Blowing through Red Lights - Cyclists who do this usually don't care for their own life on this planet and could cause a motorist to swerve and get hurt. This is unacceptable.

Running Red Lights - Yes, this is different from blowing through a red light. How many lights are triggered by bikes? How long would a motorist wait at a red light that never turned green? Most states have vehicle codes that state when a traffic light malfunctions (which is technically what happens when a bike does not trigger it), the vehicle is allowed to treat it like a stop sign.

Wearing Helmets - Irrelevant. The law states that only persons under the age of 18 are required to wear helmets.

Helmet use in other civilized, bike-friendly European cities is less than 5%, and people don't get hurt or die nearly as often as in the States.

couple things:

a bike lane is not an extension of the sidewalk, if you treat it as such you will get hit by a cyclist, and while unfortunate, it will be your fault. (this is why i take delancey instead of grand: a ped actually knocked me down for being in his way on the bike lane, whereas cars just speed like nuts, but will let me take the right lane on delancey.)

regarding the bike lane law: most bikes lanes, i.e. 6th ave, are the width of a car door and placed directly next to parked cars. i do not use the 6th ave bike lane because it poses a physical danger to me as a bike rider. i may ride in the lane if drivers knew they could get a ticket for opening a door dangerously, by not looking, etc.

it does matter that pedestrians walk against the light because they will look for cars only and if they see a bike they will continue, and get hit by the bike, and while unfortunate, it will be their fault.

pedestrians are a danger to cyclists, both on bridges and the streets. if a cyclist is riding at a fast speed of, say, 13 mph, and a pedestrian walks in front of him without looking, all parties will be injured, and while unfortunate, it will be the pedestrians fault.

regarding red lights, cyclists do not intentionally want to hit anyone, and any cyclists maneuvering through red lights in manhattan must be an experienced manhattan rider, since it takes a lot of bike handling skill and awareness to pull those moves without dying. no one should see a green light and think they could close their eyes while passing through the intersection. always be aware. a cyclist sees you, so try to see them, and if you see them at the last second, try to remain calm and freeze, don't run in every direction possible. the red light game is a game peds and bikers play together. yeah, cars shouldn't play, they weigh multiple tons. but bikes, let them play, they only weigh about 25 pounds. we just all got to look, ALL. bikers and peds.

anyone who doesn't care when a bike rider is injured or killed is less than human. bad things happen, often due to bad choices. it doesn't mean you should be so cold to humanity.

wear a helmet, your liberal crying is cliche and annoying.

get off the fucking sidewalk bike rider, unless you're trying to avoid getting run over by a cab or something.

food deliver guys should wear helmets and get tickets for all the shit they do, because they are reckless AND unskilled riders. leave those bonehead moves to the professionals.

in summation, bikes are closer to pedestrians than cars, otherwise they wouldn't let us on the bridge paths, so let's let the rules designed for cars be bent a little--about as much as peds bend their own set of rules, all within civil and social reason, of course.

Heh I'm fine with people on bikes and motorcycles not wearing helmets...go ahead have fun

Now if you crack your melon and want me to pay for it then

the party is over, pay for that cracked melon your own self

I'm sure you wouldn't have it any other way

I ride a bicycle because it's fast and it's cheap, and I'm neither hard-working nor an immigrant. I don't see why I should have to sit in a car in a traffic jam or hang around waiting for a bus or a train if I'm smart enough and strong enough to do something else. If you want to be a slave to what you see on television, so be it. I prefer to think for myself.

As for the Hunter survey, it's a crock. They don't even seem to be aware that helmets are (thank God) not required by law. In any case most of the law has been concocted by bureaucrats sitting in offices who have no idea of how traffic actually works. The way things are set up at present, it is safer for bicyclists to run red lights. And most bicycle lanes are death traps.

As for assholes and zombies, they abound. They're not confined to one mode of transportation or another.

"As for the Hunter survey, it's a crock. They don't even seem to be aware that helmets are (thank God) not required by law."

What possible argument is there against wearing properly fitted bike helmets? They help prevent brain injury and save lives. The studies are out there.

There isn't room enough in this blog to give all the reasons why bicycle helmets are evil, so I'll focus on just two.

First, a political one: bicycle helmets make bicycle riding seem like some kind of weird, dangerous behavior carried on by childish people in the midst of traffic while more sober, mature citizens try to carry on the urgent business of speeding everywhere in their automobiles. This not only encourages the kind of stupid prejudice you see above, but also affects the minds of the police and other authorities. As a result, whenever there is a crash involving a bicycle and a motor vehicle, the bicyclist is usually blamed, which of course gives people the idea that it's all right to knock off a few bicyclists, and reinforces the prejudice against bicycling. In European and Asian countries where bicycling is a common, accepted means of adult transportation hardly anyone wears a helmet.

Second thing: I don't like having something on my head all the time. Therefore, I don't want a bicycle helmet on my head. Every time you do something you don't like because of fear or oppression, you die a little. I'd rather live. I have weighed the chances of taking serious injury from not wearing a helmet, which are rather small, against the certainty of feeling bad about wearing a helmet and found the former a better bet than the latter. You may have different feelings -- if so, enjoy your helmet -- but please stay off my case.

This is only scratching the surface.

You might not like wearing a helmet but I'll bet you like having control of your bowels and being able to feed yourself. If you smash your head against the curb and become permanently disabled, I'll bet you expect tax dollars to be used to pay someone to change your diaper.

Just grow up and wear a helmet already.

New York City has two types of bicyclists.

Hard working immigrants, who can't afford a car or a metrocard.

And self righteous yuppie douchebags trying to make a political point and show how "green" they are.

One group I feel nothing but sympathy and respect for, because they just do what they have to to work and survive in this city.

The other I think are a group of over entitled whiny assholes, who cry and moan about every so called "injustice" and "abuse" they claim are inflicted on them by car owners, pedestrians and the city.

Do you actually believe that? How incredibly stupid.

If she swerved into traffic that was her own stupid fault. I view bike lanes that are adjacent to the sidewalk as mere sidewalk extensions. That's because there are a lot more pedestrians on the sidewalk than there are bikes in the bike lane. And if they don't like it too fucking bad.

And bikes do kill pedestrians, though it's rare. But what the hell does this moral relativism have to do with anything? Bikers always want to change the subject when someone talks about how they don't obey traffic rules.

Do you step off the sidewalk into the bike lane? Do you look before you do?

Here is your problem, you view "bike lanes that are adjacent to the sidewalk as mere sidewalk extensions." They're not, stay the heck out.

new Headline::::

Pedestrians disobey traffic rules and jeopardize cyclist safety!! 50 percent of peds found in bike lanes EVEN when there is a SIDEWALK available. Cyclist has no alternative but to swerve into street, car hits her. She is maimed for life.

sorry but since WHEN has a cyclist KILLED a pedestrian? give me a break.

"cyclists need to follow the rules of the road like everyone else"

sooo.. not paying attention to red lights, not watching where they go, riding the wrong way, riding on the sidewalk, and yelling at people? like everyone else?

careful what you wish for – i'd say everyone's already following the same rules.

Naturally, if many more people take to bicycling, the complaints will be from bicyclists about each other. Too many bikes and speeds will drop as streets get more congested with them. As a pedestrian, I've had cyclists zip by me very close but they always seem to manage avoiding hitting me. When I drive, I know they're around so I don't lurch out into the street or stop in the middle of a crosswalk. To me, the mix of traffic is just a fact of life and I always try to be aware of what's around...

Any data on how many pedestrians cross against the light?

BTW, in many places a bike lane is just as bad as riding in traffic (yes, I'm talking to you 8th avenue). Some bike lanes inexplicably end at busy intersections (although Columbus Circle just rectified this, the Port Authority dumps the bike lane into a mass of aggressive taxis). Others are used as waiting areas for limos and, quite often, police cars. Although I love Bleeker street lane, it's riddled with tire snagging sewer grates (the kind with the long slats paralel to the sidewalk) and mis-aligned manholes. I've already covered the Broadway lane in previous posts -- which is constantly blocked with pedestrians and people with hand trucks.

I'm tired of being accused of not paying attention while riding. I guarantee you that the people MOST aware of cars and pedestrians are the cyclists. If you're surprised by one -- then YOU are not paying attention.

You just have to love all the generalizations around here. "Everyone on wheels in this city is a prick." And all the hatred toward any bicyclist. Funny thing is that the figures disprove that. The highest figure is only 37%. Hardly every cyclist. And the other figures are lower.

If you look closer, ~66% of riders ran red lights.

any study on the Boulevard of Death?

I wish those Hunter students would come out to Queens and log motorists who routinely ignore stop signs and invariable speed on Crescent Street once it becomes one-way south of 30th Avenue.

It would also be worthwhile counting the pedestrians who jaywalk, obstruct bicycle lanes and do not wait on the curb to cross the street.

Cyclists aren't alone in this free-for-all NYC traffic lunacy.

I can remember when I lived on West 95th Street in Manhattan and cars on West End Avenue would speed up to make the turn onto the Henry Hudson Pkwy. Not only that, they would run the red light. All this happened in front of an elementary school.

I can also recall the bicyclist who was using his cell phone while bicycling on West End Avenue and was wobbling all over the road.

New York City will never be a good place for cars, pedestrians, or bicyclist because all those groups are simply selfish. They have no concern for other people or the law. Until people change, those Hunter students will be able to do study after study to prove what people already know.