"Today's indictment of cyclists by the NY Times is to be read at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/28/nyregion/28bike.html.
Times writer Thomas Lueck, writes, (""Bicyclist Falls Under Truck and Is Killed,"" June 28) with reference to the Westside bike path, ""Will cyclists who are given the luxury of an unimpeded, parklike environment put on the brakes to let vehicles pass?""
He (and the police) seem oblivious to the NYS vehicle code wherein it gives vehicles proceeding straight the right-of-way over turning vehicles. See, for example, § 1141: The driver of a vehicle intending to turn to the left...shall yield the right of way to any vehicle...so close as to constitute an immediate hazard. Of: §1143: The driver of a vehicle about to...cross a roadway...shall yield the right of way to all vehicles approaching on the roadway to be crossed (the exact circumstance fatal to Dr. Carl Nacht).
Tellingly, the Times story about him (June 24, ""Bicyclist Hurt in Collision With Tow Truck"") stated, ""A Manhattan doctor who was bike riding with his wife on a path beside the Hudson River Thursday night was seriously injured *when he collided* with a Police Department tow truck, the police said yesterday.""
Notice the bike collided with the truck. It's pretty much always this way in police reports: bikes collide with cars, cabs, buses, and trucks. Cars, cabs, buses, and trucks never collide with bikes. This is because cyclists habitually ram their 23 lb. vehicles into multi-ton speeding pieces of steel. Incidentally, insofar as I know, not one driver has yet to be killed in a collision with a cyclist. Alas, the same can't be said for cyclists, around 22 of whom (24 last year) do die.
For another recent example, on June 20th a cyclist on Tenth Ave. @ 44th Street swerved into traffic to avoid hitting , or after hitting a door opened by a cab driver. The cyclist's leg was crushed by a bus and may be amputated—assuming he survives. No ticket was given. NYS vehicle code § 1214 reads: No person shall open the door of a motor vehicle on the side available to moving traffic unless and until it is reasonably safe to do so, and can be done without interfering with the movement of other traffic.
If the 23-year-old driver who killed Jerome Allen a year ago May in Staten Island is to be believed, Allen, a professional man in his fifties, while out for an evening recreational ride, likely was riding his bike as fast as Lance Armstrong. That, or the young driver was content to drive his uncle's Lexus SUV c.18MPH on an otherwise empty, well-paved, six-lane road. In either event, Allen knowingly swerved in front of him as they were riding right next to one another. No ticket.
In injury after injury and death after death of a cyclist on the streets of New York, the police do not see fit to issue so much as a ticket. If they can't bring themselves to reference the entirety of the NYS Vehicle and traffic Code, perhaps they could put this one section into their memories: §1146: Every driver shall exercise due care to avoid colliding with any bicyclist. Ah, but of course that would require them to do something they just aren't much given to doing: enforcing the law against drivers who injure or kill cyclists.
"
Today's blaming of cyclists for their own deaths in the NY Times
Richard, I hope you send this to the Times.
"Thank all of you for your support. It has the comfort of a verbal paceline when, not infrequently, I'm castigated here for doing something of the same....
Here, in slightly expanded form, is the draft of my letter I just sent the Op-ed editor at the Times and copied Times columnist Clyde Haberman in the hope it may spark something in him when (not if) the Times passes on it.
This expanded draft includes a telling of yet another death-by-driver incident at the hands of another 23 year old driving another luxury SUV. It is yet another case in which a ticket wasn't issued. In this case, the deceased was 14 years old. It also adds the incident about Judge Harold Rothwax. (We invited him to speak to a club meeting after this but he declined.)
_________
ONCE AGAIN, POLICE SEE NO REASON TO ISSUE A TICKET TO A DRIVER WHO KILLED CYCLIST.
A Times story about deceased cyclist, Dr. Carl Nacht (June 24, ""Bicyclist Hurt in Collision With Tow Truck"") stated, ""A Manhattan doctor who was bike riding with his wife on a path beside the Hudson River Thursday night was seriously injured *when he collided* with a Police Department tow truck, the police said yesterday.""
The police seem oblivious to the NYS vehicle code wherein it gives vehicles proceeding straight the right-of-way over turning vehicles. See, for example, § 1141: The driver of a vehicle intending to turn to the left...shall yield the right of way to any vehicle...so close as to constitute an immediate hazard. Of: §1143: The driver of a vehicle about to...cross a roadway...shall yield the right of way to all vehicles approaching on the roadway to be crossed (the exact circumstance fatal to Dr. Carl Nacht).
Notice the bike collided with the truck. It's pretty much always this way in police reports: bikes collide with cars, cabs, buses, and trucks. Cars, cabs, buses, and trucks never collide with bikes. This is because cyclists habitually ram their 23 lb. vehicles into multi-ton speeding pieces of steel. Incidentally, insofar as I know, not one driver has yet to be killed in a collision with a cyclist. Alas, the same can't be said for cyclists, around 22 of whom (24 last year) do die.
For another recent example, on June 20th a cyclist on Tenth Ave. @ 44th Street swerved into traffic to avoid hitting , or after hitting a door opened by a cab driver. The cyclist's leg was crushed by a bus and may be amputated—assuming he survives. No ticket was given. NYS vehicle code § 1214 reads: No person shall open the door of a motor vehicle on the side available to moving traffic unless and until it is reasonably safe to do so, and can be done without interfering with the movement of other traffic.
Around fifteen years ago, the late Judge Harold Rothwax, although then in his sixties, used to bicycle from his Upper Westside home to his court. He was sideswiped by a driver causing him to break both wrists. The driver was not cited.
If the 23-year-old driver who killed Jerome Allen April 30, 2005 in Staten Island is to be believed, Allen, a professional man in his fifties, while out for an evening recreational ride, likely was riding his bike as fast as Lance Armstrong. That, or the young driver was content to drive his uncle's Lexus SUV c.18MPH on an otherwise empty, well-paved, six-lane road. In either event, Allen knowingly swerved in front of him as they were riding right next to one another. No ticket.
Read the www.cars-suck.org Website, the work of a New York City group named Right of Way, to learn about another 23 year old driver who killed a cyclist in New York while driving a luxury SUV. This one was a Lincoln Navigator. In this instance the deceased-by-driver was 14 years old, cycling on the Shore Parkway near his home in Far Rockaway on September 24, 2005. He was hit from behind. The police could not bestir themselves to cite the young driver for violating NY State Vehicle & Traffic Law Sectio"
I definitely agree with the gist of this letter. But I think whether you are taking a position that is critical of something the NYT has published or not, the real key to having a chance at getting your letter published is brevity. Rarely does the Times publish letters that are longer than 4 or 5 sentences.
It is within op-ed length which is how I submitted this.
If you and others can suffer this one more, assuredly last, time, in a new thread I'm posting a stronger version that includes the telling of a death-by-driver of a NYCC member in 1987.
This sucks.
I mean REALLY sucks.
Read the article and came to the same conclusion.
Yes, please send this letter in!
Richard--you have captured yet again in publishable form what I can only feel right now coursing through my arteries: outrage. Please send this to the Times. Hurray for you!
As a motorcyclist who has recently started bicycling, I can say that the same holds true for your larger, motored and lit two-wheeled brethren. I've had more cars and trucks turn left in front of me, box me out of my lane, and generally act as if I'm not there -- both on my motorcycle and my bicycle.
In 2004 a silver Toyota 4Runner turned left in front of me on Eastern Parkway, failing to yield right of way. I was able to avoid a collision, but crashed when I lost traction recovering from the swerve. Took me two months to recover from that crash. The police would not issue a ticket to the driver for failing to yield right of way.
It's humbling and does not quench outrage, but the way I deal with it on any two-wheeled vehicle is this: I assume I am invisible and everyone is out to kill me. I will lose every collision with a car or truck. The populace in general, the law, the lawmakers and the law enforcers do not care about me. Getting mad at them is pointless, and only ends in elevated blood pressure.
Ride safe, all.
-m-
...but there's something vindictive about the way the Bloomberg administration and the NYPD treat 2-wheeled vehicles. Previous administrations seemed indifferent, uncaring, or maybe just unaware. This feels like a vendetta. Dunno why.
Richard, you are correct as usual.
I think we should all contribute our observations to what can be improved to make the Hudson Bike Path safer for all users.
I will start another thread. Perhaps all parties which are connected to regulating the bike path and West Street will read our thread.
What will make the West Side Greenway even worse are the proposed amphibious DUKWs (ducks) that will have to go through West 38th Street (very close to the scene of the Dr. Nacht accident).
Hank,
Thanks for posting so many updates - as stated before, the West Side Bike Path is special because of the feeling of safety that is not justified. But we ride all over in the city.
I would like us as a club make our presence known more vocally- petitions, letters, action committees-
to suggest safety precautions and to increase awareness of cyclists by cars.
I missed the rally this morning, but I'll be at the memorial ride this evening.
Lynn
Lynn,
NYCC is a member of the NYC Bicycle Coalition, and both Carol Waaser and Annaline Dinkelmann have been active contributors. But of course there's far more work than two people can handle.
Perhaps the NYCC should have a subcommittee of members who can help to coordinate the club's participation in the coalition--a kind of liaison to inform and motivate members to take part in campaigns. And based on the very good ideas that have been coming up on this board, such a subcommittee would no doubt come up with its own projects. Those could either be proposed to the coalition, or run by NYCC itself.
[FTR, I'm a member of the coalition too, but as part of a small artist group--and I'm swamped. (We're looking for a graphic designer, if anyone's interested. Volunteer work, but I still have some grant money to execute projects.)]
Lynn, you have been very instrumental in bringing the Youth Program to fruition, so the board would probably welcome more ideas from you.
What you have said is unfortunately so true. I only wish something could be done about it.
I just got a note from Clyde Haberman, the terrific Times columnist, in reply to mine. The dead-by-driver Dr. Nacht was his family doctor! That should result in some ink.
He was also the doctor to former NYCCer Diane Goodwin.
Stay tuned.
Richard
I hope you all will come down to City Hall on Thursday morning, June 29, at 9 AM and rally for safer cycling in NYC.
Turning out people, cyclists and those who care about cyclists, is the only way to get the message through to Mayor Bloomberg that he and his agencies need to get serious about making New York City a safe place to ride a bike. Right now, they just don't understand how dangerous it is. They need to hear the truth.
More info about the rally at:
http://www.transalt.org/e-bulletin/2006/June/0628actionalert.html
(The on-line announcement says 8:30am, but rally will start promptly at 9:00am.)
Hope you all will come with your family, friends and colleagues.
Best,
Noah Budnick
Transportation Alternatives
