|
Deliver us from danger
on 2 wheels
In his commentary (below) of April 13, Richard Schwartz puts the blame for
pedestrian safety squarely on the backs of bicycle messengers. Schwartz notes
that bicycle messengers injure about 150 pedestrians every year.
However he conveniently ignores the greater danger to pedestrians on the
sidewalk - motor vehicles. Schwartz quotes stats from Transportation
Alternatives yet he omits the most importanat numbers regarding pedestrian
safety from the very same organization.
According to Transportation Alternatives in an average year in New York
City "motor vehicles kill ten pedestrians on the sidewalk
and injure at least 600." In the same average year bicycles kill no
pedestrians. In the same average year, "motor vehicles kill 200 pedestrians
and injure 11,000 in the street."
In addition it's often the threat from motor vehicles that pushes some cyclists
from the road to the sidewalk.
Conveniently picking on easy targets such as bike messengers is not the
answer. Real solutions to pedestrian
safety require looking at all the dangers facing road users and the reasons
for those dangers.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deliver us from danger
on 2 wheels
By Richard Schwartz
New York Daily News, April 13th, 2004
Look both ways before you cross a one-way street. Don't make sudden lane
changes when walking on a sidewalk. Don't dart to the left or right. If you
wear glasses, fit them with a pair of little rearview mirrors so you can see
what's coming from behind. Speaking of behinds, think about fitting yours
with a pair of indicator lights.
No, these aren't new regs for pedestrians. They're merely practical rules
of engagement if you hope to survive the whirlwind of bike messengers and
food delivery guys rushing down city sidewalks as if they were competing in
the last leg of the Tour de France.
It's nice to have your pork fried rice arrive hot and steamy, but not at
the expense of someone's safety. Thousands of New Yorkers have near-miss experiences
with these bikers. The general consensus is that these homicidal wheelmen
don't care if they live or die - and they don't care if you do, either.
"When I go to senior centers, the first question is always, 'I'm scared
of the bike deliverymen. Can you get them off the sidewalks?'" said Councilwoman
Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan). She is drafting legislation requiring businesses
that employ cyclists to post the city's bicycle rules and regulations.
The law on sidewalk cycling is simple: If you're 14 or older, you can't
ride on them. Break the law and it's a $300 fine and you lose the bike. The
hard part is enforcement. With terrorism and general mayhem topping the NYPD's
agenda, it's tough to get police to pitch in on a problem as pedestrian as
sidewalk safety.
But it's one of those quality-of-life issues, like subway graffiti and squeegee
pests, that New Yorkers expect their city to wipe out, not wink at.
The Police Department is living in a fantasyland if it thinks the sidewalks
are sufficiently safe. In a typical year, bikers batter about 150 pedestrians,
though hundreds of incidents go unreported. It's a miracle no one has died
in recent years.
The last time that happened was in 1997. Two fatalities occurred that year.
One was Arthur Kaye, a 68-year-old businessman struck down by a chicken deliveryman
on W.77th St.
There are some 6,000 bike messenger and delivery workers employed in the
city, most of them in Manhattan. Yet, according to Transportation Alternatives
in 2002, the three police precincts covering Manhattan's East Side - one of
the city's busiest areas for commercial bicycle traffic - issued only 129
summonses to bikers for riding on sidewalks. In all of 2003, only 454 sidewalk
summonses were issued citywide. In other words, the bikers are unregulated.
Some cities, such as San Francisco, have experimented - unsuccessfully -
with licensing commercial bicyclists. The only answer is police enforcement.
In the meantime, restaurants that want my business might try reassuring me
by affixing a sticker on my order that says, "No pedestrians were hurt in
the delivery of this meal."
|
|
