Did you know that in New York city over a 15-day span in June and July, motorists killed four people riding bikes — Edouard Menuau, Corbin Carr, Ronald Burke, and an unidentified 81-year-old man.  This is tragic and drivers need to remember that they share the road with bicycles.  Bicycles are vehicles too and have to obey the rules of the road as well.   Take our online class to learn more about defensive driving and sharing the road.

On Sunday September 25th there was another accident involving a car and a bicycle in NYC.  The cyclist, a 23-year-old man from Rochester, was riding west on W. 21st Street. The driver, who reportedly works for Uber, was heading south on Ninth Avenue in a Toyota SUV at around 11:40 a.m. when he hit the cyclist. EMT’s rushed the victim to the hospital with severe head injuries in critical condition.

200,000 New Yorkers are biking the streets every day. In any given month, more than 500,000 adult New Yorkers use their bicycles more than twice for exercise or transportation. Bike riders are subject to the same laws as drivers in New York. When you ride your bike, it’s your job to know the laws and to follow them, just like any other street user.

NYC has over more than 250 miles of bikes lanes. Bike lanes can also reduce bicycling on the sidewalk, which decreased more than 80 percent following the installation of the Ninth Avenue, Grand Street, Columbus Avenue and Prospect Park West protected bike lanes. Unsafe vehicle speeds are the most dangerous traffic problem in NYC, causing more fatal crashes than anything else. Bike lanes can help calm speeding traffic. After a parking-protected bike lane went in on Brooklyn’s Prospect Park West, incidents of speeding dropped 75 percent.

We need to share the road and as always, Drive (Bike) Safe!