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did anyone else see this yesterday? i only saw the cyclist being treated by fire dept and emergency response personnel and he seemd badly hurt. looked like he was hit by a car on plaza st near vanderbilt. a number of people gathered round. this was around 5:00 pm and it was already quite dark and rainy.
Brooklynian » Forum » Prospect Heights »
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Ugh that is so sad. I hope he is ok. That street is really dangerous. The whole side of the street has the lights out. It makes it almost impossible to see anything there.
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I saw all the cops and stuff - didnt see the cycler as I was there closer to 6.
I wonder if blocking off the sidewalk had anything to do with it?!
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Credit this cyclist's injury to Louise Hainline of "Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes."
DOT was planning to install protected bike lanes along Plaza Street connecting directly to Vanderbilt but they withdrew the plan because of all of the static Hainline and friends kicked up on Prospect Park West. Hainline is very proud of this fact. In a Daily News story a few months back, Louise took credit for putting the block on the Plaza Street safety improvements.
From now on when you a cyclist or pedestrian gets hit by a car we should call it "getting hainlined."
Via Brownstoner...
Still, as the Daily News reported, a plan for a bike lane on Plaza Street has been put on hold because of the controversy over the Prospect Park West bike lane. “It was really a matter of the fallout from Prospect Park West and the political pushback there that caused DOT to withdraw the plans,” said Park Slope Neighbors president Eric McClure. Meanwhile, people who fought the Prospect Park West lane saw the decision as a victory: “If we had not done what we’ve been doing with the bike lanes, they probably would have moved ahead,” said Louise Hainline, president of Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes.
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With the improvements at Grand Army Plaza, I have noticed that when the light is red heading north on Flatbush, the dollar vans swerve onto Vanderbilt at high speed and make a left onto Plaza and then make a right on Flatbush again. My kids and I were nearly hit in the crosswalk by one van 2 weeks. Last week we saw another van doing the same thing.
food is my life -
Louise Hainline and her pals in NBBL have blood on their hands.
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Yes, because no cyclist has ever driven recklessly. They always obey traffic lights and ALWAYS use headlights and hand signals. They would never wear earplug headphones and always keep a watchful eye out for pedestrians. It MUST be the driver's fault - at least that's what I would assume on a dark and rainy night at an intersection with well-marked bike lanes and traffic lights if a cyclist was hit.
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no specific info on how the cyclist was hit. but i'm always extra cautious when walking across that intersection b/c motorists frequently continue thru the red light there, often several seconds after it has changed.
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As a pedestrian I've had one collision and two other very near misses with cyclists and none with drivers at that corner. Each was definitely their fault (not stopping at the light, going against traffic, etc.).
Not to say that it couldn't have been a motorist, but I have seen much worse recklessness from cyclists on the whole right there.
As a cyclist myself, as well as a pedestrian and a motorist, I will say from experience that I'm most careless on two wheels.
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Yes but you're most deadly on four wheels, and that's the most important fact when talking about traffic in NYC.
Spend a buck, light a number for one the 400,000 victims in Darfur: darfurwall.org -
Only if i hit someone, which seems more likely on a bike. For one thing, if I run a light in my car I'll get a ticket. If I run a light on my bike there will be no consequences, so there's very little incentive to do otherwise (except of course that I could get killed by a motorist who IS obeying the law).
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You think more people get hit by bikes than by cars, per capita (or per # of cars v bikes)?
Ha.
Haha.
For one thing, if I run a light in my car I'll get a ticket.
Hahahaha.
As a bicyclist, driver and pedestrian, I would welcome this if it were true.
But the next time I see a police trap for cars like I see for bikes will be the first time in years.
Cars are exponentially more deadly, and policing should reflect that.
It appears it doesn't.
Spend a buck, light a number for one the 400,000 victims in Darfur: darfurwall.org -
Union Street said:
Credit this cyclist's injury to Louise Hainline of "Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes."DOT was planning to install protected bike lanes along Plaza Street connecting directly to Vanderbilt but they withdrew the plan because of all of the static Hainline and friends kicked up on Prospect Park West. Hainline is very proud of this fact. In a Daily News story a few months back, Louise took credit for putting the block on the Plaza Street safety improvements.
From now on when you a cyclist or pedestrian gets hit by a car we should call it "getting hainlined."
Via Brownstoner...
Still, as the Daily News reported, a plan for a bike lane on Plaza Street has been put on hold because of the controversy over the Prospect Park West bike lane. “It was really a matter of the fallout from Prospect Park West and the political pushback there that caused DOT to withdraw the plans,” said Park Slope Neighbors president Eric McClure. Meanwhile, people who fought the Prospect Park West lane saw the decision as a victory: “If we had not done what we’ve been doing with the bike lanes, they probably would have moved ahead,” said Louise Hainline, president of Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes.
How do you know the cyclist didn't run the light? Maybe everyone should wait until the details are sorted out.
"Clamato! Straight Up! No chasah! -
We're talking about this corner, at Vanderbilt and Plaza. If there's a police trap for bikes there, I've never seen it (and I live there). If you think bikers at that corner are not deadly or reckless, then we are living on different planets. Cyclists routinely run that light and the one at Sterling. They routinely ride on the sidewalk and on the outside of the street (the side w/o the bike lane), and they rarely give pedestrians in the crosswalk the right of way when turning. And they NEVER signal. Drivers (except for signaling) are predictable and follow the rules for the most part. To me, that makes them less dangerous, if not less deadly.
And I'm not saying we shouldn't ticket drivers, I'm saying that we SHOULD ticket cyclists - if that is happening, that's great (but I haven't seen it). And, btw, I'll also go on record that we should ticket people for driving in the bike lane (nothing makes me crazier).
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BG, I don't know where you drive, but I can think of at least three police traps (video and/or patrol) for cars in central brooklyn, not including the random DWI stops. I will say that I don't know of any in the PS/PH area and perhaps that is the problem. Go into Bed-Stuy, ENY, Canarsie, Flatbush, etc and there are cars getting pinched on a regular.
I also think that while there might be a lot of cyclists that obey the law, there are certainly plenty that do not. The latest I ran into was a young woman who was coming up Vanderbilt and ran the red light directly in front of my car (which had both the light and the right of way) at Park Place. Fortunately, I slowed down when I saw that this chick wasn't, but the reality is had I not, you'd be on here lambasting me for having plastered the poor girl all over the intersection when she ran the light, at night, on a bike without a light and dressed all in black.
Being a cautious driver shouldn't mean that I have to stop at every intersection with a bike lane and look both ways before I drive in case some biker decides that he or she is in too much of a rush to even pause at a red signal. And again, I'm not saying that's every biker, but its a lot of them. Similarly, there are a lot of people driving in NYC who clearly lack the skills to be on the road in a crowded city and are used to not having things like jaywalkers, bikers, double parked cars, and traffic that moves at any speed to deal with. Given all that, I'm not sure why someone on a bike would compound that by acting as if the cars they come into contact with contain drivers who will care more about bikers safety than the bikers do themselves.
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I think it's time to license bikers as well as drivers. Plus! As I've said a million times before, road & written test should be given to both, every five to seven years.
"Clamato! Straight Up! No chasah! -
Amighty said:
We're talking about this corner, at Vanderbilt and Plaza. If there's a police trap for bikes there, I've never seen it (and I live there). If you think bikers at that corner are not deadly or reckless, then we are living on different planets.Cyclists aren't deadly at that corner. They're not deadly at ANY corner.
They kill, on average, 1 person per year.
If a bicyclist is going to be stupid and ride against a red, that is their own death wish, but as statistics show, they're pretty much only risking their own life.
Otherwise there is not an intersection in this city where bikes are more dangerous than cars.
I understand frustration at bicyclists who break the law, especially the a-holes who buzz pedestrians who have the right of way, or who ride the wrong way on a street.
But in terms of public safety, bicyclists generally only risk their own lives.
On the other hand, hundreds of people die in automobile accidents each year.
On top of that, when a car kills a person, there is rarely if ever a prosecution.
The bottom line is that traffic policing and prosecution is wildly disproportionate to various dangers posed to society and it seems incredibly ill-conceived to me.
Drivers (except for signaling) are predictable and follow the rules for the most part.
As someone who bikes to work 2-4 days per week, and drives around once or twice a week, this is patently untrue.
I really really wish it wasn't the case, but it is.
Amighty said:And I'm not saying we shouldn't ticket drivers, I'm saying that we SHOULD ticket cyclists - if that is happening, that's great (but I haven't seen it).
You haven't seen it? Here you go:
http://gothamist.com/2011/05/28/bike_ticket_blitz_map.php
Spend a buck, light a number for one the 400,000 victims in Darfur: darfurwall.org -
homeowner said:
Given all that, I'm not sure why someone on a bike would compound that by acting as if the cars they come into contact with contain drivers who will care more about bikers safety than the bikers do themselves.Most smart bicyclists don't act that way. And those that don't, learn the lesson the hard way.
But most bicyclists I see ride relatively safely. I see a lot run red lights, but few do it without slowing up and checking oncoming traffic first.
Spend a buck, light a number for one the 400,000 victims in Darfur: darfurwall.org -
Oh, BG, stop it with your logic backed by statistics.
...not that there's anything wrong with that. -
Boygabriel <a Cyclists aren't deadly at that corner. They're not deadly at ANY corner.
Fine, maybe I was being a little hyperbolic, but I'll let you explain to my 3-yo daughter who was literally "run over" by a biker on that corner who ignored the light that "at least you're not dead sweetie - if that had been a car, you WOULD be." It WASN'T a car, it was that idiot on her bike, who rode off while I attended to my screaming little girl.
Once again, I'm not excusing bad drivers, but I would bet money there's a much higher percentage of bikers that scoff at the rules than there are drivers. And I would bet if you get plowed by one you won't be extolling the virtues of NOT getting hit by a car.
The point was that, in the original post everyone seemed to be assigning all the blame to a driver, when you can't even tell from the description that there was a car involved. I didn't even hear confirmation it was a collision - maybe he just had a blow out or something. From personal experience I would have guessed the biker was more than partially responsible with a collision with an automobile. I certainly wouldn't put blood on the hands of the NBBL for this one - that's ridiculous.
Oh, and you're delusional if you think they're pulling over bikes on that corner and not cars. Whatever extra police there are are patrolling for roving gun-wielding muggers.
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Dude gets hit by a car Amighty jumps on an anti-cyclist soapbox
Go _ _ _ _ yourself
[Mamacita said:
I <3 CTK
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Exactly what happened... except you don't even know that he got hit by a car, and neither did anyone who started blaming the NBBL for whatever happened to this poor guy. If it IS a motorist's fault, which is certainly possible, than that's on him. Either way I hope the cyclist is ok.
That's a very dangerous corner, and if you're not interested in my observation that cyclists are generally more reckless there than drivers, than that's on you. If you disagree, as seemingly many readers do, that's different.
Really cool conversing with you though, kid.
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