Safe cycling can be in green future
Communities across the state are poised to capitalize on recent advances in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure – such as the 3 1/2-mile shared use path on the new Mario M. Cuomo Bridge spanning Westchester and Rockland counties, and the completion of the 750 mile Empire State Trail — to truly change the way New Yorkers move.
Our new governor, Kathy Hochul, also knows something about the Complete Streets concept. She served on the Hamburg Town Board when that Erie County community transformed its Main Street into a thoroughfare where cars and other vehicles safely share a vibrant commercial corridor with cyclists, pedestrians and other small-scale modes of transportation.
Since March 2020, and as a result of the ongoing pandemic, the numbers of New Yorkers riding bicycles has exploded. Even though there is precious little hard data collected in our state or country that documents how many of us are riding a bike. we know the volume of cyclists is up; just check out a multi-use rail trail anytime the sun is out. Data gleaned by growing bikeshare programs like Capitol Bikes! is also showing higher numbers. The national bike industry has reported higher sales of new product, particularly the electric bikes that became street legal last year in New York. Demand for new bikes is so strong that for the past year or more it has been nearly impossible to buy anything but a high end or custom bike.
From small town to big city, more bicycling (and walking) is one of the answers to creating greener, more sustainable, livable communities, shopping areas and tourist destinations. With greater numbers of folks on bikes, the perception is that because we are a more visible part of the local transportation landscape, we must necessarily be safer. But that is not true. According to data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the U.S. Census Bureau, bicycle crashes rose in 2020 in New York, and the state remains the fourth deadliest state for cyclists in the nation.
While we have all seen improved infrastructure for cyclists in communities of all sizes, a more multi-modal road and trail system is only part of the answer to bringing those crash numbers down. Much harder — but also much less costly — is to make a public commitment, starting with government at all levels, to targeted bike safety education delivered via multiple venues and portals, both virtual and in the real world, carried out in
tandem with better enforcement of the state Vehicle and Traffic Law already on the books.
Despite documented bike safety mandates, the state Department of Education does not require or integrate any learning modules into school curriculum the agency regulates, leaving bike safety education at an early age to a catch-as-catch-can basis for families, bike groups, interested teachers and in rare cases local law enforcement. Further, because there is no required bike or pedestrian safety related question on the driver’s license test for new teenage vehicle operators, there is hardly a need to familiarize oneself, again at an early age, with the laws pertaining to cycling and walking.
Enforcement is another realm where there could be tremendous bang for not much buck. In the more than two dozen police academies across New York that train new officers, there is hardly any language in the curriculum that addresses bike and pedestrian safety, and that reflects precious few hours on a topic that is killing New Yorkers in rising numbers. There is also no required continuing education for police officers relating to small, human scale mobility — e.g., bicyclists, pedestrians, scooters, bladers, e-bikes. While communities throughout New York have police on bikes, they are mainly used as a community policing presence, not a community education resource. Police officers do not hand out bike safety literature to the general public and it is a rare ticket that is written for a badly behaving motorist or bicyclist.
Leadership that understands the value of complete streets is just what New York needs now to push the state government, working with partners at the county and local level, to ensure that a 21st-century Capital Region and New York state transportation system can accommodate green, low-impact safe bicycle, pedestrian small scale mobility options for all our residents.
From small town to big city, more bicycling (and walking) is one of the answers to creating greener, more sustainable, livable communities, shopping areas and tourist destinations. With greater numbers of folks on bikes, the perception is that because we are a more visible part of the local transportation landscape, we must necessarily be safer. But that is not true.