A cyclist was struck by a car this morning at the intersection of Freeman and West streets just before 9 a.m.
The cyclist was turning left to merge onto the West Street bike lane from Freeman Street as the driver of the car hit the cyclist at the intersection, where shattered glass was spread from one of the car’s windows that apparently smashed during the crash.
The driver remained at the scene and the cyclist is being treated for minor injuries, according to the NYPD.
This car has 29 tickets for speeding in a school zone, and 24 within a year https://t.co/NfqELfq9wL
— Julianne Cuba (@Julcuba) March 5, 2020
The Dept. of Transportation is planning to add protected bike lanes for portions of nearby Franklin and Quay Streets, which will connect to the West Street bike lane.
Critics of the West Street bike lane say that delivery and construction trucks routinely obstruct the bike lane as construction is booming along the Greenpoint waterfront.
In 2019, drivers killed 27 cyclists (an increase of 10 deaths from 2018) and 245 pedestrians in NYC.
Last week, State Senator Andrew Gounardes introduced three bills in Brooklyn to crack down on dangerous drivers, as the Brooklyn Reporter reports:
•The Dangerous Driver Act: This bill clarifies traffic laws to make it easier for drivers to be charged by district attorneys. The bill clarifies that dangerous driving that causes injuries does not need to require that the individual committed a minimum number of violations in order to be charged.
•Expanding pedestrian rights: This bill would deem every intersection, marked or unmarked, to be a crosswalk. The measure has been adopted in Oregon, Washington and Georgia, and has been shown to increase driver awareness and reduce pedestrian injury and death, Gounardes said.
•Safety rating: This bill would create a pedestrian safety rating for all vehicles based on how likely these vehicles are to cause injury or death to others on the road.
Why was the bicyclist turning left onto West Street when you can only make a right off Freeman? Bicyclist not paying attention to the rules of the road? Hmm, thank god it was not serious.
Why was the cyclist making a left hand turn onto West St when you can only make a right hand turn off of Freemen St. ?
Who is really at fault here ?
Not saying that this particular accident was cyclist’s fault, but WHEN ARE CYCLISTS GOING TO BE MADE TO RIDE SAFELY AND BE TAUGHT RULES OF THE ROAD? Frankly there are bike risers on sidewalk, zooming in and out of cars on a crowded truck route, riding against traffic opposite of bike lane provided, while texting… These people get killed and it someone else’s fault??! Ridiculous!