opinion
Legislate rules of the road for bicyclists, e-bikes and e-scooters
BY SIMCHA FELDER
City driving was never for the faint
of heart, but all the bicycles, e-bikes
and e-scooters of various speeds and
sizes has pushed anxiety to an alltime
high. Driving down Coney Island
Avenue recently, a cyclist weaving
through traffi c cut me off and sped
right past my car. My breath caught
in my chest as I slammed the break.
Unfazed, he cycled on illegally crossing
the double yellow line to speed
off through oncoming traffi c. It is increasingly
common to encounter bicycle,
e-bike and e-scooter riders navigating
NYC streets like a video game,
as if another life was just a click away.
The city is asleep at the wheel when
it comes to regulating bikes and e-vehicles,
though it strongly regulates
drivers. Navigating sidewalks, streets
and parks is a bloody battle for pedestrians,
too. For every tragic headline,
many more alarming reports pour
into my offi ce stressing the urgency
to educate and regulate the swelling
number of bicycles and e-vehicles. We
all want safe streets, and we all must
share the responsibility. One road, one
rule is the way forward.
My VISION 2.ZERO legislation includes
all legal personal mobility vehicles
on NYC streets:
(S7203) Requires a helmet when
operating a bicycle, e-bike or e-scooter
(S7204) Establishes a DMV Bicycle
and E-vehicle Education Course and license.
(S7205) Creates a double licensure
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J 12 ULY 30-AUG. 5, 2021 BTR
path; be both a safe driver and
cyclist/e-vehicle rider.
(S7206) Requires registration and
license plates for bicycles/e-vehicles
(S7294) Requires liability insurance
for bicycles/e-vehicles.
The city should have codifi ed
road rules and educated cyclists
back in 2013 when it launched Citi
Bike. Instead, it provided a false
sense of security by promoting cycling
to the mainstream. Vision
Zero was introduced a year later,
but the numbers of cyclist injuries
and fatalities from 2013-2019 remain
comparable. While failing to secure
cyclists’ safety, the city went on to
legalize a host of e-vehicles. While
bikes and e-vehicles are not cars,
they are responsible for a rapidly
rising number of catastrophic injuries
and fatalities.
We must do better.
Eight years later, the city has
no mechanism for education or enforcement.
To operate a bicycle or evehicle
capable of speeds above the
average speed limit on NYC streets,
a person simply needs to jump on
and go. Drivers, by comparison,
study road rules to pass a permit
test, take a safety course and supervised
practice, before passing a road
test. Grab and Go options are great
for lunch, but rideshare business
models and unregulated forms of
transportation promoting the same
split-second decision-making, gamble
with lives.
E-vehicle riders are dangerously
unprepared. This Consumer
Reports national survey of adult escooter
riders is telling: 51% ride on
the sidewalk. 18% ride in the street,
but not a bike lane, while close to
20% feel unsafe around cars. More
than 25% say pedestrians got in the
way, while 8% report malfunctions.
Worse, the city has no idea how
many people are zipping around on
electric-powered vehicles; it doesn’t
keep track. Leaving drivers, pedestrians
and cyclists sharing congested
roads with a growing array
of unregulated vehicles that too often
appear out of nowhere. Bicycles
and e-vehicles must be visible and
predictable to motorists and pedestrians!
To reduce injuries to New Yorkers,
everyone in a passenger vehicle
must be seat belted and everyone on
a motorcycle must wear a helmet.
It defi es science and logic that NYC
still has no helmet law for adult cyclists
and many classes of e-vehicle
riders. Many cities adopted the measure
given a four-star rating by the
National Highway Traffi c Safety
Administration, but in NYC you
can weave through traffi c and speed
through red lights un-helmeted, often
with no lights or refl ective gear
in poor visibility conditions, posing
a grave risk to yourself and others.
For years, the Department of
Transportation (DOT) denied requests
for interventions on streets
with high rates of traffi c accidents.
Now, despite the details, every bicycle
tragedy elicits the same Pavlovian
response: The opportunists condemn
cars and drivers to kingdom
come and the city rushes in with an
expedited safety improvement (aka
painted bike lane). Painted bike
lanes do not improve safety for anyone
on the road. With all this uncontrolled
chaos, calling this a safety
improvement is madness!
If we want safer streets for everyone,
then the next step forward is
clear – the system that governs vehicles
on our roads must include every
legal vehicle. Ensure everyone
is educated in road rules and held
accountable for breaking them. Register
and plate vehicles so we have
hard data and license plates to aid
enforcement. Update Drivers Education
with a double licensure path
– driving and cycling – creating a
generation that considers their actions
equally from both sides.
NYC is the largest, most densely
populated city in the nation. Brooklyn’s
population alone rivals the top
largest cities. On these streets, sanctioning
a mushrooming mass of unregulated
e-vehicles and bicycles is
inconceivable. Allowing people to
ride untrained, unprotected and unaccountable
among millions of cars,
trucks and pedestrians, is not only
disgraceful, it is deadly.
State Sen. Simcha Felder represents
the 17th Senate District encompassing
the Brooklyn neighborhoods
of Midwood, Flatbush, Borough
Park, Kensington, Sunset Park,
Madison and Bensonhurst.
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