Cyclists Win Big Bike Lane Victory In New York

Following public demonstrations and press conferences by City Council members demanding safer streets for cyclists, the New York City Department of Transportation announced that over the next three years it would install five miles of protected bike paths, 150 miles of marked bike lanes and 45 miles of marked bike routes throughout the city. The city also announced the results of a study of the 225 reported fatalities and 3,462 injuries suffered by cyclists over the past decade, to help identify additional safety measures to be undertaken. The Parks Department, in a separate measure, would add 40 miles of new bike paths within city parks.

The study revealed that all but one of the 225 cyclist fatalities over the past decade occurred outside of marked bike lanes, and 97% of the fatalities occurred when riders weren't wearing helmets. Almost all the fatal accidents involved men, due in part to the preponderance of male riders willing to take their lives in their hands braving NY traffic. The research bolstered the empirical evidence that bike lanes provide an additional measure of safety, and the vast expansion of bike lanes reflects the woeful lack of safe passage for cyclists on the busiest streets in America.

The tragedy is in the 225 lives that were lost before the city was provoked to act on an obvious transportation crisis, which advocacy groups led by Transportation Alternatives have been railing against for years. New York Cyclist will not sell a bicycle to a customer unless they already have or agree to purchase a helmet to go with it. Helmets are no longer an optional accessory for two-wheeled commuting in New York City!