Monday, August 15, 2011

Lame response from Sadik-Khan

From the Daily News:

Manhattan: "Letter of the Law" (editorial, Aug. 12) reported instances of bike riders going the wrong way on the Manhattan Bridge during a construction detour. Doing so is wrong and dangerous, and we hope New Yorkers will heed our ad campaign, "Don't Be a Jerk," and call out the rogue riders. With social pressure, better signs and engineering and increased enforcement, we can encourage more cyclists to follow the rules of the road. Walking away from bike lanes that New Yorkers overwhelmingly support, and that help make streets 40% less deadly for pedestrians, would be a bridge too far.

Janette Sadik-Khan
Commissioner, N.Y.C. DOT


Hey Janette - How do bike lanes make the streets safer for pedestrians? I thought the biggest threat was cars. And on the Manhattan Bridge, which was the subject of the editorial, cars and pedestrians don't mix. Oh and one more thing: have you noticed the condition of our streets lately?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've seen tissue paper with more substance than her letter.

Joe said...

"we hope New Yorkers will heed our ad campaign, "Don't Be a Jerk," and call out the rogue riders"
----------------------------
Ha ha yeah right !
This woman is a totally CLUELESS ASSHOLE. This isnt California, send her ass back to San Fransisco!

Most the cyclists causing the problems are the maniacs that drive there testosterone levels thew the roof cycling all day.
They are like drug addict steroid abusers. All calling them out will get you is a loud FU "the finger" or a physical confrontation.

It happened to me on the LIE service road. One of these bastards dressed like a flaky blue Spiderman decided to "tow himself" by grabbing on to the back of my truck.
I told him to GTF_ off at the red light.
We both ended up in a full out street brawl and in handcuffs. Lucky for me I had witnesses that told the cops the cyclist was "hitching" and threw the first punch.

Anonymous said...

I am more afraid of bikes in Manhattan than cars. Cars are predictable. They generally go in a straight path, and are usually found in one location: the street.

Every day i see bikes on sidewalks, going the wrong way on 1-way streets (or clearly marked bike lanes), and weaving though crosswalks against the light. All things that are actually really rare to see a car do.

georgetheatheist said...

Joe. You are The Man. THE MAN.

Joe said...

Cars drivers have more at stake, bigger fines, points and insurgence premiums for those who acquire those points

The people driving the bikes and mopeds know they have nothing to lose and can run -amuck and get away with it.
That's why drivers license, insurance and registration should be required to bicycle in Manhattan or on major roadways & Bridges.
Motorists pay to drive on these roads, why should these bike bums be entitled to free for all. Anomalously with no tag numbers to trace when they hit&run or cause an accident ?
That sets things wide open to abuse.
A good number of these people on bikes are those who are in the assigned risk pool for auto insurance (cant afford) or have revoked/suspended drivers licenses for DWI, accidents or bad driving.

Currently cyclists are policed like they are in Vietnam--- Zero

Anonymous said...

The argument is that the bike lanes make the streets safer for pedestrians by slowing down auto traffic (with congestion).

Anonymous said...

Crappy, you should also be covering the 20 mph speed limit pilot in the Bronx. Pretty soon they are going to try to force that on the whole city and we will all be screwed.

Anonymous said...

Am I insane or is it just her?

Anonymous said...

Weak response from the DOT. They have the facts and studies on their side, so I don't understand why they just don't come out and say it.

Gary the Agnostic said...

And we all know how effective that advertising campaign that Janette's talking about has been. A nothing answer. she is clueless and doesn not care.

Anonymous said...

bikes are great- give them a try. cars are much more dangerous than bikes regardless of how you may "feel"

Helen said...

Sadik-Khan, the bicycle commissioner is a menace to pedestrians and drivers.

Gary the Agnostic said...

Anon No, 11 -

Bikes are great, no question. It's too bad that some of the people who use them are complete assholes who don't care about pedestrians.