12 AUGUST 10, 2017 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
EDITORIAL
Bike lanes & road responsibility
Most New Yorkers believe the
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(subject: Queens Snaps).
most heated rivalry in our
town is the Subway Series,
the annual battle between the Yankees
and Mets (and their respective fans)
for bragging rights on the baseball
diamond.
But they’re wrong. If you really
want to see passionate views and heated
arguments, talk about the growth
of bike lanes.
Proof of this can be found in the
incredibly seething comments by
proponents and opponents of bike
lanes left on our Facebook post about
the city’s determination to expand the
bike lane network throughout Queens.
“Bicycles do not pay taxes, tolls, registration
fees, insurance,” said one
bike lane opponent, whose name we’ll
withhold. “They have no right to use
roads paid for and designed for cars!”
“Or maybe bikes and cars shouldn’t
even co exist in the same lanes?” said a
bike lane supporter. “Instead of blaming
cyclist (sic), why don’t you realize
that cyclists need their own dedicated
lane away from traffi c?”
There are plenty of other comments
both for and against bike lanes. Unfortunately,
we don’t have enough space
here to fi t them all.
In examining the comments, however,
you can see two very divergent
point of views emerge.
Bike lane opponents believe bicyclists
take too many risks and get
involved in too many accidents. Like
drivers, they argue, bike owners
should be obligated to register their vehicles,
obtain licenses to use them and
purchase insurance. (We’ll tackle this
particular point in a future editorial.)
Bike lane supporters, on the other
hand, believe they are entitled to
use the same roads as drivers and
pedestrians to get around. They also
point out that bicycles are becoming a
more preferable and aff ordable mode
of transportation than the automobile.
As with most hot-button issues,
there’s plenty of truth on both sides.
Bicycle accidents have risen across the
city, and yes, there are some bicyclists
who take unnecessary risks on the
roads that cause accidents. But drivers
also take unnecessary risks -- with
much larger and heavier vehicles than
bicycles -- and play roles in accidents
that oft en have deadly consequences.
That’s a key reason as to why the
city embarked on building a bike lane
network. While it has resulted in the
loss of traffi c lanes, the whole point of
having dedicated bike lanes is to give
bicyclists a safe place to ride away
from larger vehicles.
Both drivers and bicyclists have
a mutual responsibility to follow
the rules of the road. But make no
mistake: tearing up the bike lanes,
as some desire, would only make the
roads less safe for everyone. To believe
otherwise is to revel in mere fantasy.
