" Leo Moskowitz,
who has been involved in the bike lane debate
since the beginning. He says his neighbors are fed up with inconsiderate cyclists,"

YOU are talking about "following the rules?"

Please tell me why somebody should not be free to launch these four as far and you can possibly send them off the ground, and collect the 1,000 points!?

One evening I was cycling down Driggs between Metropolitan and Division. A minivan almost hit me three times; upon the fourth attempt the van screeched to a hault in front of me, forcing me to a stop. The passenger-side window was lowered; between his wife, a Hassidic man tried to convince me that he had the right of way each time he assaulted me because I wasn't in a lane specifically reserved for cyclists. Despite the fact that a lane specifically demarcated for cyclists existed along our path of fury, I insisted that sharing lanes was the only legal thing to do. The rear window rolled down to reveal four stone-faced children in the back. After asking if the man would run me over if I pressed onward after a few minutes of getting nowhere, I left the scene.

A. WTF.

B. Perhaps we all need a bit of education on the matter. Cyclists and pedestrians are both at fault. If children and the elderly are prone to advancing into traffic, perhaps they aren't fit for living in the streets of New York. If cyclists cannot stop at stop signs and red lights, perhaps they aren't fit for cycling the streets of New York. We all deserve tickets.

C. I do not claim to be fully capable of doing either successfully all the time. Obviously.

D, Hassids can't touch women so the event described by Christine Sandoval couldn't have happened? Fuck you Leo Moskowitz, I protest.

This is commonplace because these people consider themselves the "chosen ones" so they think they do not have to follow laws. They are the worse drivers in the city, as they never signal, and are always talking on cell phones. How come the NYPD does not get off their fat duffs and start ticketing their driving violation. Oh, that's right.. a cyclist rolling through a stop light with nobody is present is much more a danger than a Hasid driving while talking on a cell phone.

YOU ARE KIDDING ME WITH THIS QUOTE, RIGHT?!:

"
On Bedford Avenue by Willoughby, my father-in-law was knocked
over by one of the bikers and had to go to the hospital with two or
three stitches.
The biker didn't even have the decency to stop!"

The question has to be asked, WHERE WAS THE PERSON STANDING WHEN HE WAS STRUCK? From personal experience being a cyclist and driver who uses Bedford and Lee Avenues on a daily basis would be that the person was struck WHILE STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET and NOT the sidewalk- WHERE HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE!

The Hasidic community are the biggest violators of motor vehicle and jaywalking laws. They rarely signal when turning or changing lanes, constantly run stop signs and a good estimate would be over 75% talk on cell phones when they are driving. Take one drive down Lee Avenue (in car on bike) and count how many of this lawbreaking community stick baby carriages out in traffic or crosses without the light. If you get hit by a bike WHEN STANDING ON A SIDEWALK, OR CROSSING WITH THE LIGHT, then you have a claim of safety issues. If you are hit while standing IN THE BIKE LANE, or IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET, WHEN YOU DO NOT HAVE THE LIGHT, as cruel as it might sound- you deserve what you got.

Before you attack cyclist in general, you might want to distinguish between a bike rider and cyclist. The later usually is a lot more serious about their craft and more law abiding. Personally, I am a distance athlete who obeys all the traffic laws, including red lights and school buses (that is where I fuel up or take on water).

And as far as this Leo Moskowitz character goes, I guess he has not heard of his people visiting prostitutes or grabbing an upclose and personal look of women sunning themselves on towels in Prospect and Central Parks either..
.... I guess we see what WE WANT TO!

"Moskowitz says, "If the city is providing a Greenway for the bikers, yes you
have a detour, but why not follow the rules."

REALLY LEO? The same rules like not supposed to be talking on cell phones when driving, signaling when changing a lane and turning, not running stop signs, not signaling when parking or pulling out from a parking spot that the Hasidic community violate on a DAILY BASIS??? GET F'N REAL!

WNBR NYC fully supports topless riding, but intentionally provoking this community is NOT endorsed. Of course, we hope all ignorant, violent, auto-dependent people who thrive on body-shame could become more enlightened the the REAL INDECENT EXPOSURE.

This being said, here is a link to a scene from last years' ride:

http://bit.ly/lU76pV

And here is another, far more important link:

http://bit.ly/Bi7aY

See you, all of you, 06/11/11!

Bike lanes are a bad idea. It makes people care even less about cyclists on any normal road, which - let's face it - will always get the higher milage on any regular (e.g. non purely recreational) city ride (and almost 100% outside the city). Pedestrians have instinctive respect for inaudible bikes, which is why they will always jump carelessly into the bike lanes and use them as they would use any other open space, which makes bike lanes dangerous, in a sense.

I am doing approximately 10k miles every year on my bike and frankly feel safer and faster on normal roads without all these blind and careless pedestrians. I believe they are more dangerous to my safety than cars traveling in the same direction and usually paying at least some minimal level of attention to whats going on around them (me = wearing sufficient reflective/bright clothing and using lights, of course). I have been in some near-collision events and all of them involved either parked cars (doors...) or pedestrians, but never moving cars.

Having said all this, I am driving in a way that never assumes that car drivers would see me, so I am avoiding situations like getting cut off etc.

In Europe bikes and cars are used to sharing the street space and thus pay attention. In the US, they are not. I guess thats the source of the problem, and bike lanes don't solve this as long as not every single street has one.

I just got hit on Kent in South Williamsburg riding with traffic. I was doored while obeying every law in the book. The Kent bike lane is not two ways all the way up and down and this guy who happened to be Orthodox not Hasidim was very kind to me. But come on - it's just stupid. There is not a bike-car culture in this city that resonates with everyone. I said to him that he needed to watch what he was doing, and his response was "I was just opening my door!" Exactly, sir!!

Here's my take - We need to respect each other, the laws and our lives. Also, bikers need to take some responsibility - I wouldn't bike on any part of Flatbush Avenue at any time of the day and expect it to go well. But bikers need to keep riding in mass on the rest of the safer streets so we can balance out the power and arrogance that car drivers take on the roadways.

I'd like to recount my experience as a bicyclist on Bedford one day back in 2009. I was traveling North at a fairly good pace, maybe over 20 mph. I had grown accustomed to cars, buses, SUVs swerving unexpectedly in front of me, but this incident beat all of them. A large SUV suddenly pulled into my lane and cut me off, I went right in order to pass it, and a bus rushed up and braked very fast directly in front of me, angling itself across the remaining pavement except for a small space large enough for my bike. I admit some frustration as I went right again to pass the bus, which did not have its stop sign up. A child SPRANG very quickly off the bus--this all happened in about 3 seconds after first being cut off by the SUV. I had no time to stop, but I break break very hard, and unfortunately I hit the child. He fell down. I felt horrible, was immediately surrounded--grabbed by the arm (i am not a woman) photographed repeatedly. The child was unhurt, as I had looked at him, asked him and made sure he was okay. I gave them my name. I had never been in a bicycling accident before, after 4 years of daily commutes to and from work. Something seemed very wrong: its not that I wasn't careless, it was the speed at which I was cut off (not the first time) that seemed aggressive, and the sense of hostility I would get from drivers who seemed to be deliberately using their vehicles as weapons, and driving their buses in an unsafe, unobservant or respectful manner. I wish these bike wars, and the bizarre hatred for bicyclists would stop. Bikes are better for people and the environment, we should understand that.

>> He says his neighbors are fed up with inconsiderate cyclists >>

They are fed up with inconsiderate people. lolz

cyclists and hasidim, the two most inconsiderate groups in this city having an inconsiderate off. who will win?!?!

Hey ya'll. I live on Bedford and Dekalb and both drive my car and ride my bike up Bedford to Wburg every day. Sometimes, I jog. So, I basically experience the topic of this thread every day, from all three spectrums. There are alot of shitty drivers and cyclists (I mean, just oblivious cyclists). The hasids generally don't look when they walk across the street (using a crosswalk or not) and I've had to avoid them many times as a driver, cyclist, and pedestrian. I admit, I do blow red lights on my bike but I always slow down and carefully proceed only if it's safe. But all in all, I would say that this shit is being blown out of proportion because in the past 5 - 6 years of traveling this route, I've never seen anything that bad. It seems like the people that get all agitated are the ones that don't live on this route? I'm not sure. BUT, my number one all time NYC irk (even before people getting off the subway before letting waiting others in) is cyclists riding the wrong way. And this does happen on Bedford. And I do let them know that "fucking Franklin or Nostrand is one block away!". Protesting the loss of a bike lane is pointless when someone is just gonna hit you head on one of these days. So, tomorrow, I'm doing a pantless bike ride protesting these ding dongs. We'll start at Dekalb and ride NORTH to Manhattan. I'll be the one with no pants and a red rose.

But then you'll have to burn your bike seat.

As a cyclist, I agree that people need to stop "salmoning"!

I agree too!! wholeheartedly.

Agreed. It's a bike etiquette point that you can only fully appreciate if you ride a bike. I'm fine with them running reds (provided, of course, they yield right-of-way as necessary), but there is an expectation that you will not find yourself riding down a one-way street into oncoming traffic, and that you only need to look in one direction for vehicles at a one-way intersection.

As a cyclist and motorist I always thought if cyclist and motorist would just follow the protocol there would be no need for bike lanes. However, never in my wildest imagination did I ever believe a bike lane (installed or removed) would result in anarchy.

Truly this same complaint came from the Willyburg Orthodox Jews several years ago.
What they object to is seeing the women & some men in short shorts riding their bikes
through their community for a people that dress up their women ankle to the top of their
heads with covering this parade of almost public nudity is considered offensive.
As Summer is approaching we get this complaint about bike's and street usage again & again.
What they want is no cute butts waving about as bikers ride by.
Brooklyn has changed and their chosen Neighborhood once 100%
their own and controllable ,is no more.

Time for a bikers to have critical mass happening in williamsburg, up and down bedford... that ought to solve the problem of sharing

... you forgot "topless."

Also in Brooklyn on Ocean parkway most ppl walk on the bike path as if it doesn't even exist. Meanwhile the cyclists are to blame. Damn man, this is upsetting. And then the Jewish have authority because they provide wealth into the community. And they're so thankful for everything. lol. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much, thank you, oh thank you. lmao