Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams and cyclist advocates rode from Brooklyn to Manhattan today in an effort to call attention to the emergency of cyclist deaths and to discuss what the city needs to do to prevent further tragedy. On Sunday, the nineteenth cyclist was killed this year, nearly double the total number of deaths in 2018.
Williams rode alongside a coalition of advocates from a number of transportation advocacy groups including Transportation Alternatives, Families for Safe Streets, Bike New York, and Outcycling, among others, through Downtown Brooklyn and across the Brooklyn Bridge. The group then held a press conference, joined by Council Members Carlos Menchaca and Brad Lander outside the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building. They discussed the need for all communities - motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians - to work together, and for government to act to address the emergency of cyclist safety in New York City.
The Public Advocate stressed the importance of all New Yorkers, including those who are not regular riders, to understand the cyclist experience and the dangers facing them on the road. He also spoke about the need for a cultural shift regarding the view of who 'owns the road,' noting that it was past time for such a discussion, especially for drivers.
"I was glad to have the opportunity today to see and experience cyclists' concerns firsthand," said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams. "The crisis facing cyclists in New York City is immediate, and the scope and urgency of the city's action needs to meet it."
"These deaths are preventable tragedies, and the city is part of the cause," he added. "We can't encourage more ridership without providing the protections which would make that possible and safe. All of us need to be all in. Addressing this emergency is going to require drivers and cyclist to work together in a partnership, but we need to make sure we're doing this from the lens of those who are less privileged on the road, with the most at risk, and have the least protection."
Among the actions highlighted that would help save lives and make street more accessible to riders were an significant expansion of real, protected, bike lanes - as well as a Department of Transportation review and redesign of areas where cyclist injuries and deaths occur and further implementation of safety measures at dangerous intersections.
The crisis of cyclist safety in New York City has reached new levels in recent weeks, with eight fatalities in the last two months out of the nineteen this year. In 2018, a total of ten cyclists were killed. There are about 200,000 cyclist who ride throughout the city each day. On Sunday, 52 year old Jose Alzorriz was killed in Midwood when a driver sped through a red light.
"The number of cyclists killed this year is staggering. We have now almost twice as many tragedies compared to all of 2018. We must come together and find prompt and effective solutions to stem the rise in cyclist related deaths," said C ouncil Member Ydanis Rodriguez , Chairman of the Committee on Transportation "For once, we must quicken the pace in which we install protected bike-lanes across the city to increase road safety for cyclists. I thank Public Advocate Jumaane Williams for taking the initiative with this Bike Tour across the Brooklyn Bridge to bring awareness to this untenable situation. I will continue working closely with my colleagues at the Council and Speaker Corey Johnson to ensure we bring an end to this safety crisis affecting pedestrians and cyclists."
"To the families of Maria del Carmen Porras Hernandez and Jose Alzorriz, we owe everything we can do to redesign our streets and get reckless drivers off the roads," said Council Member Brad Lander. "Thank you Public Advocate Jumaane Williams for gathering us together. There's a lot more work to do, and we need to do it faster before another family loses a loved one."
"With the current Vision Zero State of Emergency, we need bold plans to ensure that everyone, no matter how they travel, can do so in a safe way." said Marco Conner, Deputy Director for Transportation Alternatives. " We thank the Public Advocate for riding with us today and seeing, from a cyclists perspective, why we need to redesign streets with all users in mind and break dangerous driving behavior." "We're being reactive, waiting for people to be killed before we take action," said Jane Martin-Lavaud, a member of Families for Safe Streets. "Our patchwork bike lane network, which doesn't extend to huge swathes of the city, isn't enough to keep New Yorkers safe. Thank you to Public Advocate Williams for working to bring attention to this ongoing safety crisis." "The automobile has ruled residential streets for far too long," said Angela Azzolino, Executive Director of Get Women Cycling. "We all deserve safe street passage to our homes, places of worship, schools, businesses, and our personal destinations -- that means sharing roads we all paid for, with people who chose other forms of transportation such as walking or riding a bicycle. When did a stop sign, a traffic light, and a crosswalk stop being enough? We can't continue to allow the automobile and the people who drive them to take lives. Reckless driving, lack of education, disobedience of the law, lack of enforcement must all stop now. The safety of our streets and the lives of our loved ones is ours to control." "We would like to thank our Public Advocate Jumaane Williams for riding his bike and seeing what NYC cyclists experience on a regular basis," said Laura Shepard, Communications Coordinator for Bike New York. "Today's ride was short, but hardly seamless. We encountered rough pavement, potholes, blocked bike lanes, and streets with no bike lanes where we were at the mercy of aggressive, reckless drivers, and careless vehicle passengers who flung doors open without looking. We also rode over the Brooklyn Bridge, where cyclists and pedestrians are shoehorned into a narrow and inadequate space. We need coordination across city agencies to address these problems, expand, maintain, and enforce our protected bike lane network." "Safe streets are a public health issue," said Josh Bisker of the Mechanical Gardens Bike Co-op, a nonprofit bike repair education center. "This year's tragedies represent an epidemic of preventable deaths, and city leaders need to prioritize protecting the public welfare over appeasing their most privileged and powerful constituents -- especially because it means protecting and supporting the most vulnerable, least dangerous public space users: people who walk and ride bikes. We're grateful to see the Public Advocate and other civic leaders like Carlos Menchaca, Brad Lander, and Antonio Reynoso champion this fight for a fairer, safer public realm."