Results tagged “bicyclist”

We've heard about driver vs. bicyclist fights before, but Streetsblog has a really unusual one. Unusual because the bicyclist was charged with criminal mischief for slapping the side of the SUV! From Streetsblog:

[Ray] Bengen, 63, was riding down the Ninth Avenue bike lane on May 21 when he came across the Ford Excursion you see in this photo (curb weight: 7,190 lbs). A long-time city cyclist, Bengen had a green light and wasn't quite sure what to make of the vehicle in front of him. The car wasn't moving and its brake lights were off.

Some followup to a bicyclist's accusations that an SUV driver rammed into him in Central Park, which Gawker first reported: The Daily News reports that the police are investigating Brian Dooda's claims that he was "dragged more than 200 feet" by Don Broderick's SUV, adding, "Sources said a detective spoke to Dooda Tuesday but it was not yet known if charges would be filed against Broderick." The News, of course, notes Broderick's employment history—he's a "former New York Post reporter who now works for Rupert Murdoch's" Fox News—but notes the 53-year-old driving record is clean. But now Gawker says Broderick was once suspended for "assaulting a Fox co-worker...roughly ten years ago in the Fox newsroom." Streetsblog says the city's policy of keeping cars in Central Park's loop is to blame (the city has reduced car hours a little), "Until officials summon the small measure of political will needed to return the loop road to its rightful users, it will continue to be a contested street to which both drivers and park users believe they have a righteous claim. And the next Brian Dooda may not be so lucky." And Dooda offered one idea for Broderick's punishment to the News: "He has to ride a bike through Manhattan in rush hour."

Transportation Alternatives, which advocates for "bicycling, walking and public transit as the best transportation alternatives," has this interesting graph in the new issue of Street Beat. It shows how more bicyclists have led to better safety:

New data now reveals that there are 185,000 daily cyclists in New York City, an increase of more than one third from just four years ago. This staggering surge is not only a testament to the infrastructure improvements that have been implemented in the last couple of years, but also a contributing factor to the increased safety of cyclists throughout the city.

Continue reading "More Bicyclists, Fewer Casualties"

The NY Times' City section has a sprawling feature about biking in the city by writer Robert Sullivan. Sullivan (who wrote the wonderful about the rodent's history in NYC) noticed how his bike rides these days are much more pleasant—compared to 1987 when it included "navigating honks and taunts, the mayhem that was then on Cathedral Parkway"—thanks to more recent bicycle-friendly measures and, overall, more bicyclists on the road.

Today, the 4th Annual Memorial Ride and Walk, organized by the Street Memorial Project, is taking place. The Memorial Ride and Walk visits the sites where bicyclists and pedestrians were killed—according to Transportation Alternatives, "There were 14 known bicyclist fatalities and more than 100 pedestrian deaths in 2008, according to media reports."

In NJ, a bicyclist is in critical condition after being hit by a deer. According to the AP, George Ljutich, who was cycling with Cynthia Mooney, in Hopewell Township when a car hit a deer, which then went flying into the Ljutich's and Mooney's path. The AP reports, "Ljutich was thrown from the bike and struck his head on the pavement. Mooney sustained cuts and bruises"--and they were both wearing helmets. There have been some other recent incidents where deer have collided into people in NJ, but a state DEP spokesperson said, "Based on what's known about deer behavior, there's nothing occurring within the herd right now that might explain these accidents."

A woman was stabbed in the chest yesterday morning by a man on a bicycle. The woman, 37-year-old Eduarda Olivia, had been walking in the Queensbridge section with her 13-year-old daughter when the sudden attack occurred. She was taken to NY-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell, where she is currently in stable condition.

The police think the 10-speed bicycle, left near the trash on Thursday morning, belongs to the person who bombed the army recruiting center in Times Square. The bike, left on East 38th Street, was found by some workers who heard about the bombing and contacted the police, who learned of the bike at 7 a.m. (the bombing occurred around 3:45 a.m.).

The FBI said letters sent to many Congressional members with a photograph of a man standing in front of the Times Square recruiting center and an anti-war manifesto were not linked to yesterday's bombing outside the center. A law enforcement source did call the letters an "incredibly unbelievable coincidence," as they arrived in many offices yesterday, after days of sorting (per post-anthrax scare measures).

The pedestrian, bicyclist and sensible transportation advocacy group Transportation Alternatives has just launched a new website, Crash Maps: CrashStat 2.0, which maps intersections and streets where pedestrians and bicyclists have been hit by vehicles. It's an updated version of their previous map, and when the information is presented different depending on how closely you zoom into the map. For instance, at one level, it shows crashes (those with injuries as well as the fatal...