Monday, August 17, 2009

Cycling numbers are up, accidents way down in NYC

From the examiner.com


On a weekend when hundreds of bicycle riders took advantage of a car-free Saturday route up the center of Manhattan -- Park Avenue -- to Central Park, the Associated Press reports that cycling numbers have exploded in the Big Apple while accidents are down.

Biking is the city's "fastest growing mode of transportation," says City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan.The number of cyclists has jumped by 80 percent in the past decade — to 185,000 among the more than 8 million city residents.
With more than 420 miles of bike routes, plus safety awareness campaigns and handouts of free helmets, New York is literally on a roll. During the same period, bicycle accidents have fallen more than 40 percent, says the Department of Transportation.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

It's true the infrastructure is very impressive and people are riding everywhere. I believe any city could do this regardless of size as long as there is a want to do so among those who are in power and make the decisions which effect all of us. I see people riding on there way to work through my neighborhood all the time, and people I don't recognize. There are people out there in huntsville who commute by bike and are not associated with any club or organization and therefore are never accounted for the number of people who actually commute by bike. I think BASC is simply way to pacify those of us who have demanded action. BASC is simply a plan to keep us quiet until we ultimately give up hope and submit to the old guard and go back to the "Loretta Years"

Bello Velo said...

Bello Velo has left a new comment on your post "Cycling numbers are up, accidents way down in NYC":

I agree what happened in my old neighborhood in NY were not new roads just sharrows and cycling went up 100 fold. People here are way to comfortable and frankly lazy. This plays right in to the bureaucracy that they created to pacify us as you said. I think the attitude here of "at least" they are listening etc etc or at least we have another bad chain restaurant is really part of the problem. Maybe raising the bar and expectations much higher will result in something much less provincial, but I kind of doubt it.

Being in other communities where people are involved with community activism,local food movements, saving the environment is really inspiring, then coming here where most people want to drive to walmart because they are cheap and eat at McDonalds and drink Starbucks because they just don't care are what makes it such a crappy place to live. This is not "quality of life" it is a pursuit of death in my opinion. Now I m sure I will here from apologist and defenders of huntsville and that is also par for the course, but until you look at the reality of things we really can not have a real dialogue.

Funny the top NASA scientist James Hansen has issued another warning about climate change and still, nothing changes here.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/01/scentist-letter-hansen-barack-obama

Anonymous said...

Maybe we could become a community of "at most" instead of "at least"?

bahhumbug said...

If the mayor and his buds rode a bicycle to work even one day a week, things would change. Not only would it set a good example and promote their green Huntsville agenda, it would also let them experience the reality they choose to sweep under the carpet. I wish BASC would try to get the mayor to commute even if he needed mentors or escorts. Time to show us the money.

Anonymous said...

Community rides educating cyclists on how to drive bicycles on the road properly would help. Even have a couple of Bike Patrol police properly educated to go along and help inform would make a lot of people feel safer bike commuting on their own later.

Drive education about cyclist rights to the road of course would help a lot.

A yearly Mayoral bike ride is a good thing. A monthly one would be awesome!

Bello Velo said...

While I agree these are all great Ideas and if "our mayor" were to take public transportation also it would promote that too. The question remains why he will not do it. Why is it that the privilege of driving is chosen by almost everyone in this city? Why when the rest of the country is doing something huntsvillian do nothing. Is there a local food movement ? no just more support of corporate chains and walmarts?Could it be we have all been bought off by the military industrial complex? Getting the Mayor and the City to do anything has been like pulling teeth so don't you think if they are so half hearted about this, what will you expect as far as infrastructure changes?

So while the rest of the country and world is moving forward we proudly stay stuck in our own bubble of denial and blindness.