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johnsciarrino t1_j5pni21 wrote

Reply to comment by -_SophiaPetrillo_- in VISION ZERO 2022: More Dead Kids, More Crashes in Known Danger Zones by mossylegacy

It’s genuinely shocking how all the changes are making things worse. As a person who walks, bikes, scoots and drives in the boroughs I can’t believe anyone thought these “protected bike lanes” would be a good idea. The change has effectively made the bike lanes gauntlets for bikers to ride in, treacherous tunnels with no option to escape in case of emergencies. And when I say emergencies I mean pedestrians cluelessly standing in the middle of the bike lane, garbage trucks and their employees blocking them to pick up trash, cops doing their normal bullshit of parking wherever the hell they want, delivery trucks backing into loading bays, giant potholes, etc etc.

The worst is seeing bikers avoiding the bike lanes entirely and still riding in traffic, only now the streets are even more narrow because the protected bike lanes have created a five foot wide wall where there used to be space to maneuver. I can’t even blame them for it, I hate being stuck in there too.

And don’t even get me started with the nightmare they created by the Brooklyn bridge. It’s like they did all this planning for a perfect world and not the reality of the chaos of NYC.

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-_SophiaPetrillo_- t1_j5ppp76 wrote

Yes! I think it is more dangerous for everyone involved. I’m not sure where the thought process was here. Putting the bike lane between parked cars/bus stops and sidewalks increases the risk of pedestrians and cyclists colliding. A poor boy was hit bad by a cyclist last year (cyclist was okay) when he tried to get from the baseball field to his family vehicle and didn’t know to look both ways in the bike lane.

The number one thing they need to cut down on car use in NYC is a cost efficient, effective system of public transportation. I would love to not need my car daily. But it doesn’t make sense to gamble on waiting 20 minutes for a bus to take me to the subway when driving into Manhattan will take me 15 min at most. It takes me 45min-1hr to use public transportation for a 15 min drive.

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