On Thursday, a cyclist was involved in a collision with a box truck on Franklin Street near the intersection at Calyer Street resulting (luckily) in non-fatal injuries and providing an unfortunate example of the street’s dangerous conditions. Just two days prior to the Franklin Street accident a 58-year-old man was killed while biking on McGuinness Boulevard, a notoriously dangerous street to bike. Is Franklin Street…
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The options for cyclists traveling north through Greenpoint are pretty much all bad: Franklin St, with meaningless sharrows; West St, with a “protected” bike lane that cars and trucks use as a parking lot or even a valet drop-off location; Manhattan Ave, with no bike protections and heavy, unregulated commercial traffic; or McGuinness, which is basically a freeway.
People are going to keep getting hurt until the DOT rethinks its road design philosophy and actively pursues the reduction of automobile usage as a strategic goal. The agency’s current method – trying to maintain “level of service” and avoid hurting car drivers’ feelings – has a body count.
The question still goes unanswered… how many drivers were charged for hitting cyclist? If the answer is hardly any… perhaps cyclists should take a look in the mirror.
I have been in the Greenpoint neighborhood for decades… cyclists fly around these streets throwing all safety out the window. MOST do not wear helmets. NONE use hand/arm signals when making turns (which is the law). MOST ride the wrong way down One-Way streets (which is illegal). MOST do not come to a complete and full stop at Stop Signs… 99% of cyclists roll through them or do not bother to stop at all.
Let’s also talk motorcycles… who driver on the dashed line, weaving between lanes & traffic…
While cyclists are very quick to point the finger at drivers… the reality is much different.
IMO, All bike riders should be legally required to carry insurance and pay for registration on their bikes. You want to use the same roads? Pay for them. If you own a car and pay for the insurance/registration for that, there can be a waiver.. .but lots do not own a car and therefor pay nothing.
If I were to hit a cyclist and it wasn’t my fault.. I would personally take legal action against said cyclist. I NEVER want to hit a person on a bike.. but they fly around like they are the only one on the road. If they are at fault for a crash… I would never be able to drive my car again out of fear.
Where is the statistics on FAULT of these 17 deaths? Without reporting that, it is biased journalism and if Greenpointers yet again censors this comment, it truly shows it as well.
I agree w you. My back tail light was cracked by a cyclist who hit me while drinking coffee on his bike. I was also knocked down while crossing at a light on Manhattan Ave. by someone riding through a light and have been yelled at by cyclists when I complain about their behavior.
I drive a truck for a living and I’ve seen bicyclists run RED lights RIDE on the WRONG side of the road than you have a bike lane and you got cyclist riding on both sides of the street and when you say something to them they ignore you i have had to slam on my brakes cause a cyclist comes into the street from between 2 parked cars. They don’t obey the rules of the road than when they get hit its ALWAYS the DRIVERS fault they should get ticketed if the don’t follow the RULES OF THE ROAD.