Mayor under pressure to protect city cyclists
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Cycling advocates accused
Mayor Bill de Blasio of failing
his own Vision Zero street
safety initiative — a citywide
mandate to prevent any traffi
c-related fatalities — in the
wake of back-to-back fatalities
that claimed the lives of two
Brooklyn bikers in one week.
“New Yorkers on bikes
are being killed at a record
rate,” said Transportation
Alternatives spokesman
Marco Conner in an emailed
statement. “It is clear that
Vision Zero is in a state of
emergency and Mayor de
Blasio is in denial about his
signature program faltering
under his neglect.”
The safe-streets advocates
at Trans Alt are leveraging
the recent cycling fatalities
to promote a package
of bike-friendly bills, which
include Council Speaker
Corey Johnson’s plan to add
50 miles of protected bike
lanes a year until 2023, in
addition to clearing parking
near intersections to
improve visibility or “daylight”
the junctions, according
to Conner.
The Trans Alt spokesman
also demanded action
on Park Slope lawmaker
Brad Lander’s bill to boot or
impound cars that have five
or more traffic violations,
as well as a planned bill by
Brownsville Councilwoman
Alicka Ampry-Samuel that
would initiate a pilot program
to test cameras to
catch idling cars that block
intersections.
De Blasio — who’s currently
running for President
of the United States —
released a statement saying
he will step up police enforcement
against motorists
and that he has tasked the
Department of Transportation
to come up with a new
cyclist safety plan, adding
that he would have to ramp
up efforts to ensure his fiveyear
old Vision Zero initiative
achieves its goal of no
traffic deaths.
“We are seeing a dangerous
surge in cyclist deaths
on our streets, and we are
taking action,” the mayor
said in the prepared statement.
“I have directed
the NYPD to immediately
launch a major enforcement
action that will encompass
every precinct and crack
down on dangerous driving
DEADLY SCENE: A cement truck driver struck and killed a 28-year-old
cyclist at the intersection of Boerum Street and Bushwick Avenue in
Williamsburg. Citizen App
behavior like parking
in bike lanes. At the same
time, I have charged the
Department of Transportation
with developing a new
cyclist safety plan to make
biking in our city safer.”
The Police Department’s
chief announced Tuesday
that it just launched a threeweek
enforcement blitz of
misbehaving drivers with
the aim to reduce bike-related
injuries and fatalities.
“The NYPD will work
with all of our city partners
to implement a comprehensive
plan to reduce and ultimately
eliminate bicycle
fatalities,” said NYPD Commissioner
James O’Neill in
a prepared statement. “The
NYPD vigorously supports
Vision Zero, and enthusiastically
promotes safety
for everyone on our city’s
streets.”
The new plan will focus
on violations including
speeding, running lights,
not yielding to bikers and
pedestrians, parking in or
otherwise obstructing bike
lanes, and double parking,
while also offering educational
outreach to drivers,
bikers, and pedestrians
from July 1–21.
In Brooklyn’s most recent
cycling tragedy, 28-
year-old Devra Freelander
was pedaling east along
Boerum Street at 12:19 p.m.,
when the 70-year-old driver
of a United Transit Mix cement
truck struck the biker
as she crossed Bushwick Avenue,
cops said.
Paramedics pronounced
Freelander dead at the
scene, according to police.
A surveillance video
obtained by WABC shows
Freelander crossing Bushwick
Avenue on the crosswalk
as the truck hit her.
Cops have not cuffed the
driver, who remained on
the scene following the collision,
and the investigation
remains ongoing, according
to the department spokeswoman.
Freelander is the 15th
city cyclist killed by motorists
this year, compared to 10
in all of 2018, with two more
slain just last week , including
one in Brownsville and
another in Manhattan.
COURIER L M BR B G IFE, JULY 5–11, 2019 3
SYMBOLIC: Cyclists raised their bikes in a somber moment of silence
at the vigil. Photos by Steve Solomonson
Bikers stand together
at Brownsville vigil
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Mourners gathered in
Brownsville Monday to
honor the memory of a local
cyclist, who a teenage driver
struck and killed last week.
Safe streets advocates
and local politicians joined
the family of 57-year-old Ernest
Askew to mourn his untimely
passing, and demand
action from law enforcement
in the face of rising cyclist fatalities.
“At this point if you don’t
leave the accident you get off
scot free and that’s not right,”
said Peter Storey, president
of the recreational cycling
group New York Cycle Club.
Storey used the occasion
to promote better biking infrastructure
in Brownsville,
echoing Borough President
Eric Adam’s claim that the
neighborhood and its cyclists
suffer from the city’s neglect.
“Borough President Adams
was correct in saying
that Brownsville has too
often been forgotten — on
many issues — and we need
do something about that,”
he said. “The vigil was very
moving and let’s hope that
something comes out of it.”
Askew was pedaling
east along Sutter Avenue on
June 27, when an 18-year-old
driver struck the biker as he
attempted to cross Chester
Street, cops said.
Paramedics rushed both
men to Brookdale Hospital,
where the biker was pronounced
dead and the driver
was treated for a hand injury,
cops said.
Police have not arrested
or summonsed the driver
and the investigation remains
ongoing, according to
a police spokesman.
Dozens of cyclists held
up their bikes in the air during
a moment of silence at
the vigil and activists with
Ghost Bikes hung a sign at
the intersection, which read,
“Cyclist killed here, rest in
peace.”
Askew is one of 15 city
cyclists to die in 2019, compared
to 10 during all of last
year, and one of three within
a span of seven days.
On the same day as his
vigil, Bushwick woman
Devra Freelander was killed
when a cement truck struck
her at a Williamsburg intersection.
Death total reaches 15 after Williamsburg fatality
TRAGIC: Joyce Cannady mourned
the death of her nephew Ernest
Askew, 57, who died after an 18-
year-old motorist struck him at
the intersection of Chester Street
and Sutter Avenue in Brownsville,
at a vigil at the fatal junction on
July 1.