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Some Park Slope residents are trying to get the PPW bike lane removed. Join a counterprotest, supporting the bike lane on Thurs. 10/21 at 8am at GAP!!
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i love me some bike lane.
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Thursday at 8 am? They must be expecting a lot of unemployed early risers to show up.
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One way to show your support for the bike lanes is by speaking about them favorably in this survey: http://surveymonkey.com/ppwsurvey originally posted on Brad Lander's site here: http://bradlander.com/
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Thanks! It would also be great to post this to the Prospect Hts. board, but I don't want to be spammy.
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This bike lane has to be the most dangerous idea ever thought of in the history of Park Slope. Bikers are far more dangerous than cars, they want to be treated like cars, but have no desire to follow the rules of the road. Eventually, one of these bikers speeding down PPW is going to seriously injure someone and everyone supporting this horrendous idea will regret it. Cops should stand at a random intersection and start giving out tickets to bikers who blow thorough the red lights. Also, how appropriate that the support rally will be held on a weekday morning, so all the concerned citizens who work for a living are unable to show up.
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Best 2nd post....EVER!
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BrooklynEm » How appropriate that the support rally will be held on a weekday morning, so all the concerned citizens who work for a living are unable to show up.
It's a counterprotest to a protest organized by opponents of the bike lane at 8:30am on the same day. Maybe you should bring it up with those "concerned citizens". The rest of your post isn't worthy of a reply. -
BrooklynEm » This bike lane has to be the most dangerous idea ever thought of in the history of Park Slope. Bikers are far more dangerous than cars, they want to be treated like cars, but have no desire to follow the rules of the road. Eventually, one of these bikers speeding down PPW is going to seriously injure someone and everyone supporting this horrendous idea will regret it. Cops should stand at a random intersection and start giving out tickets to bikers who blow thorough the red lights. Also, how appropriate that the support rally will be held on a weekday morning, so all the concerned citizens who work for a living are unable to show up.
This is NYC, everybody is gonna do whatever they can get away with.Don't get me started -
whats the matter you all cant use the whole prospect park road???? give us motorists a break... i mean hell its bad enough most of you all dont follow the traffic rules to begin with..they need to get rid of this nazi mayor andhis commissioner of the DOT
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This bike lane has to be the most dangerous idea ever thought of in the history of Park Slope.
I don't know, Blue Sky's muffins are pretty darn dangerous. p.s. oh brother. -
BCODS + 1 for the good times! =D> I'm still nostalgiac for this classic from ya:
there has been a rash in the entire area the last few months but its not any kind of priority for the police
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let's see... sometimes pedestrians get hit by cars, or bikes, or even baby strollers in crosswalks. sometimes they just fall over there because they have a shoe malfunction or for no particular reason at all. so, forget bike lanes; let's get rid of crosswalks! they're dangerous and cars have to go slow because of them! sometimes people cross when they don't even have the walk light... GASP! I doubt anyone here has ever done that though. that nazi of a mayor is so stupid to think that anyone should be able to cross the street without a car. in other news, if you folks are that in love with driving everywhere, move to a suburb. move out west. you can drive for days without seeing a bike lane in wyoming. and you can drive your car nice and fast. i do agree that bikers should stop at red lights. no argument there. ticket them if you wish. no argument there either. in the meantime, one suggestion that people can use to avoid getting hit by a bicycle is look both ways when crossing the street (or in this case, bike lane). i haven't seen the stats, but if you look where you're walking, i bet you're like 99.99 percent less likely to be hit compared to when you don't look where you're going. if anyone is unsure how it works, let me provide a real-life example. I run in the park almost every day. that means i cross the prospect park bike lane almost every day on foot. so what i do is: 1: look for bikes 2: if a bicycle is coming, i wait. if not, i proceed directly to step number 3 3. cross the bike lane thus far, i have done this with a 100% success ratio! there haven't even been any close calls, even at rush hour. as for only the early-rising unemployed being available for a meeting of concerned citizens at 8:00... are we aware that not all jobs start at 9:00? or that many of us could come in 30-minutes late when we are involved in something about which we care? believe me, i don't hate cars. my girlfriend and i have one. but this is new york. the city is not only for motorists; robert moses ultimately lost. life goes on with one less lane of automobile traffic on prospect park west.
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We were yelled at the other day for picking up a jogger who fell unconscious on the east side of the street on PPW between, I think, 1st and 2nd streets. It was flush in the MIDDLE of the block and there were already school busses parked next to the imaginary parking lane on the left side of the street. There were many frantic people waving us down stating that "she isn't breathing." So we pulled into the bicycle lane and, unfortunately due to the size of the ambulance, had to enter the bike lane cautiously and slowly with our emergency lights and sirens engaged, block the entire bike lane for literally no more than 3 minutes. Fortunately she was breathing but she was unresponsive and extremely dehydrated with a slow heart rate. In that mere 180 seconds of picking up someone who was completely unresponsive and even with those approximately seven good samaritans who waved us down for the person standing next to us helping us with our equipment to the ambulance, a total of FIVE bicyclists and two people WALKING by shouted at us that "we were in the bike lane and it is illegal to be in the bike lane." Our emergency lights were on, our stretcher was out and we had this person on oxygen and were expediting her into the ambulance. One cyclist even had the audacity to get off of his bike, wait for us to put the jogger into the ambulance to yell at us as I was walking to the driver's seat to move the ambulance out of the bike lane, which I'm not even required to do but do so as a courtesy. When we block traffic for an incident in the middle of a block we customarily put the patient in the ambulance and while my partner or I renders initial care in the back of the ambulance, as a courtesy I or he gets into the driver's seat and pulls the ambulance up the block and puts it on a fire hydrant or a location where we can continue patient care without blocking traffic and before proceeding to the hospital. This is not the first time this has happened with cyclists either. I am not saying they are all bad but when I have been yelled at SEVERAL different times for similar incidents, you start to get annoyed at EVERY cyclist and think that no matter where you park the ambulance to help someone injured or sick that you won't win. While I feel like the PPW bike lane has caused SOME additional traffic, I admit it does look very nice and I have no problem with it. I just want everyone to remember it could be your wife, husband, friend, or child who is walking on the left side of it and they should have access to immediate care and not have to wait for an ambulance who has to look for legal parking or walk an entire city block with the stretcher to not inconvenience ten bicyclists in a potentially dire emergency.
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What does the PPW bike lane have to do with the fact the majority of NYC'ers are assholes?
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Why is it that when faced with anything impeding their progress, bicyclists seem to find STOPPING is to be used only as a last resort?
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The pity of the bicycle lane made what was once a beautiful roadway and turned PPW into a parking lot. If auto safety is the issue, then either install road bumps or stagger the traffic lights. If the issue that bicyclists need a dedicated area to traverse safely, well there is a dedicated bicycle lane in the park (and ban all cars from the park). At the end of the day, it appears that this is another example of our imperial mayor dictating to CB6 to jump and instead of representing the residents of the community CB6's response has been "how high".
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BrookSignal » Why is it that when faced with anything impeding their progress, motorists seem to find STOPPING is to be used only as a last resort?
FTFY. -
"BrooklynEm" » This bike lane has to be the most dangerous idea ever thought of in the history of Park Slope. Bikers are far more dangerous than cars, they want to be treated like cars, but have no desire to follow the rules of the road. Eventually, one of these bikers speeding down PPW is going to seriously injure someone and everyone supporting this horrendous idea will regret it. Cops should stand at a random intersection and start giving out tickets to bikers who blow thorough the red lights. Also, how appropriate that the support rally will be held on a weekday morning, so all the concerned citizens who work for a living are unable to show up.
Bikers are more dangerous than cars? That's just silly. If the city really wants to cash in they should start ticketing drivers for red lights, speeding etc. As a reasonably responsible biker and driver, I hate the idiot bikers too, but they are a minority, and anyway getting them off the street and and away from the cars is a goood thing not a bad thing if you are driving. And although I don't drive all that much I haven't noticed much change in PPW traffic. -
EMTNYC: what the people said to you RE: your recent stop is indeed ridiculous. there is an entirely unjustified sense of entitlement amongst many bike riders. but please know that some of us are not idiots who would bother you for doing such an important job. none of us - whether we are driving a bicycle or a car - enjoy having our travels impeded. but we need to be a bit more realistic and responsible with how we manage ourselves in such situations. thanks for what you do.
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I think that the bike lanes on PPW and GAP are great ideas. They make riding a bike much safer and encourage people to get on their bikes and ride. Motorists, bikers, and pedestrians all dont want to have their mobility impeded. And if we all were more aware of the people (motorists, bikers and walkers) around us, and less concerned about only our own situation the world would be a better place. Try to remember the golden rule instead of "ME, Me, Me" Lets not blame one particular group for the worlds problems. We are all guilty . I'm sure everygroup can come up with stupid stories of how its the others guys fault. A pedestrian walked into me and my bike while I was stopped at a red light at an otherwise empty intersection on park avenue (no I was not in a crosswalk!) TRUE STORY! If people behaved, drove, walked, rode responsibly we wouldnt have need to complexificate GAP and PPW with all these concrete barriers and separate lanes. We get what we deserve. Thank you also EMTNYC for the job you do. People that have to deal with the public are well aware of the state of humanity and it is not pretty.
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I use the bike lane a cyclist several days a week and I cross the lane on foot at least 4 times a day and I think it's working out very well. I occasionally drive on PPW and with averages speeds noticeably lower (traffic studies before and after the changes confirm a dramatic drop in speeds) make it easier to change lanes and I have notice no congestion at rush hour. And like others have said, there are jerks all over. Sometimes they are on bikes or in cars or on foot. I would be all for more ticketing of cyclists and cars running lights (I've narrowly missed being run over twice recently when cars ran the red light INSIDE the park in the morning) and for god's sake, for double parking, especially in bike lanes.
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not only should the bicyclists and bad motorists be ticketed but the kamakazie pedestrians as well.... the city could make enough money to block off more streets for pedestrian promenads
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BCODSNPKSLOPE » not only should the bicyclists and bad motorists be ticketed but the kamakazie pedestrians as well.... the city could make enough money to block off more streets for pedestrian promenads
A few years ago, I went to Singapore. As the saying goes, it was a fine city. I loved it. http://www.traveldir.org/articles/asia/singapore/destination_singapore_a_fine_city_for_all_the_right_reasons.htmlFor better or worse, the change on Nostrand is going to make the change on Franklin look minor. -
It seems that PPW with the bike lane as it is is more suited for this neighborhood than the previous incarnation of PPW. Note that there are residences along one side of the road and a park alongside the other - totally smacks of a residential neighborhood. A four-lane drag strip hardly seemed appropriate for this area and should never have been there in the first place. Therefore impeding car traffic is not collateral damage, but part of the purpose of creating that lane. Slow down, you move too fast through our neighborhood. Flatbush Ave is absolutely insane and incredibly dangerous - and PPW was nothing more than an extension of this. Remember "share the road" is not some hippie, beatnik phrase like "make love, not war," it's actually the law. What better way of sharing the road than reducing the lanes and adding room for bikes? Cars are still allowed to drive there - and they're still allowed to drive through the park, which seems counter-intuitive to the concept of a park, but who am I to question Olmstead's motives. It's hard to tell what portion of the people who want to go back to the drag race days of PPW actually live here. I bet most of them don't. Few people would do that to their own neighborhood. Still I also bet a lot of the cyclists who use the lane don't live here either but are also using it to pass through. But if people want to make sure the lane isn't removed, the best way to do that is if we all learn to use it properly. No need to race down there for bikes either - no matter what you're going faster than you did when you had to use the promenade. Let pedestrians go by - it's not that hard. Look for the red lights and stop. Stop yelling at people every time someone's breaches the bike lane - it's gonna happen.
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piano.... amen.
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Commissioner Sadik-Khan, do the right thing and tear down those barriers!
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Honestly, I cross that bike lane on foot many times every day and, as much as I get annoyed by a subset of cyclists, I really haven't had any problems. There isn't so much bike traffic that I have to stand around waiting to cross and most cyclists seem to notice pedestrians and accommodate them and pedestrians seem to also act in kind--I really expected there to be more problems with cyclists v. walkers, but so far everyone seems to share it pretty damn well.
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If anything, the bike lane makes pedestrians and cyclists get along better. I remember when it first came in, my first thought was how happy pedestrians will be knowing that they won't have me and others riding on the promenade. This is where separate but equal actually works and isn't offensive. Now the peds have their place, the cyclists have theirs. The only people not happy are the motorists, but judging by the way they honk, speed and yell all the time, I don't think they're ever happy anyway.
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As a motorist, I hate the bike lane on PPW as much as anyone else does. However, I dont think it's the bikers that are the issue, at least not this time. It's the assholes that double park on PPW, in both lanes. The DOT needs to institute loading / unloading areas on each block to allow for deliveries and the discharge of passengers, and when they are not used or there is double parking, the driver should be fined. Multiple good outcomes - less traffic jams due to double parking, revenue from ticketed drivers, and I dont have to deal with Lance Armstrong Light in his spandex.
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I'm thrilled they put the bike lane in, but I have to admit they've done a crap job at implementing it. Everything they've done has been piecemeal as though no one's ever made one of these lanes before and they're going by trial and error. Basically, they just painted some lines and said "have at it folks." And of course as soon as cyclists saw this - myself included - we went right for it. Just like if you put a shoebox in a room with a cat, the cat it will go straight for the shoe box and sit in it. Then it occurred to someone to paint lanes and direction signs to show it was a two-way path. Then they added flashing yellow lights with no explanation. And now every day there's a new sign. Maybe it will occur to someone to put up stop lights for the bikes like there are on the West Side Hwy path. Maybe they'll also put in some designated loading areas. Hopefully, they'll eventually get this thing right. I hope they keep making more of these lanes, but they have to do a better job and make sure everything is in place before it's opened. Otherwise cyclists will continue to take the brunt of the anger over this when all we're doing is using what the city is providing.
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Niner » As a motorist, I hate the bike lane on PPW as much as anyone else does. However, I dont think it's the bikers that are the issue, at least not this time. It's the assholes that double park on PPW, in both lanes. The DOT needs to institute loading / unloading areas on each block to allow for deliveries and the discharge of passengers, and when they are not used or there is double parking, the driver should be fined. Multiple good outcomes - less traffic jams due to double parking, revenue from ticketed drivers, and I dont have to deal with Lance Armstrong Light in his spandex.
EXACTLY!!! Double parking is the problem. But why do you hate the bike lane?Don't get me started -
BklynSloper75 » The pity of the bicycle lane made what was once a beautiful roadway and turned PPW into a parking lot. If auto safety is the issue, then either install road bumps or stagger the traffic lights. If the issue that bicyclists need a dedicated area to traverse safely, well there is a dedicated bicycle lane in the park (and ban all cars from the park). At the end of the day, it appears that this is another example of our imperial mayor dictating to CB6 to jump and instead of representing the residents of the community CB6's response has been "how high".
I'm not a fan of the appearance of the new configuration of PPW but it is hard to say that it is much worse than it was previously. A wide swath of asphalt is not aesthetically pleasing either. In addition to the lane in the park, even if all cars were banned, there needs to be a two way lane that is not a workout to use. i.e. not as hilly as the park. The request of the bike lane came from the community. I would be surprised if anything pertaining to this bike lane ever crossed Bloomberg's desk. -
BrooklynEm » Bikers are far more dangerous than cars.
I don't know how many people in this country are killed yearly by bicyclists, but it can't begin to approach the number of auto deaths, which averages 40,000 per year. -
Most (not all) NYC bikers have to be some of the most obnoxious people on the planet. I had to double park the other day in a bike lane to drop off my very pregnant wife and we were screamed at by 2 bikers who wanted to know why we were in the bike lane. I then watched as they went right through the red light on the corner. Since the economy is so bad and the city needs money so badly, I can't understand why the police don't start aggressively ticketing law breaking bike riders. The reason they don't is because the bikers would probably organize a critical mass rally which would block ambulances and fire trucks from responding to emergencies. Get rid of the PPW bike lane!!!!
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First, thank you for not including me as an obnoxious person just because I ride a bike. Second, congratulations for having a very pregnant wife. But that does not entitle you to block the bike lane, You are endangering the lives of the bikers as well as the car driver who may have to swerve to avoid them Bike lanes are not double parking lanes. You could have moved a foot or two into the road.Don't get me started
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Some side streets do not have any room to pull over without blocking part of the bike lane.
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BrooklynEm » Some side streets do not have any room to pull over without blocking part of the bike lane.
Like 3rd St. between 5th and 6th Ave...... yea, just block the car lane.Don't get me started -
I think it's unreasonable - and certainly unrealistic - to expect the bike lanes to be clear 100% of the time. There is often a car in a bike lane, but usually it's temporary. For instance, when someone moves into an apartment on 9th street. There's no place for a moving van to park without blocking a bike lane. Perhaps they could block the car lanes and then move boxes while crossing in front of traffic. But it still would impede bike traffic when the movers carry boxes over the bike lane to get to the sidewalk from the middle of the street, and it would be incredibly dangerous for everyone. Even us cyclists use moving vans when we move. Some of us even knock up women whom we have to help walk. So let's cut people a little slack. It's just something to be expected, and it's still better than it was before the bike lanes. As for the yelling and obnoxiousness of cyclists, it's not because they're cyclists, but because they live here. Most people here are pretty selfish and obnoxious, whether they're behind the wheel or behind the handlebars or on foot. Only New Yorkers invented the bellow "Hey, I'm walking here!" People here need to stop yelling at strangers. I know cyclists often do this too. I once biked by a little girl in the bike lane who clearly experienced this because as I passed her she pleaded a pre-emptive "please don't yell at me."
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This is how it is supposed to look. http://gothamist.com/2009/12/17/photographic_evidence_double_parked.php yea, I know that is a ASS parking scenario but the Bike Lane is not a loading zone.Don't get me started
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Egads, I don't like that at all. I much prefer the way the PPW bike lane is structured with cars on one side and pretty trees on the other. I always try to stay clear of cars and drive on the least busy roads, the last thing I want to be is sandwiched on either sides by cars. I know they are parked, but to me that photo shows a terrifying gauntlet of car doors that can swing open at any moment. That is unless the drivers of those cars are all willing to climb over and enter and exit out of the passenger side every time. And that's just one side. On the other, the passengers would have to climb over and exit and enter through the driver's side. And I highly doubt that they do that. But once someone invents the hover bike - and God willing they will - this will all be moot.
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If you have to drop someone off or unload something from your car, you have no choice but to block the bike lane. If I double park on the other side of the street, then cars passing me will have to drive in the bike lane. The photo above is from a day when there was alternate side parking, so the right side of the street is completely clear for cars. It's not a typical situation.
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BrooklynEm » Most (not all) NYC bikers have to be some of the most obnoxious people on the planet. I had to double park the other day in a bike lane to drop off my very pregnant wife and we were screamed at by 2 bikers who wanted to know why we were in the bike lane. I then watched as they went right through the red light on the corner. Since the economy is so bad and the city needs money so badly, I can't understand why the police don't start aggressively ticketing law breaking bike riders. The reason they don't is because the bikers would probably organize a critical mass rally which would block ambulances and fire trucks from responding to emergencies. Get rid of the PPW bike lane!!!!
If you ask me, the police should've ticketed your whiny ass for parking in the bike lane. The obvious solution to this "problem" is that portions of the parking lane should be designated as short term loading zones, (or have they done this already?). -
The redesign of PPW is outstanding and has made the street work safer and better for everyone who wants to use it. Pedestrians now have a sidewalk free of bikes and no longer have to cross a three-lane expressway to get to the park. Cyclists now have the ability to bike safely on a street that was previously completely unusable. Motorists still have two lanes, which is more than enough roadway capacity for the number of cars that use the street. As for all the bitching and moaning about cyclists, let's get real. No demographic group in Brooklyn is more selfish, entitled and plain old destructive to our neighborhoods than Brooklyn's horn-honking, exhaust-spewing, space-hogging, gas-guzzling, planet-cooking motorists. End of story.
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As a non-cycling occasional motorist, I do not understand the bike lane hysteria. At all. In my view, anything that forces drivers to obey rather than exceed the speed limit in an area where most people get around on foot is a positive development. I sympathize with those who rail against cyclists who refuse to obey traffic laws, but let's not sit here and pretend that a) motorists never run red lights (of course, I'm not talking about *you*. *You* would never do that.) and b) that scofflaw cyclists pose a larger threat than motorists. That's ludicrous. If you're a driver and you sincerely believe that, shame on you. Also silly is the idea that motorists are somehow a persecuted class under Bloomberg. Speeding drivers who mow down cyclists and pedestrians always get off scot-free unless they're drunk or high. That's a confounding level of privilege for people who are supposedly getting the short end of the stick. The bike lane has reduced speeds and made life safer. It boggles the mind that some people do not see this as a win.
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I'm going to stand in the bike lane at a PPW intersection this weekend with a stop sign. When the light turns red, I am going to hold up a stop sign so the bikes stop. I will not be doing this for myself, I will be doing it to save a crossing stroller from being struck by a cyclist who feels that traffic laws are not important enough to be obeyed. I feel bad for the normal, friendly cyclists because these new extremist Brooklyn hipster cyclists are giving a black eye to the entire bike riding community.
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No you're not.
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BrooklynEm » I'm going to stand in the bike lane at a PPW intersection this weekend with a stop sign. When the light turns red, I am going to hold up a stop sign so the bikes stop. I will not be doing this for myself, I will be doing it to save a crossing stroller from being struck by a cyclist who feels that traffic laws are not important enough to be obeyed. I feel bad for the normal, friendly cyclists because these new extremist Brooklyn hipster cyclists are giving a black eye to the entire bike riding community.
you should not because the bike lane has blinking yellow lights that indicate that bikers should yield to pedestrians, not stop.Don't get me started -
Subject: The Bike Lane is a Good Thing
1.Fewer cars mean less noise. 2.Less Air Pollution. 3.Less vibration harming the buildings. 4.Possibility for trees in the pedestrian islands. 5.Easier to cross PPW for elderly, disabled, older dogs, toddlers etc. because 2 lanes, then an island to rest in and then cross the bike lane. 6.Walking along the park is not so dangerous now that the bikes no longer ride on the sidewalk. 7.Possibly less vandalism for parked cars along the park because more bikers are there to see what goes on at night. 8.I like the look of the street better. It doesn't look like a speedway any longer. 9.It is nice to see people enjoying the bike lane rather than looking at another lane of traffic. -
Subject: can't blow through lights on PPW cause there are none
I rode the PPW lane the other day and the only lights I saw were flashing yellow lights at pedestrian crossings. I slowed down in case there were any peds to yield to. I am a safe driver and a safe cyclist, don't speed, yield to peds, etc. I resent it when people characterize all cyclists as "blowing through'" lights. That's just a minority of jerks. Most cyclists I know care very much about the safety of pedestrians.BrooklynEm » This bike lane has to be the most dangerous idea ever thought of in the history of Park Slope. Bikers are far more dangerous than cars, they want to be treated like cars, but have no desire to follow the rules of the road. Eventually, one of these bikers speeding down PPW is going to seriously injure someone and everyone supporting this horrendous idea will regret it. Cops should stand at a random intersection and start giving out tickets to bikers who blow thorough the red lights. Also, how appropriate that the support rally will be held on a weekday morning, so all the concerned citizens who work for a living are unable to show up.
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