A Brooklyn toddler’s near-catastrophic brush with an e-bike over the weekend proves that a major revamp of New York City’s bike lanes is long overdue.
In South Williamsburg on Sunday, a 3-year-old girl was injured when she exited a parked vehicle and dashed into the bike lane, directly in the path of a barreling e-bike.
It’s every parent’s nightmare, and an indictment of the city’s poorly planned bike lanes and feckless response to the rise of e-bikes.
It seems the rider broke no laws, but that’s part of the problem: The city’s progressive leaders have been so eager to make the streets cyclist-friendly that they’ve overlooked pedestrian safety — and common sense.
The scene where the tot was hit is a prime example: A bike lane doesn’t belong on Bedford Avenue, a busy street with high foot and vehicle traffic.
Sabrina Gates, a Brooklynite running for City Council against long-time pro-cycling advocate Lincoln Restler, rightly called it “a hazard.”
The Department of Transportation needs to more carefully review where it’s putting bike lanes; despite activists’ demands, not every neighborhood should have one.
And the city needs to rethink the style of protected bike lanes that puts parking on one side and a sidewalk on the other; that gives bike riders a false sense of security that can render them less careful of their surroundings and adds to a sense of confusion over who has right of way on any given part of the road.
As it is, cyclists, pedestrians and even drivers can assume precedence when they don’t have it.
Clearer guidance and better enforcement would help — which is why Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s crackdown on lawbreaking drivers and cyclists is so important.
Without ripping out existing bike lanes (no matter how ill-placed), the city can and must take steps to boost safety.
Bike lanes should have their own, posted speed limits; e-bikes can top 30 miles an hour, which is far too fast, and endangers pedestrians who don’t expect a fast-moving vehicle when walking through or next to a bike lane.
Brightly colored speed humps (especially at intersections) can encourage cyclists to stay under those limits.
More bike-lane red lights alone isn’t enough: Too many cyclists barrel right through them.
So: Install more speed cameras in bike lanes — and force all e-bikes to register their vehicles and use a license plate, as in the law City Councilmember Bob Holden has been trying to pass since last year.
E-bikes aren’t your grandma’s Schwinn; they’re faster, heavier and more dangerous.
With tens of thousands on the streets, the city has to evolve its bike lanes and laws to match the new reality.
Anything less is insanity — and puts New York’s most vulnerable in danger.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
