A 17-year-old cyclist was struck and killed by a truck in Harlem yesterday. According to a NYPD spokesperson, both the cyclist—who was only identified as a Hispanic male—and the truck were traveling westbound on 125th Street near Fifth Avenue when the truck struck the teenager. "I heard a crack," a witness told DNAinfo, noting that it sounded like "air coming out of him." more ›

Following the news of marked improvements for pedestrians and cyclists traveling around Grand Army Plaza, the DOT has announced [pdf] new improvements around Prospect Park's southeast entrance, including closing the East Drive entrance to automobiles. According to the agency, 20 people are injured at this corner every year, and Streetsblog notes that closing the entrance allows for a realigning of the crosswalks, which "should make motorists more aware of people walking across the street." 57% of the crashes between pedestrians and vehicles at Ocean and Parkside between 2005 and 2009 occurred when the pedestrian had the walk signal. more ›

The DOT is preparing to extend the protected bike lanes on First and Second Avenue up through East Harlem, adding the lanes and pedestrian refuge islands between 96th Street to 125th Street. Naturally, this is an important opportunity for the tabloids to publish scaremongery stories about bike lanes tearing communities' apart, and so the News has a report today on all the Harlem merchants who "fear soaring asthma rates and losing customers." Alternative headline: Three Misinformed Merchants Worry More About Deliveries Than Safety. more ›

The DOT has released its report on cycling in NYC and determined that the number of people who commute by bicycle has increased 8% over last year. (Read it below) Overall, bike riding has increased 102% compared to 2007 and by 289% compared to 2001, says the DOT, which measures commuter cyclists by counting them at the four East River bridges, the Hudson River Greenway at 50th Street, and the Whitehall ferry terminal. An average of 18,846 cyclists per day was recorded this year, up from 17,491 in 2010. The DOT attributes the increase in large part to Steve Cuozzo the DOT: more ›

Last night, "Rock Center with Brian Williams" dipped its toe into the topic of New York City transportation: specifically, DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. Overall the piece is a fair one, and gives Sadik-Khan plenty of room to answer her critics and lay out her vision for a safer, cleaner, more efficient city. But Brian Williams, who is supposed to be the network's "young," affable anchor, turns into NBC's Steve Cuozzo. Williams tells reporter Harry Smith that he's "drunk the Kool-Aid" when Smith lauds the DOT's efforts, and calls Sadik-Khan "a very powerful woman with an exotic name." Haha, it's mass suicide to support bike lanes! And isn't "Ronald Reagan" exotic compared to "Brian Williams?" more ›

A pedestrian who was sued by a cyclist that struck her in Central Park this summer has countersued. According to the lawsuit obtained by the Post, 28-year-old Meghan Rohan alleges that 46-year-old Sabine Von Sengbusch had "total disregard" when she hit Rohan and shattered her elbow. more ›

Cyclists; advocates for safer streets; and the parents, family, and friends of deceased cyclists will gather outside NYPD Headquarters at 1 Police Plaza Wednesday morning to demand justice. Brooklyn artist Mathieu Lefevre became the most recent fatality after he was killed by a flatbed truck in Williamsburg last month—although the driver left the scene, the NYPD opted not to press any charges. Lefevre's parents, who are from Canada, learned about this not from the NYPD—which they say blew them off—but from the press, which seems to have an easier time getting answers than a grieving family. more ›

In keeping with the tabloids' "fresh" narrative concerning the battle in public parks between heartless cyclists vs. vulnerable pedestrians, the Daily News visited Prospect Park with a radar gun last weekend and "clocked bikers going as fast as 31 mph—even through a red light at a crosswalk." And like the NYPD, they have no respect for journalism: " 'Move from here! Move from here!' one cyclist clad in racing gear yelled at a reporter who was not even in a bike-only lane." more ›

A cyclist dares to challenge the behavior of a pedestrian in Central Park, and the New York Post cannot BELIEVE the injustice. 46-year-old Sabine von Sengbusch is suing 28-year-old Meghan Rohan after von Sengbusch's bike struck Rohan after she allegedly walked into the bike lane near 69th Street and East Drive. Rohan shattered her elbow, but the cyclist is claiming the accident caused her "great physical pain and mental anguish." Maybe Rohan can use the Frisbee Defense? more ›

Bike lane haters are still smarting after being forced to chug a gallon of Haterade after a judge dismissed a lawsuit against the Prospect Park West bike lane. But as they appeal the decision, the DOT has handed them a small victory by omitting the construction of a two-way bike lane on East and West Plaza Streets at Grand Army Plaza. "If we had not done what we've been doing with the bike lanes, they probably would have moved ahead," Louise Hainline of Neighbors That Don't Use Bike Lanes Neighbors For Better Bike Lanes tells the Daily News. more ›

Arturas Zuokas, mayor of the Lithuanian town of Vilnius, is a hero to those of us who frequent the city's bike lanes. If a luxury vehicle happens to obstruct them in Vilnius, he is not afraid to use his tank to enforce the law. We dreamed of a day when Mayor Bloomberg and Janette Sadik-Khan will plow over those giant tour buses on the Bowery, but it appears that Zuokas is taking his message to NYC. This video shows him slapping a sticker depicting a tank crushing a car on a Chrysler blocking a bike lane on Prince Street. more ›

The slow march towards filling in the Greenway Gap on the East Side achieved an important milestone yesterday with a Memorandum of Understanding between the city and the U.N., which will allow cyclists, pedestrians and park-goers in general access to the waterfront between East 38th and East 60th Streets—while at the same time allowing the center of world politics to expand its campus with a new office tower. It is a win-win situation for everybody—especially for the man on the bike who's a terrorist. more ›

While the DOT is hard at work installing barriers at the bottom of the Williamsburg Bridge bike/pedestrian path in Manhattan, the NYPD is hard at work on the other side of the bridge writing tickets to cyclists. During yesterday's p.m. rush hour, a tipster sent us these photos of the NYPD issuing a slew of summonses. The offense? Riding the wrong way down a wide, sleepy half-block to get to the cyclist entrance to the bridge. The witness estimates that he saw "16-20 people" ticketed in twenty minutes, which seems hard to believe, but he tells us the offending cyclists were ordered to stand on line and wait their turn as the cops took care of business (literally). more ›

Yesterday the City Council held hearings on three new bills that would require the DOT to "present bike projects to community boards, coordinate with other agencies before implementation, and report back on the results," as Streetsblog puts it. The thing is, the DOT already does this: despite what the anti-cyclist reactionaries would have you believe, existing law already requires CB hearings prior to the installation of most bike lanes (yes, even the Prospect Park bike lane, which opponents falsely claim was rammed down Park Slope's throat). But cycling advocates fear one of the bills could tangle the city's robust bike lane expansion in red tape. more ›

Last month the dismissal of the lawsuit against the Prospect Park West bike lane led to a cleansing, "Tahrir Square" moment for cyclists who felt the community-approved bike lanes were under siege by a few rich NIMBYs. Hopefully that feeling was savored, because Streetsblog reports that Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes and Seniors for Safety have appealed the ruling. more ›

If you're chomping at the handlebar to get a taste of some sweet, sweet NYC Bike Share action, you don't have to wait until next summer. The DOT is holding a bike share demonstration today from noon until 4:00 p.m. in DUMBO at the Manhattan Bridge Archway on Water & Adams Streets. Get your questions answered, give the DOT feedback, and take a bike for a spin. It's a perfect day for a ride. more ›

Capitulating to pressure from City Council, the mayor's office and the DOT have agreed to hold public hearings regarding the new bike-share program before it is implemented. "No one is against bike-share—it's something that every major city across the world is adopting and bracing," councilmember Leroy Comrie tells the Times, "But what I don't want to see happen is a pattern develop, where City Hall finds ways to exclude Council from its natural role." Exactly, you want Council to be properly informed before making a huge decision of policy. more ›

A project that would create a mile-long esplanade, including a "cantilevered riverfront walkway" and a bike path, along the east side of Manhattan is two months away from its approval deadline in October. The Post reports that the deal would involve selling or leasing Robert Moses playground to the UN, and allow the organization to build another high-rise for office space. The city would sell the currently occupied UN buildings, creating up to $400 million in revenue, enough to pay for the improvements and upkeep. The sweet, sweet irony of course is that the playground in question is named after the man who some believe sold New York City's soul to the automobile. more ›

Witnesses to the cycling accident that killed Nicolas Djandji say that he was following his friend on a black racing bike when he was struck by the Toyota Highlander. "His friend was screaming," a witness tells the Daily News, "He didn't want to see his friend like that." It's still unclear whether Djandji was wearing a helmet or if he was riding in the bike lane on Rodney Street, and while no charges have been filed against the driver, the investigation is ongoing. According to Transportation Alternatives Djandji is the tenth cyclist this year to be killed in the city. more ›

A 24-year-old cyclist was killed in Williamsburg last night by a SUV at the intersection of Rodney Street and Borinquen Place. Around 8:25 p.m., Nicola Djandji was biking with a friend eastbound on Borinquen. As he began to take a left on Rodney, he was struck by a woman in a Toyota Highlander traveling westbound, according to the NYPD. Djandji was found unconscious and unresponsive at the scene, and was pronounced dead on arrival at Woodhull Hospital. It's unclear whether he was wearing a helmet. No charges have been filed against the driver, and the investigation is ongoing. more ›

Normally when we spill ink on one of Steve Cuozzo's adorable columns in the NY Post, it's to point out that he is the Mayor of Wrongville, a loner afraid of change who sits in the corner of his hovel surrounded by jars of urine, rocking back and forth on his heels whilst murmuring things about "pedestrian plazas." Maybe not! Today, Cuozzo is the champion of service employees everywhere in advocating for a mandatory, built-in 20 percent tip in New York establishments. "A mandatory service charge democratizes the restaurant experience for both customers and staff," Cuozzo writes. more ›