It's A Battle Of The Wheels For New York City Cyclists

My first set of wheels was a Strawberry Shortcake tricycle.

Ah! Those were the days! Cruising up and down the community driveways and around the backyard at my grandparents house on East 78th Street in Canarsie - those were simple times. As I got older and my bikes were abused from wear and tear, many of my wheels went missing after multiple moves during my teenage years.

The Evolution Of A Cyclist: A Girl And Her Bike

I never "traveled" with my bikes farther than to the end of the block and many parents' concerns at the time were that we should "watch out for active driveways" and cars pulling out of parking lots. Kids in the 1980s basically took over their blocks with bikes, so drivers basically expected to see us somewhere in their vehicle mirrors - coming out into traffic.

There were no "designated bike lanes" or greenways as there are now, and cars parked along Paerdegat Avenue North had the entire span to themselves from Avenue J to Seaview Avenue. There weren't enough deadly and fatal incidents involving cyclist and cars prompting politicians to champion for specific, protected lanes designed to keep cyclists safe.

Decades later, with thousands of well-mapped and well-thought out greenway bike paths in place - and thousands of bike paths designated along residential blocks - the number of cyclist deaths are on the rise and there's no end in sight to the ongoing tragedies.

The death toll, as of this writing, is 19 cyclist deaths in New York City. The 19th death was that of 52-year-old Jose Alzorriz, an avid cyclists, runner and triathlon competitor. Oddly, the media states that Alzorriz was waiting at a busy intersection in Midwood Brooklyn when he was plowed over by a car that blew through a red light. How was this well-loved athlete protected?
Weeks before that in July, a 30 year old woman who was cycling in Sunset Park was allegedly hit by a 10-wheeler truck and one article in the New York Daily News noted that "this year is on pace to be the deadliest year for cyclists since 2014."

Why? Good question!

My boyfriend and I got bicycles in August 2018 and we've been using them as our main source of transportation - no parking problems, no money spent on gas or insurance and best of all, we're never caught in a traffic jam somewhere along the highway waiting to move at a snails pace.

And it's so exciting to breeze to a destination while also getting a workout in there! I've recently incorporated cycling into my athletic life as a cross training tool - and it's been more time efficient than taking public transportation anywhere in the borough.

One thing I've noticed as a renewed cyclists is that there are more residents than ever biking city streets. If you hit up city beaches during any summer weekend, you'll see hundreds of bikes lined up and locked up along the boardwalks. On any given Saturday or Sunday morning, a string of savvy cyclists will be wheeling over the Belt Parkway and either of the bridges that head out to the Rockaways. The Jamaica Bay Greenway, as it's formally known along the Belt, is situated plenty of feet away from traffic and can be considered a "protected" bike path! There are physical spacial partitions and barricades protecting cyclists from traffic.

Unfortunately, when they painted white bicycle lanes along residential roads that run parallel to parked cars, the intention was good  but the reality of their space actually functioning isn't what infrastructure designers planned. I don't think it's what Mayor Bill de Blasio had planned in his "Zero Vision" initiative either!

You can create as many petitions as you'd like to make streets safer for cyclists, have more "zero vision" proposals and offer as many transportation changes as you'd like. Just because there's a bike path on a city street, it doesn't mean it's safe, designated or protected and it doesn't mean two wheels are any less important than four!

Let's get real!!! If you want to make bike lanes safe and attempt to bring down fatality rates, the city would have to build boulders, barriers or paths so far away from traffic in every community that there'd be NO chance of collision or danger. This is impossible, I know.  And I was grateful to see that our Public Advocate Jumaane Williams took to the streets earlier this month to trek the very same streets we lost a cyclist to - as Williams' hands-on-the handlebars approach to quality of life ranks top as we try to whittle down what needs to be implemented on our roads.
Despite the presence of existing bike lanes and creating new paths that connect to each other in order to avoid cars sharing the road with their arch nemesis, there will always be fatalities. And the more residents opting to pedal their way to their destination, the more transportation clashes will ensue!

However, here are some other tips and tricks I've learned over the past year that cyclist must abide by as they fight for the road on city streets:

-Even when you're right, you're not right:  Hundreds of miles in each borough are dedicated to bike lanes, whether they're painted slime green or bright white. Even if you abide by the law and stick to bike lanes, CARS RULE THE STREETS. How is it safe to travel along local bike lanes where cars block or double park along the route? Cyclists are subsequently forced to bike around double parked cars, into traffic - and risk their lives even though they took the safest path meant only for them!

-Just because they see you, doesn't mean they don't want to hit you! I always thought that if a driver acknowledges that there's something passing in front of them, they would be cautious. Many times I've had to cycle along city streets to get to protected bike lanes and cars will converge upon me regardless of whether I've slowed down to make myself visible. What do those drivers have against us cyclists abiding by the traffic rules?? I'll never know! 

-Even Pedestrians Hate You: Yes, sorry but it's true. People walking in the streets - or even in city parks - have no regard for bikers. You can ring that little bell all you want (I tried) but many pedestrians are in their own world when they're walking and when they see a cyclist come up from behind them, it's as if a bee stung them on their ass! In my experience, pedestrians aren't worried about being mauled by cyclist, even if it's in the exact environment made for their means of travel. During a recent trip to the Rockaways, I pedaled near Floyd Bennett Field where a youth event was taking place. None of the parents or children walking paid mind as I came through the BIKE PATH made for cyclists to safely travel. We're all using our legs to get around, so what's the problem people!!!

-Drivers Hate Each Other - And You Will Get Caught In The Crossfire!! Let's get real, the number of car accidents in New York City has escalated in the past few years as more residents flock to our state. More people, more cars, more anger, less room, more accidents! I've witnessed hundreds of near-misses as a cyclists - drivers trying to beat the light, drivers racing to an intersection and drivers cutting each other off or speeding past each other in road rage. Too many times, as cyclist are casually rolling along the street - even going in the same direction as traffic - they're victims of drivers battling other drivers. If we can't get our drivers under control and our auto fatality rates under control, how can we keep others safe who are also utilizing the streets?

Now that I understand how tumultuous it  can be as a cyclist in the city, and now that I'm acknowledging how reckless accidents take place, I can only control my own safety and awareness.

Of course I miss the days when my little girlie basket sat perched at the front of my tricycle and the only care I had was -- what will my next bike would look like? Okay...I STILL have a "girlie basket", but it's packed with travel goods and I'm hoping it outlasts all the crazy drivers that get in its way!