Bill De Blasio has seen enough.
The NYC mayor and presidential contender recently ordered the NYPD to “crack down” on dangerous drivers after yet another NYC bicyclist was killed in a collision.
The most recent incident occurred July 23, when a cyclist was fatally struck a box truck in Greenpoint. That was the 17th fatal cycling collision of 2019 — or seven more than in all of 2018.
The collision occurred just hours after a teen-aged cyclist was killed on Staten Island by a tow truck driver.
Witnesses told police the boy was riding with a group when the tow truck “ran right over him.”
Just a few weeks earlier, a bike messenger was killed in Manhattan by a large delivery vehicle that initially left the scene of the accident.
These incidents, and the 14 other cycling fatalities this year, may be evidence that New York City’s efforts to promote safer streets is not be working as intended.
Are Safety Initiatives Working?
New York City and San Francisco both implemented Vision Zero to much fanfare in 2014. The safe streets initiative was designed to lower the number of collisions, injuries and deaths each year on city streets.
As part of the project, New York City added dozens of miles of protected bike lanes and worked to improve crosswalks and dangerous intersections.
Yet these improvements have been made in parallel with some other developments: More ridesharing vehicles on the streets, and increasing traffic density.
Ultimately, however, adding more cycling infrastructure seems to be the answer.
The vast majority of this year’s fatal cycling accidents have occurred in Brooklyn, where biking infrastructure is more limited.
By continuing to add more protected bike lanes in congested areas of the city, Vision Zero and city officials may be able to reverse this year’s troubling trend.
Finding the Right Bicycle Accident Attorney
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