Now Babies Blocking Bike Lanes, Too

Via Felix Salmon's Twitter

Just last week some inconsiderate jerk was caught blocking a bike lane with his boat, now somebody else is doing it with a baby. Or the baby is doing it with its body? While it's true this is the cutest li'l bike lane block ever, just because it's adorable doesn't make it safe. And setting aside the danger posed to cyclists who might swerve out into traffic to avoid this cuddly little obstacle, there's also the terrifying risk that the infant is learning that bike riders are second class citizens who don't deserve their own space on our city's traffic infrastructure. And just because the child's immature, vertically-challenged dad is standing nearby DOESN'T MAKE IT OKAY.

The photo was taken by Reuters blogger Felix Salmon, who dubbed it "Still life with bike lane and baby." You may recall that Salmon recently wrote "A Unified Theory of New York Biking," examining the friction between cyclists, drivers, and pedestrians. He concluded that "bicyclists aren’t like pedestrians: we’re much faster, we can’t stop quickly, we can’t navigate as adroitly, and it takes a lot of effort to slow down and speed up again." And if you pedestrians think we're going to hit the brakes just because you're willing to sacrifice your newborn child, well... try us.

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By John Del Signore in News on September 23, 2010 5:49 PM

Comments [rss]

Guest

now i've reduced myself to commenting on things that do not relate to me at all, unless, i'm crossing a bike path/lane to get somewhere. it's barely a second of my whole day (listen to that, bikers!).

Liberalist

good idea! Then we can get those liberal cyclists for child murder as well! Everyone, lay your children donw in bike lanes as a protest! I've been parking my Hummer in the one on 1st ave but i cant fight this battle alone.

Pålægpåtoppenafsmørrebrød

If a cop tries to ticket me for not riding in the bike lane, I will cite this when I present my case to the traffic judge. Thank you.

Crapola

Hopefully those markings on the street means the DOT is contemplating getting rid of the Grand Street bike lane, bikers still prefer Delancey / Kenmare, it's a waste of space.

grandzu

Yellow markings are Con-Ed. Plus this one says its for gas.

HairyG

Check back in 3 or 4 months JCB, I'm sure the bike lane will be filled with bikers leisurely riding in the glorious winter weather.

JenChungsBaby

No kidding, right? In the winter the bike lane's going to only be storage for brown and yellow snow. I walked 7 blocks of Columbus during rush hour yesterday and the only bike I saw was riding on the sidewalk.

Potty Boy

Clearly, the baby was in a motorized baby carriage on wheels, and his travel was impeded by the bags of groceries in the bike lane. Why else would he be obstructing the lane through no fault of his own?

Shamhammer

baby its what's for dinner. maybe he was a delivery

Joan Angelson

I love chinese food. Anything greasy and fried is the best. General Chow's chicken over lo mein is the best.

New Baby Hitler

Hmmmm, I always see it as General Tso, not Chow. br/ Zieg Heil!

random transplant

Do you people hear yourselves?

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH A BIKER BLOWING AN INTERSECTION.

The insane scapegoating is great, though. If the anti-bike crowd could actually be mature & topic-specific there might not be so many bike lanes.

All jesting aside...

A bike lane is a traffic lane.

Even cabbies are starting to "get" this (according to me, in my opinion).

Lets start handing out some tickets?

JenChungsBaby

You could put 1,000 pudgy Chinese babies in the bike lane on Columbus Ave because it's deserted. Yesterday DOT had five pasty faced internish type people in DOT garb stopping pedestrians to ask if they wanted to know more about the new bike lane. Maybe they could explain why DOT is paying more people to stand around talking about the bike lane than there are people actually using it.

izsosick

is anyone wondering where the parents were at this time? you have a lil kid eating his pastry and a tiny baby sitting alone in a bike lane. the closest person to this baby is the baby bro.

Phil

And what did we bike riders do before there were bike lanes? This bike riders vs pedestrians vs autos and trucks and buses story is getting so old it has a gray Braylon Edwards beard.

exnyer

Can`t wait for the winter hawk to blow in and remove 90% of the bikes off the street.

TheTruthYouSeek

Today I walked across a cross walk. As I almost got to the other side, a biker blew by me and said "watch where you're going!" or something "and I said "There's a fucking stop sign!" and he stops and is about to come toward me so I said "What're you gonna fight me?". Then he saw a cop was near so he cowered on. Pieces of shit. I ride a bike but I don't fuckin yell at normal people when they're doing normal things.

McGG

But that same piece of shit biker will whine and cry like a baby when a car gets even remotely close to him. Kharma's a bitch.

Kate

I'm with "brainwash" - bikes are supposed to follow traffic laws, the same as cars. I'm constantly having close calls with pompous assholes who think they own the road. Try crossing Jay St near Metrotech at 9am - constant bikes flying by and I have NEVER seen ONE stop at a light.

kevd

Lets talk about the scourge of babies in this city.

The unrelenting, self-centered, whining little jerks.

Hanging out in bike lanes, crying. Shitting all over the place. You should need a license to be a baby in this city!