Routine Speeding At Site of Bicyclists' Death

Radar gun session demonstrates routine speeding by motor vehicles on 65th St. Transverse in New York's Central Park during morning rush hour. the speed limit here is 30 MPH, and the traffic sign the back of which is visible on the left reads: CAUTION-SLOW-LANE NARROWS TO 11'0."

An account and discussion of the fatal crash that occurred here in December 2006 is found here:

http://www.streetsblog.org/2007/08/22/central-park-66th-street-transverse-is-...

Pictures and excerpts from the police investigation of the fatal accident are found here:

http://flickr.com/photos/11992136@N08/sets/72157601595007852/

New York Department of Transportation and Police Department have been advised of this dangerous condition. Will steps be taken remove the hazard presented by the routine speeding next to this hazardous pinch point before another bicyclists is injured or killed?

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• streetsblog
• NYC
• CentralPark

[stu22aus]

I consider speeding to be secondary to driver attitude and ability. The real hazards IMO are the impatient and aggresive nature of today's driver and the lack of infrastrucure for those who don't drive.

Eg. someone with good spatial awareness and driving savvy travelling at 40 is much, much safer than a driver cruising at 30 who is distracted by a phone, being late, angry or just generally ignorant of their surroundings...

[alejandrox3]

why do people even have cars, too lazy to pedal a bike? im sorry but its not hard to pedal a mile or two to work, try it sometime, its great exercize, and you lose weight

[swaggerdp]

i live in nyc own a bike and car.i look at it from both sides.i never got the point of having cars in a park .i guess thats y the mayor is putting little parks in the middle of street.i think the best one is in the middle of time square.they just doing it to make it look normal to use.and if you look at it from the driver view he has a clock in the car that read 120 mph and a city speed limit of 35mph with signs that most of the time u cant see cuz they to high or there like 5 signs on one pole

[ltspike12345]

I own a car and my bike, I'll ride it 20 miles straight too. I've done it before, but my job is 10 miles away. The time id spend to get there wouldn't make it practical enough to do it. not to mention it would make me all sweaty and unappealing for a work environment. In fact, any time i go anywhere i have to take the interstate for 7 miles at least. So for some people a car is necessary.

[alejandrox3]

then thatd be a dead cyclist. try riding up market street in san francisco, or better yet try the sunset, bad drivers and NO BIKE LANE

[almaverick7]

I agree with this. There's this course called a Smith Driver course which teaches you how to properly space yourself at all times in order to avoid an accident. You could be going 100mph as long as you space yourself by a very large amount. Have to be focused 100% on the road though.

[AIpha0mega]

whats the big fucking deal? i go the speed limit... x3!

[Pitcanary]

queensplazasouth

And your hobby is posting "get a better hobby"?

Important.

[queensplazasouth]

get a better hobby

[mak219]

speeding on a narrow cooridor, around curves, and through tunnels is dangerous, no matter how skilled the driver. What if there is a hazard in the road...or a pedestrian or cyclist (cyclists can legally ride the Central Park traverse, and its the only way to cross the park between 59th & 110th St. without riding the interior park loop).

[trooper0096]

All you have to do is ask NYPD to do some extra traffic enforcement in this area and they will.