Now das what I'm talkin' about !!
The pedestrians, they seen to think we can ride right through them. Why can't the DOT raise some $$ for cash strapped NYC by ticketing the oblivious peds?? I always look wheh I walk and I am justr resolved to ride around them when I have the green.

Do you have any meetings or anything going on on Friday evening?
I will be riding home this rainy day.
You will find Transportation Alternatives folks handing out free goodies and cake at the base of most bridges in honor of the day (which I ask them ... why shoud today be any different than any other day?... and where are all the bikers? afraid of a little rain?)

Good Luck LA !!

vsk

That's funny: As a pedestrian, I find the cyclists more dangerous than the cars. I frequently have to jump out of the way of a biker "running" a red light. Traffic laws apply to you, too! We all need to learn how to share the road.

I agree to an extent about the pedestrians. We do take our lives in our hands when we dart in and out from the sidewalks, jaywalking at our pleasure. Of course, NYC wouldn't be the same if people didn't do that.

However, a great number of cyclists are unaware that they must follow the rules of the road and stop at red lights. A few months ago, I saw a cyclist run over a lady in the crosswalk when she had the right of way because it was a red light and the cyclist failed to stop.

I'm all for cyclists but some need to learn the rules of the road because a good majority of them don't care to follow them or just don't know them.

Every morning as I ride into my office in Philadelphia, there's this one car that parks on the bike lane as the road passes through one of the PHA housing developments here. On the other side of the street, where cars are supposed to park, there is always endless empty space at that time, but this one car is almost always there, parking on the wrong side just to save about 15 feet of walking. It's really unbelievable how consistent it is.

If I weren't always late I'd start leaving notes.

Or eggs.

NYC is not a city for cycling. I recently counted 3 bicyclist memorials on Houston Street alone. Between the yellow cabs, manic drivers and oblivous pedestrians, only someone with a death wish would ride a bike in New York for transportation. The lone exception might be riverside bike paths.

As far as those who say bikers need to use more common sense and follow rules, I couldn't agree more. I as a cyclist get frustrated by delivery guys riding the wrong way in bike lanes, snotty self absorbed types who run you down, people WHO MAKE LIFE HARD FOR THE REST OF US who give a darn.

NYC does have ticket blitzes every now and then, and you'd think people would get the idea. Community board members definitely block new cycle lanes every now and then because they feel no need to give anything to people who regularly cut people down on the sidewalk or run red lights with reckless abandon. Hard to argue with them sometimes.

Randy S, NYC is a cycling town, and it will only get more so as the cost of everything else goes up.
The reason you see memorials is because there are people around here to who care to put them up (www.visualresistance.org - ghost bikes). There are plenty of bad bike accidents in major cities all around. You are surrounded by assassins. Many metro areas (places in Florida and LA come to mind) there is traffic regularly going 50-60mph. In NYC it's more like 30-40, or at a walking pace, easier to deal with.
I love separated bikeways and greenways. In the summer however, they fill up with oblivious pedestrians who don't realize they are walking on a highway, really. It's kind of like train tracks, minutes of empty, then zooooomm, (and also very quiet).
In the end we will all get along, we will have to. One day, whole car lanes will be shut down due to the crush of cyclists, there will come a breaking point at some time. Gas will keep going up and become scarce. Train and bus fares will go up. Traffic will crawl, but your legs will always be free.

Good Luck!!

vsk

The same thing happened here in São Paulo, Brazil. Except that we just have about 30 Km of bike lanes, and most of them are in parks - so they are recreational.

Anyway, I took a picture of a VW Bus owned by the city, which is supposed to be taking care of garden areas. It was actually parked on a separated bike lane (one of the few there is).

http://bambooblog.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/ciclovia-ou-estacionamento/

And it gets better. I don´t have a picture here, but there is actually a BUS STOP on top of the same separated bike lane, about 1Km from where I took that picture.