that a lot of the folks who (IMHO stupidly) honk at cyclists – such as in the descriptive paragraph cited – are not being aggressive, rather, they think they are ‘doing the right thing’ by ‘letting you know they’re there’. Pulling over just confuses them. Of course, someone being in the road on a bike probably confused them in the first place…
I’ve suspected as much myself.
My 2 favorite honking stories from recent days:
1) I was honked AS I WAS BIKING IN A BIKE LANE by a car which wanted to use the bike lane as, well, a car lane.
2) I was turning left from Avenue C (a 2-way street) onto 3rd Street, which meant that I was on the left hand side of the lane between 2nd St and 3rd St, and the POLICE CAR behind me honked me because it couldn’t get past.
i know several people who were run into by bikers and have often had to dogde bikers going the wrong way on a one way or who run red lights or who ride on the sidewalk — if you want to be treated like a vehicle then you have to adbide by the traffic rules.
That’s a tough one. I sometimes run red lights (when it’s safe) because to survive on the road, I need to get ahead of the traffic. I want all the cars behind me to see me. I don’t want to be treated like a vehicle, I want to be treated like someone riding a bike who is far more vulnerable than anyone driving a car. I wear a helmet every time I ride, but if I get hit – well, I’m screwed, helmet or no helmet.
Cycling is the best way to navigate sections of New York. There are very good reasons to have us out on the streets – mainly because we are fuel free. We’re doing the whole damn world a favor, so in return, New York City should do something for us – create real bike lanes so we can ride safely.
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