Bikes hurt 1,000 pedestrians a year in NY: study

[krebs303]

Bikes hurt 1,000 pedestrians a year in NY: study

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/...ar_in_ny_LV1xg9akmvXMqgMUU5s3UN#ixzz1YPwFhpAs

A study by two Hunter College professors finds that about 1,000 pedestrians are injured by bike riders each year in New York state.

About half of those are on New York City streets.

The authors think the numbers are actually higher. The figures include only pedestrians who were treated at hospitals.

Injured bicyclists are not included in the study.

 

[DirtyWorks]

The people who do not want to let go of their precious cars when there are viable alternatives, like NYC, will attempt to paint the statistic in the worst possible way.

Unrelated story: Back in my cycling advocacy days, I had a meeting with THE gateway guy from a very, very large University of California who handled transportation policy. He was selling an over the roadway bicycles only bridge system to anyone who brought up bicycle transportation. I said that bikes belong down on the street level and the compliance/cost benefits of adopting that strategy. Meeting over.

Cars are very sticky.

 

[MarkvW]

Bikes hurt 1,000 pedestrians a year in NY: study

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/...ar_in_ny_LV1xg9akmvXMqgMUU5s3UN#ixzz1YPwFhpAs

A study by two Hunter College professors finds that about 1,000 pedestrians are injured by bike riders each year in New York state.

About half of those are on New York City streets.

The authors think the numbers are actually higher. The figures include only pedestrians who were treated at hospitals.

Injured bicyclists are not included in the study.

Its a good antidote to the holier than thou attitude many bike riders take toward car drivers. I've seen too many overaggressive bike pathletes zooming past pedestrians on multiuse trails and sidewalks. Many behave just like some of the rude aggressive car drivers I deal with on the road.

 

[fatandfast]

I read it and found the number low. The number of bikes in use has increased by my count(completely unsci). The number of bikes that use fixed gear/leg modulation/hop skids/super swerve/ belly flop/bucking bronco methods to stop the bike in heavy city traffic has also increases. They really should find out the number of fixed gears as a percentage of new and existing bike users in big cities. I wasn't looking for it before but every city I travel to has lots of fixed gears that I don't think were around 10 years ago. The more two wheelers on the road is going to equal injuries and death but all involved, bike,car, pedestrian ,animals in whatever combination. Fixed gears will increase the number times two.

 

[usedtobefast]

I read it and found the number low. The number of bikes in use has increased by my count(completely unsci). The number of bikes that use fixed gear/leg modulation/hop skids/super swerve/ belly flop/bucking bronco methods to stop the bike in heavy city traffic has also increases. They really should find out the number of fixed gears as a percentage of new and existing bike users in big cities. I wasn't looking for it before but every city I travel to has lots of fixed gears that I don't think were around 10 years ago. The more two wheelers on the road is going to equal injuries and death but all involved, bike,car, pedestrian ,animals in whatever combination. Fixed gears will increase the number times two.

on the one hand anyone riding a bike is good. and a fixie is not bad if you know what you are doing, but brakes in the city are really the only logical choice.imo.

 

[daveinzambia]

Bikes hurt 1,000 pedestrians a year in NY: study

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/...ar_in_ny_LV1xg9akmvXMqgMUU5s3UN#ixzz1YPwFhpAs

A study by two Hunter College professors finds that about 1,000 pedestrians are injured by bike riders each year in New York state.

About half of those are on New York City streets.

The authors think the numbers are actually higher. The figures include only pedestrians who were treated at hospitals.

Injured bicyclists are not included in the study.

While i am sure the rise in the number of fixies has something to do with it roadies are not completely innocent. watch the video posted elsewhere on this forum of a guy doing intervals in NY park while speeding past joggers, pedestrians and straight over pedestrian crossings.

only comment i will make in defence of bikes (and i have not read the study here so do not know if they took into account who was at fault) is that i do a fair amount of riding in a city (sydney) and pedestrians walking out between parked cars is a real danger for me. and not just while moving between stationary cars but even more so when there is no other traffic on the road so they think they can cross safely.

 

[spanky wanderlust]

ok. this number is waaayyyy low. multiply it by 10.

and am i the only one who has seen the way pedestrians behave? i guarantee that half of those hit in nyc were jumping out into traffic from between two parked cars into the bike lane without looking.

they should do a study on how many careless pedestrians' lives were saved by cyclists who saw them coming from a block away, recognized how *** they were and made preemptive evasive manoeuvres. that would be interesting.

i have personally hit countless pedestrians in accidents that were unavoidable, where i was riding right where i was supposed to be, paying attention to what i was supposed to be. they just pop out from behind parked buses or ups trucks, whatever, and you have a choice between hitting them or flying into traffic and killing yourself.

as many stupid people as i've hit, i've avoided even more just from sheer experience and bike handling skill. nobody will ever take data on that.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

+1 for spanky wanderlust. You numbskulls that are pointing the finger at fixed riders as some sort of blame the weirdo mentality clearly haven't ridden in NYC. 99.9% of the time it's the Peds fault, whether it's J-walking or going across crosswalks when they're not supposed to. I've ridden all over NYC and the 5 boroughs and it's the same everywhere, most of the time it's the tourist that walks right into your path looking up at some building or elsewhere, also on the bridges walking side to side for photo ops, people in a hurry for work is the obvious one. NYC totally blows for riding a bike, doesn't matter all those bike lanes they painted in Brooklyn either, has been nothing but controversy since day one.

 

[liftman]

Bikes don't hurt people, people hurt people.

 

[hrotha]

I'm pretty sure about 75% of the recorded cases was pedestrians hurting bike riders, and also hurting themselves in the process.

 

[krebs303]

Stuart C. Gruskin was tragically killed by a bicyclist going the wrong way down the street in New York City on April 28, 2009.
The Stuart C. Gruskin Foundation,established shortly after his death, is working with Hunter College to facilitate the collection of information and statistics concerning bicycle on pedestrian incidents in NYC.

Here is the full report:

Pedestrian-Cyclist Accidents in New York
State: 2007-2010

Principal Investigators:
Peter Tuckel
Department of Sociology
Hunter College
ptuckel@hunter.cuny.edu
William Milczarski
Department of Urban Planning & Affairs
Hunter College
wmilczar@hunter.cuny.edu

 

[BroDeal]

A study by two Hunter College professors finds that about 1,000 pedestrians are injured by bike riders each year in New York state.

The study also concluded that the figure is expected to double now that durianrider is terrorizing the streets of NYC.

 

[krebs303]

I've hit over 10,000 pedestrians as a vegan and I'm still alive!

 

[rickshaw]

Hope you can hear this over the sound of axes

.. GRINDING

this is a fine, almost text book example twisting statistics to "prove" something...

this proves what I have always said, that 67% 0f all statistics have no basis in fact.

 

[Nick C.]

The only time I contacted a pedestrian was when a jogger on the greenway abruptly turned left in front of me without looking. To make matters even worse after the fact I realized I had went onto the opposite side of the double yellow to give him room when I passed him. While there are any number of delivery persons who have a fetish with riding the wrong way that I constantly have to step away from most of the issues are pedestrian obliviousness. Watch how people act next time you are outside and the "pedestrian ahs the right of way" mentality that colors their behavior.

 

[fatandfast]

+1 for spanky wanderlust. You numbskulls that are pointing the finger at fixed riders as some sort of blame the weirdo mentality clearly haven't ridden in NYC. 99.9% of the time it's the Peds fault, whether it's J-walking or going across crosswalks when they're not supposed to. I've ridden all over NYC and the 5 boroughs and it's the same everywhere, most of the time it's the tourist that walks right into your path looking up at some building or elsewhere, also on the bridges walking side to side for photo ops, people in a hurry for work is the obvious one. NYC totally blows for riding a bike, doesn't matter all those bike lanes they painted in Brooklyn either, has been nothing but controversy since day one.

I have had people standing on the curb, waiting for auto traffic to pass, make total eye contact w me and step right in front of me. In Borough Park I slammed into a guy who was carrying his prayer pillow to temple and stepped in front of me at about 15mph. He looked up saw the light was red in his direction and still walked right in front of me.
Deda bars, stem, tape and seat all ground into oblivion. He got a broken finger and a contusion on his head that looked like a gum ball under his skin on his forehead . The prospect park bike path works great for the half mile that your on it, then back to open season

 

[Deagol]

This might be a loaded question, but .....

why are people so dumb ??

 

[fatandfast]

This might be a loaded question, but .....

why are people so dumb ??

I dont think they are. I think in most people's subconscious they do not think about bikes. The fact that getting slammed by a bike can be deadly. Bikes are non-vehicles. I think when Premium Rush comes out there is going to be a spike in stupidity by everybody regardless of vehicle type. When the actors go from couch to couch from Kimmel, Leno,Letterman and others the images of bikes acting like Bozos will really set us back.

 

[Deagol]

Glad I don't live there

 

[Quixote]

First, I don’t ride in NYC and, according to some of the posts, I realize that the cycling experience is challenging. However,
attributing the blame for these injuries on the “peds” themselves seems irresponsible. Granted, as cyclists, we contend with risks at a much greater volume than those that share the road with us…potholes, tracks, wet pavement, debris, unleashed animals, careless motorists, car doors, vanishing cycling-lanes, etc. In getting from point A to point B on a bicycle, our goal is to attempt to avoid these hazards when possible…our safety depends on it. It seems reasonable to add pedestrians to the list of our concerns and ride accordingly. In reading the study, I was most shocked by the number of children that were seriously injured by cyclists (12% of 1000=120). This statistic can’t be written off to distracted folks looking at tall buildings or heading to prayer meetings…these were kids being kids. We need to ride responsibly if we are to expect motorists to behave the same.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

First, I don’t ride in NYC and, according to some of the posts, I realize that the cycling experience is challenging. However,
attributing the blame for these injuries on the “peds” themselves seems irresponsible. Granted, as cyclists, we contend with risks at a much greater volume than those that share the road with us…potholes, tracks, wet pavement, debris, unleashed animals, careless motorists, car doors, vanishing cycling-lanes, etc. In getting from point A to point B on a bicycle, our goal is to attempt to avoid these hazards when possible…our safety depends on it. It seems reasonable to add pedestrians to the list of our concerns and ride accordingly. In reading the study, I was most shocked by the number of children that were seriously injured by cyclists (12% of 1000=120). This statistic can’t be written off to distracted folks looking at tall buildings or heading to prayer meetings…these were kids being kids. We need to ride responsibly if we are to expect motorists to behave the same.

Try riding from mid town Manhattan to Greenpoint Brooklyn in rush hour, you would change your mind a NY minute... Trust me, even for anyone with reasonable bike handling skills and a brain, it's all on the peds in NYC. If you're not a car going through a green you can expect peds launching out in front of you from any direction. Even going slow with a full load of farmers market on the hooptie, they just don't give a flying turtle fuuck.

 

[deboat]

Is this NATURAL SELECTION ?? !!!!

For those who don't teach thier children to "look both ways before crossing the road" !!

I would also wonder how many of the "peds" were wearing headphones?

Most fixes that I see now have at least one brake, Maybe when it first became trendy those who had no brakes suffered "natural selection"!!

 

[fatandfast]

First, I don’t ride in NYC and, according to some of the posts, I realize that the cycling experience is challenging. However,
attributing the blame for these injuries on the “peds” themselves seems irresponsible. Granted, as cyclists, we contend with risks at a much greater volume than those that share the road with us…potholes, tracks, wet pavement, debris, unleashed animals, careless motorists, car doors, vanishing cycling-lanes, etc. In getting from point A to point B on a bicycle, our goal is to attempt to avoid these hazards when possible…our safety depends on it. It seems reasonable to add pedestrians to the list of our concerns and ride accordingly. In reading the study, I was most shocked by the number of children that were seriously injured by cyclists (12% of 1000=120). This statistic can’t be written off to distracted folks looking at tall buildings or heading to prayer meetings…these were kids being kids. We need to ride responsibly if we are to expect motorists to behave the same.

dont know if the peds or study are laying blame on the bikes. Just that bikes hitting peds causes injury

 

[usedtobefast]

dont know if the peds or study are laying blame on the bikes. Just that bikes hitting peds causes injury

nobody is going to feel good if you hit a pedestrian. we don't have a hard exoskeleton, so impact will painful for everyone. gotta have the antennae
out and working hard to avoid losing some skin and all. so called 'bike trails'
can be the worst. people seem oblivious to their surroundings half the time.

 

[frenchfry]

Stuart C. Gruskin was tragically killed by a bicyclist going the wrong way down the street in New York City on April 28, 2009.
The Stuart C. Gruskin Foundation,established shortly after his death, is working with Hunter College to facilitate the collection of information and statistics concerning bicycle on pedestrian incidents in NYC.

Here is the full report:

Pedestrian-Cyclist Accidents in New York
State: 2007-2010

Principal Investigators:
Peter Tuckel
Department of Sociology
Hunter College
ptuckel@hunter.cuny.edu
William Milczarski
Department of Urban Planning & Affairs
Hunter College
wmilczar@hunter.cuny.edu

To be fair, the foundation isn't anti-cyclists at all. Their mission is to promote safe cycling practices, which is really a win-win situation.

The telling statistic would be how the injuries caused by cyclists compare to those caused by automobiles. Society tends to consider that automobiles are a necessity and a right, and the negative effects (death, injury, air and noise pollution, overcrowding etc) are acceptable. Cycling, however, is often regarded as a non-necessary activity and therefore any negative consequences are intolerable.

Personally I would much rather be hit by a bike than a car.

Of course many cyclists have unacceptable comportment and this minority tends to do all of us a disservice. On the other hand, bicycles are not cars, and although we should share and respect many of the rules of the road with automobiles, there should be separate rules for bicycles as well that do not result in dangerous situations but rather facilitate cycling in a safe manner.