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Photo courtesy nrvlowdown.
Cyclists are complaining that NYPD squad cars have been parking on the Queensboro Bridge bike path, forcing riders to pass by through a narrow 18 inch gap. A DOT spokesman explains they requested police presence on the bike path after two collisions between cyclists and workers painting the bridge. In areas where work is being done, there are signs posted "periodically" instructing bike riders to dismount and walk.
But the work is actually being done on the bridge's trusses high above the roadway, and cyclists tell the Daily News that there's nobody working on the bike path itself. An NYPD spokesman contradicted the DOT statement, stating: "We don't know of a car being assigned there." Bike commuters, however, tell a different story. Cyclist Jorge Ramirez says, "When I was coming over, I saw the car. I thought it was coming my way, so I started to slow down. As I got closer, I noticed that there was nobody sitting in the car."
And here's a real kick in the teeth: An unidentified Brooklyn photojournalist recalls that as he reached the midspan of the bridge on his bike, an officer on a scooter was there ordering riders to walk their bikes back to the foot of the bridge and start over. NYPD squad cars have also been stationed on the Williamsburg Bridge pedestrian/bike path in recent weeks, eliciting complaints from cyclists because they've been parked around a blind corner. One Gothamist commenter says that after nearly crashing into the car, the officer explained that they were there for "safety" during the Jewish holidays.
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Cops and workers make the bridges more dangerous. Cyclists are unlikely to yield to anyone on the bridges and having empty work trucks only makes their high-speed weaving that much worse. If these are truly bike/walk lanes, then vehicles should be forbidden outside of dropping off the officers or work materials. You know, get the cops to practice what they preach.
jeeez, those workers just drift around without looking to see if there is an oncoming cyclist, let alone TWO of 'em. it is really a hazard with several cherry picker thingies in a row taking up half the path width and the workers milling about, arms waving.... "eh, veeenie, whatchoo doin' .... awwwwww, joey, ain't nuffin... just waitin' to go get de six pack..."
can't they use the same kinda rigs like the window washers use and keep their asses out of the path!?
Ordered them to walk their bikes back to the beginning and start over??? What the hell? Is this first grade and the cops have become playground monitors? The NYPD has truly become the George Bush administration of the city. Incompetent, idiotic, lawless dictators who make up their own laws as they go. This city needs an enema in the worst way starting at the top.
If he could afford it, the person who (alledgely) was told to walk about should have refused and asked for a ticket, then continues on his/her way. There is no way a cop can ask you do "do over" something like that. Can you imagine a policeman saying "Oh, drive back down the road real slow and then drive up to me again but within the speed limit"?
If true, what happened on the bridge is absurd.
Do cyclists ever stop complaining?
Perhaps if they obeyed basic laws like stopping at red lights and getting off the sidewalk, they would elicit more sympathy.
Until then, stop whining and practice what you preach, if you want respect.
I experienced this last week. No cops were there yet, regardless it was severly dangerous. The workers were all over the bike path, ( not working at this point) just kind of loitering, and made no effort to make a safe passage way. The lighting is awful at night as well, certainly poorly planned. I made a polite comment to one of the workers to please keep the doors on the car closed, and he told me I was at fault, and would knock me out if came back! ha
When is there not a car parked on the Queensborough bridge walkway?
It's probably one of the more dangerous bridges to bike simply because police and service cars can merge onto the path from the roadway.
Do cyclists ever stop complaining?
Perhaps if automobile drivers obeyed routine laws like stopping at red lights, and allowing pedestrians the legal right-of-way when turning at intersections, they would complain a bit less.
Until then, some of you can continue to pretend that automobiles and their drivers are not the biggest cause of traffic mayhem in this city, and continue to whine about cyclists.
I just wish the cyclists would stay in their lane. I sometimes run over the bridge early in the morning and have had cyclists zipping down the hill in the pedestrian lane as I'm dragging my ass up it. (I hug the right side of the lane out of courtesy and safety, but still.)
It would be understandable if there were lots of cyclists on the bridge , but at that time of day, there isn't more than three or four of them. Argh.
To the facts:
OK, since 50 to 99% of drivers on highways speed, does that mean cops can do whatever they want to them, and they shouldn't "complain."
If you're driving/biking/walking/chewing gum/whatever, and you get hit by a car, should we say "Maybe if you so many of you didn't speed/run lights/jaywalk/whatever" we'd have some sympathy for you.
Get a grip. Get a brain.
Do cyclists ever stop complaining?
Too many driver and too many cyclist suck. Most don't but that "apple bunch" rule seems to be in play here.
I know this is going to sound crazy, so forgive me... but if police presence is necessary on the walking/biking path, couldn't they just WALK or BIKE up the bridge like everyone else?
i realize that the police have ceased to engage in any physical exertion whatsoever, but i'm just throwing it out there.
the police have golf carts to drive around inside Grand Central now!
cue the 'most cyclists/drivers/people/cops are idotic jerkfaces and i hate them' comments
Never ask a cop to employ common sense.
Duh, #10.
If cars speed, they get tickets, points, and eventual loss of license.
Most drivers obey the law, for fear of reprisal.
Cyclists don't obey the traffic laws because there is no ironclad mechanism for insuring their obeying the law.
I know someone who was hit by a bike, spent time in hospital, and the cyclist ran. NO license plates on bikes, right? No responsibility, right?
The victim spent 2 weeks in hospital and had to pay for the medical costs, and got no compensation.
I was twice hit by a bike, never a car. I know more people hit by bikes than by cars.
If you want to be treated like an adult, behave like an adult:
Get insurance
Get plates
Get proper ID, or go to jail.
Obey the law or suffer the consequences
Again: stop whining, little guy.
The south side of the lane is for bikes and the north side is for pedestrians. The lanes need to be remarked so that traffic can flow in both directions.
Why can't they put a flag man to regulate the traffic around the pickup truck?
@ the facts.
get a job, you troll.
Driving on that bridge is a nightmare. I cannot imagine how scary it is on a bike-especially on that narrow roadway. Can't the cops just leave the cyclists alone?
@thefacts what any of this has to do with "respect" is baffling. if the presence of parked, unmanned police cars, introduces hazards to cyclists, they should complain. Not every cyclist should be considered a nuisance
In July, 1996 I rode my bike across the Triboro to Randall's Island from Astoria.
Heading eastward, in the opposite direction, was a group of police cadets on bicycles, about 100 of them. As I approached them on my bike, the lead cyclist, pointed to the ground with his left hand, a signal that I should merge to the right and let them by.They almost collided with me. I arrived at Randall's Island and stayed for an hour. I decide to return to Astoria. Lollapalooza was being held at the stadium that day.
As I went up the ramp, a police man on a scooter stopped me. He told me to walk my bike the entire length of the Triboro bridge. He warned me that if I got on my bike for one second when crossing, I would be arrested. When I got to the other side a, police officer was waiting at the stairway in Queens, to see if I complied.
Those DOT guys are the worst. THEY complained? They can't even stop themselves from wandering into traffic. They're like a flock of three-year-olds with no parent to yank them back from the curb.
They stand in the middle of the lane, staring at oncoming bikes and not moving aside, forcing bikes to swerve. They open their truck doors into oncoming traffic. And then they complain? They're the problem.
And then the cops come and play power games with the cyclists.
As usual: Idiotic government: 1. Citizens: 0.
The situation on the QB bridge pedestrian / bicycle path could be considerably eased by having the cars, trucks and other vehicles brought by the police and maintenance workers park in the rightmost motor vehicle lane of the bridge. The underlying problem is that the free movement of motor vehicles is considered sacred, whereas that of pedestrians and cyclists doesn't matter.
I have seen workmen walking on and off the bridge, but I've never seen a cop do it and I don't expect to. You'd have to torture them with hot irons. And proper hot irons might be expensive to acquire and maintain.
@Ethan, why are the police harassing bicyclists when there is hardly any police at the subways. I had my iphone and my wallet robbed in 2 separate incidents and not one cop around. Yet I seen 5 cops in front of one small synagogue in the upper west side. wtf???
@ thefacts
hits by two bikes!? i guess after the first time you still didn't learn. it would seem logical to met aht most people hit by bikes are people who don't look where they are walking (ie no cars coming so i assume it is safe to walk without looking out for a bike). i ride a bike daily and the only times i have ever come close to hitting someone has been when they jump out in the street without looking while holding a blackberry to their ear and a blind eye to the world.
granted there are jerk bikers who will get close to pedestrians on purpose. but these are the minority.
what was your excuse?
I was among the cyclists forced to walk back to the foot of the bridge and repeat my trip at half speed, despite the total absence of workers on or around the bike path. It was infuriating. I've had several run-ins with that scooter cop and he's been nothing but stubborn, arbitrary and abusive. On one occasion, with all of the tact that one can expect from a man who likely passed his GED exam by a fraction of a point, he suggested that I need a beating.
And yet, when I was attacked outside of Metropolitan avenue station this week, DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM A POLICE STATION, IN PLAIN VIEW OF SEVERAL OFFICERS, nobody came to my aid until after a drunk had groped my friend, shoved me into a pile of trash and thrown her to the ground.
The NYPD needs to take a good look at its priorities. They should put aside cyclist harassment and the enforcement of non-existent laws regarding proper bike path usage until they've got the whole "protecting the welfare of your citizens" thing down.
This is not to say that all cops are bad- I know some good, dedicated, intelligent cops, but the lion's share of NYPD officers that I've had the displeasure of meeting have been slow-witted and abusive.
I'd also like to point out that it seems silly to monitor and impede the flow of bicycle traffic so rigorously when the workers are equally close to the roadway on which cars and trucks (you know, heavy, metal things that weight several dozen tons) regularly travel in excess of 60 miles per hour.
BOO HOO! I had to stop and get off and walk my bike on a bridge while a major music festival was taking place. BOO HOO!
Walking home through Central Park Monday evening I was crossing the northbound park road with the light in the crosswalk. All the cars are stopped like they should be but when I get to the bike path on the inside of the road I am very nearly clipped by a biker who without any exaggeration was going at least 25 MPH. The guy never slowed down, never yielded to anyone, broke several traffic laws and endangered my life much more than any car I've seen do in the last month or so.
GENERALLY this is how most bikers behave. GENERALLY that's why people don't want to hear them whine any longer.
My mother taught me to look both ways before crossing the street. Not because cars may legally drive the wrong way down the street, but because I would be safer if I did so.
Bikes shouldn't hit people who are legally in the cross walk. At the same time, pedestrians who are looking down/talking on the cell phone/ignoring their surroundings are definitely more at risk of being hit by cars/bikes/etc.
now you know why I dance my jig..
Has there every been followup on the deaths-by-automobiles of those two young women last weekend on 14th St?
http://gothamist.com/2008/10/05/more_details_emerge_from_fatal_taxi.php
It was never made clear if the drivers were at fault. Apparently automobile-associated deaths in this city are so routine, these stories are quickly forgotten - if they ever even makes the news.
But let's continue to whine about cyclists.
"I was twice hit by a bike, never a car. I know more people hit by bikes than by cars."
The Facts
I do wonder if he chose his handle in irony.
[29] Yup. Apparently, "thefacts" conveniently forgets that he's still around to complain about being hit by bikes, which was probably his fault as well. I'm willing to bet he has a "I've got the effing right of way and I'm standing my ground" attitude, so he got hit. Many people who get hit by cars don't get to complain about it. Death seems to have a way of shutting people up.
#23 Logical? Ha, what a poor choice of words. But arrogance can do that to someone.
Think: In a pedestrian crosswalk, with the light in my favor, I was struck by a cyclist, but fortunately not hurt, like my friend an errant cyclist put in hospital for 2 weeks.
Repeat, since you seem slow: in a crosswalk on a green light.
Of course, bikes don't run red lights, ever.
They ALWAYS stop for red lights and wait till it turns green.
When NYC cyclists behave like Dutch cyclists and obey the law, they will get respect. Until then, they get disdain from most pedestrians, and whatever motorists and the copos mete out to them.
Is there anything the NYPD isn't really, really sh*t at?
You people complain about everything..geez. Go back to where the hell you came from. Maybe the cops have to babysit you idiots because you can't seem to follow posted instructions of walking the bike and dismounting.
Trust me, if the cops did not force you to dismount then some other whiner would be saying the cops are not doing anything about cyclists NOT dismounting...
cops can't win...cyclists complain and then on the other side pedestrians complain. Stop being a baby and depending on cops to run your lives.
All the bad stuff that automobile drivers do in the whole world doesn't make the bad stuff that bikers GENERALLY do any better. If ten people a day are killed by cars that doesn't make it any less bad that people are still put in danger by bikers who GENERALLY disobey traffic laws.
Amazing how some folks scream for equality without doing the same for others.
I guess it's only cool to express your opinions when it's in line with theirs.
What the hell is the point of having a bike lane when you can't use it? Motorists would bitch and moan if they closed the bridge as well. The cops don't improve anything by acting like self righteous bullies with badges and guns. If you dare to question what they say their egos get bruised. They get defensive. Do as I say or you go to jail. That is pure bullshit...
So what if the bikers have to dismount and walk a few feet?
I regularly walk to work over various bridges, always keeping to the pedestrian side, yet I've nearly been hit by speeding bikes many times.
And those of you saying the workers shouldn't be there, or are some sort of inconvenience... these guys are just making a living. Slow down.
That guy who had to go back and start over... too bad they didn't make him wear a dunce cap.
I left out an important point:
I think 95% of cyclists are courteous and respectful, but that other 5% pose a serious risk. I guess you could call this group punishment, but is it really that bad to dismount and walk a bit? It's not like they are rerouting cyclists to a different bridge.
Put half the police force on bikes and watch these idiots change their tune. Cops don't care about anyone or anything from their protective bubble. Get them some vulnerability and suddenly they become human beings again.
As of late and because of the unruly bicyclists, when there is overnight construction on the Queensboro Bridge bicycle/Pedestrian path - the path will now be closed. There were two incidents - one on July 18th 09 after a bicyclist refused to dismount through the construction zone, fell and was injued and taken to Cornell hospital. In another incident a few days later as I was riding my bicycle across the bridge I witnessed another bicyclist refusing to dismount and using his bicycle as a battering ram to push one of the construction contractors out of the way. Now PD is at the foot of the bridge to stop anyone from going on the the path at all when there is construction. Maybe a bus will be there to take them across, I don't know. It is what it is now thanks to some bicyclists who had to have it their way.