Be Firm With Sidewalk Blockers
To the Editor:
Regarding sidewalk oblivion (“The Good, the Bad and the Oblivious,” Aug. 25); yes, it’s aggravating when oblivious pedestrians forget they’re sharing the city with 8 million other people. And, like the author, I resent having to ask forgiveness (“Excuse me”) or permission (“Please”) to do something I’m perfectly entitled to do: walk down the sidewalk. So I’ve developed a tactic that works pretty well. In a firm voice, I simply declare my intention: “Coming through!” The offenders usually look a bit startled, but they move aside. And, I hope, they remember it for the next time.
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Marcia Spires
The Good, the Bad and the Oblivious
I can only forgive some people who block the way when I walk
Combine one part self-absorption, one part 21st-century apathy and one part urban burnout and what do you get? You get a way-blocker.
Read more
What About Ticketing Pedestrians?
To The Editor:
I am a frequent Central Park user. I ride my bicycle to work as long as the ground is not wet, and walk for fitness a few times a week. As a pedestrian, I have never been threatened by a bicyclist, never had a near-miss. As a bicyclist, I have been inconvenienced and endangered by pedestrians or runners more times than I care to count. So the ticketing blitz against bikers has been most upsetting.
Read more
Plans Underway for New Pedestrian Bridge
By Laura Shin
Plans to replace the decaying East 81st Street Pedestrian Bridge over the FDR Drive are moving forward as the city’s Department of Design and Construction (DDC) finalizes a design for a new bridge. Read more
York Avenue’s Confusing Cross-Walk
By Reid Spagna
A crossing signal at a York Avenue intersection continues to baffle pedestrians, with some unknowingly walking into oncoming traffic.
In October 2009, the Department of Transportation (DOT) installed a “Wait for Walk” signal on the northeast corner of East 79th Street and York Avenue. While it was meant to aid people in crossing the two-lane avenue, the signal has confused some pedestrians. Read more
Mayoral Attention for Crimes of Traffic
Yield to pedestrians, stop speeding and support mass transit for safer streets
By Bette Dewing
Just before the mayor’s weekly John Gambling WOR radio show, I heard the following public service announcement: “Parking violations violate the rights of disabled persons. Call 311 to report.” But where are the warnings to drivers and cyclists against their moving violations, which take lives and physically injure and emotionally stress even traffic law-observant pedestrians? Read more
Changing Lanes
The pedestrian-cyclist-driver saga is familiar to anyone living in Manhattan today. Pedestrians loathe bicyclists who break traffic laws. At public transportation meetings, some residents have called for bicyclists to get licenses, like drivers. Bicyclists, meanwhile, say they just want a safe place to ride, away from motorists, who in turn often see bikers as a nuisance.
But this decades-old story may be about to change, as the city may install protected bicycle lanes on First and Second avenues. Unlike the painted lanes drawn on asphalt, protected lanes are strictly for bicyclists. Read more
KEEPING TABS ON PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENTS
New Yorkers can find out how many robberies have occurred in their community—even how many times their neighbors have called 311 and get the reason for the complaint. But they cannot find out how many pedestrians are hurt in their streets.
Council Member Jessica Lappin introduced a bill that would require the New York City Police Department to keep and post statistics on pedestrian and traffic accidents, summonses and tickets on its website, much like the CompStat reports for crime.
“It’d be nice to know where accidents are occurring and use that information to plan accordingly,” Lappin said. “If we can figure out which intersections are dangerous, we can figure out how to make them better.”
The bill came out of a report by Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit group that advocates for better mass transit, bicycling and pedestrian safety. Up-to-date numbers are not kept, though the Department of Transportation keeps yearly figures.
Wiley Norvell, the spokesperson for Transportation Alternatives, praised the bill, saying the basic details of pedestrian accidents should be offered to the public.
“Lappin’s bill is going to shed a lot of light on something New Yorkers really want to know, which is what streets are the most dangerous and what factors are contributing to these accidents,” Norvell said.
The legislation is currently in the Council’s Public Safety Committee.
CLARIFYING BIKE COMPLAINTS
To the Editor:
I do not wish to have an ongoing dialogue with Peter Goldwasser of Transportation Alternatives regarding his answer to my previous letter (“Bad Cycling Behavior,” Dec. 4). But I cannot have him accuse me inaccurately without defending myself.
He is the one who is incorrect. I have never, nor would I ever, accuse Transportation Alternatives of condoning the unlawful behavior of bikers. I have not done this in my letters, to the media or to the Transportation Alternatives office.
Can Mr. Goldwasser just make clear what has been Read more
BAD CYCLING BEHAVIOR
To the Editor:
Regarding Bunny Abraham’s letter to the editor (“Peds Need Better Advocate”), I am troubled by Ms. Abraham’s conclusion that the specific illegal cyclist behavior she witnessed means that Transportation Alternatives must somehow condone this behavior and/or is doing nothing to try and discourage it. Ms. Abraham’s statement is incorrect: as an organization, we unequivocally believe that cyclists must follow the rules of the road, which means, among other things, Read more
