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Gather at 6 pm at the Fountain of Pamona at E. 59th St & 5th Ave, Manhattan. We ride at 6:30 pm.
Wear yellow.
Don't forget: A bell and lights are required by law on your bike.
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New Yorkers are being killed or injured every day, just walking to school or riding their bike home from work.
If it’s not safe for us to ride alone, then we ride together. On September 15, we ride to demand safe passage for all New Yorkers.
Meanwhile, our passage is anything but safe, especially if you're a kid on a bike:
A 12-year-old student riding his bike in Borough Park is in critical condition after getting hit by a Lexus sedan early Wednesday morning, police said.
The child was cruising near the intersection of Cortelyou Road and Dahill Road just before 7 am when a 24-year-old driver in a grey Lexus GS350 hit him and knocked him to the ground, witnesses and police said.
“I heard the sound, boom!, and I ran outside. I saw the man on the ground bleeding from his face… His whole head was covered in blood,” Tuncay Dogan, 32, who witnessed the crash, said.
And here's his helmet:
Wow, that's an uncannily (and probably unintentionally) accurate caption from the Post, because it's true, the helmet almost certainly will be "credited for saving his life." As for whether it actually saved his life, the answer is probably "no," since the fact that it shattered means it didn't work.
But it doesn't really matter, because fortunately the mere presence of the foam hat is enough to save him from the Post's usual victim-blaming.
As for the driver of the Lexus, the police declared what he did an "accident" and let him go without so much as a summons:
The driver of the Lexus remained on scene and police said the crash appeared to be an accident; no summonses were given.
Which is a funny thing, because if you plug the license plate number into the city's "eService Center" website (which anybody can access, I don't have magical powers or secret connections or anything like that) you'll see he's already got nine unpaid tickets, including one for running a red light and one for speeding in a school zone:
Now keep in mind this site only reflects fines for parking and camera violations, which means if he has any actual summonses for moving violations or points on his license they wouldn't be reflected here. Also keep in mind that these are just the outstanding tickets, which means there could have been more that he already paid. Most impressively though, he's managed to rack all these up since May, which is not easy to do--especially since there are so few traffic cameras in New York City to begin with, thanks to our wonderful state government in Albany.
And yes, of course I realize this is America, land of the free and the Home of the Whopper™, where just because you're a demonstrably reckless and irresponsible driver doesn't mean it's automatically your fault for running over a 12 year-old child.
But come the fuck on.
Hey, I'm not saying the NYPD wasn't doing their job or anything like that. I'm sure after conducting a thorough investigation they determined it was the child's fault for not waving at the driver:
Because "everybody on the street deserves respect," right?
Lastly, speaking of yesterday's post, remember the woman who's "apoplectic" because they put some Citi Bikes near a statue of a cat? Well she ain't got nothing on this guy:
You have a right not to like @CitiBikeNYC. You have no right to threaten @BrooklynCB6 members at a public meeting. https://t.co/wCK1T0wvDD— Park Slope Neighbors (@psneighbors) September 15, 2016
(Via @brooklynspoke)
I'm not a therapist or anything like that, but I think he may have some anger issues.
(And you can be pretty sure he's got a car and a driver's license. Have fun sharing the road with him!)
90 comments:
And I read it!
Suckers!
All three?
You guys can have the rest.
a fifth?
Hope the kid's going to be okay.
What a gonna do?
Top ten! And I read the whole thing! Now to watch the video....
I would like my warm hug as mandated by law when sharing horrible, no good, very sad news.
If you are in NYC this evening, please join the TA ride.
I wanted to be there and was planning on it, but unfortunately, work has intervened.
This is important and I wish I could be with the ride.
Man,you have a sick sick culture.
Your quest against helmets is ill informed and misguided. You want to ride without a helmet, fine. I do it too sometimes. But to suggest that a helmet didn't do its job because it shattered is absurd. It absorbed extreme impact while shattering. It is not supposed to be perfectly rigid like an iron dome.
Anonymous,
I don't have a quest against helmets, I have a quest against a media that says "a helmet saved his life" when it should be focusing on "a reckless driver almost killed him and the NYPD did shit about it."
--Wildcat Rock Machine
At this point, I'm genuinely curious as to what it would take for the PoPo to actually arrest a driver? Killing, mass destruction, speeding, illegal parking, all no problem. Ride your bike without a bell and you're fucked pal, that's damn near a hangin' offense.
I never get why the anti-helmet people say "if the helmet shattered that means it didn't work." There are all kinds of situations where something protective deforms or breaks into pieces to protect something being protected, absorbing energy in the process. It's not hard to understand.
I totally get why people are opposed to helmet LAWS, but claiming helmets don't work is just ignoring common sense, everyday experience, and science.
And yes, I know I'm being baited. Fine.
Jon Webb,
"The helmet saved his/her life" is even more spurious.
--Wildcat Rock Machine
i think anyone who lives in new york
deserves new york
Anonymous 1:10pm,
It's true, this sort of thing never happens anywhere else.
--Wildcat Rock Machine
Carrying my gun on the subway, I was surprised when it went off, giving a twelve year old boy a head wound. As I had not been drinking and didn't flee the scene, the police considered it an accident and allowed me to keep my weapon and walk away without charges. Seems reasonable.
20th, damned late postings! Scranus!!!! Will there be a quiz tomorrow? I don't want to study for nuthin!
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
Is there a bike station in front of your house?
I know, intellectually and statistically, I have a better chance of getting hit and killed here in rube flyover country. But somehow, after reading Mr Snob's blogulations, it just doesn't feel that way. It's just the incessant drumbeat of innocents hit, injured, maimed and killed, not on the actual travelled roadway, but in bike lanes, crosswalks, and the sidewalk. It's mind numbing. Especially the sidewalk.
But what about the poor car? Was it in any way injured by the perp's failure to wave at the driver? All America wants to know.
TO THE WOODS TO FROLIC ABOUT ON SUSPENDED 2.500 TIRES!
[Shoves fist into air William Wallace style]
Iron dome helmets. The way of the future.
N/A @ 1:01 Aside from terrorist car bombs the Po Po only consider a car a weapon if it is pointed at them. Now they are apparently being discouraged at shooting at the cars and their drivers though.
The best that can be said of the shattered helmet is that it likely didn't make anything worse. Helmet crusaders ask us to use logic - well, does logic work when you consider we're talking about maybe an inch of EPS foam saving his life versus 5000 lbs of Lexus? Please don't conflate the boy's survival with proof of helmet effectiveness. It damn well can't be said to have saved his life. Drivers have got to be held accountable for mistakes while operating deadly weapons. That was not an "accident."
In every report of a bike "accident" the issue that is *always* front and center is: "Was the rider wearing a helmet??". Yes folks, the most important fact is whether there was a piece of Styrofoam on the rider's head.
Would be soooo nice to see something like this in the media for once: "How the hell did a driver hit a fellow road user in broad daylight and how much time should he/she serve behind bars?"
Regarding the link about shattered bike helmets and how it's proof that they don't work, I am pretty certain that's unvarnished bullshit. Like the Formula 1 auto that is designed to more-or-less disintegrate in a crash and save the driver's life by moving the force of the crash away from the driver, the helmet can save the rider from a brain injury by moving the forces of the crash away from the head. As is pointed out in that mostly bullshit propaganda piece, the helmet can absorb force by compressing the foam, but that is not the only way. The helmet can also absorb and spread forces by cracking into a bunch of pieces, shearing off pieces, etc. If the author's premise were correct, we'd all wear giant marshmallows on our heads (marshmallows are highly compressible) instead of rigid foam helmets. That blog post is nothing more than anti-helmet propaganda.
I will say this, however, if you, Mr. Snob, the anti-helmet propagandist, or anybody else doesn't want to wear a helmet, that's their own business. But if you believe that the inconvenience of wearing a helmet outweighs the benefit of protecting the contents of your skull, it may be that there is nothing in your skull worth protecting.
I prefer to wear a helmet.
I prefer to not wear pants.
Scranus.
Anonymous 1:10pm,
Thank you for saying I deserve the museums, the culture, the pizza the bagels, Coney Island, Central Park, the Bronx, the amazing food, Rockefeller Center, the ceiling in Grand Central, and the whole Momofuku line of restaurants, and more! This is truly the nicest thing I've ever read. If you ever decide to come the America's finest city, I'll buy you a Mr. Softee or a bottle of amazing IPA from Staten island's Flagship brewery.
Every story must have either a hero or a villain. Since the cops have decided there is no villain, the helment will have to substitute for a hero. Otherwise the story would be just bad stuff that happened for no reason, and politics already fills up newspapers with that sort of stuff.
Freddy Mucrks,
If the author's premise were correct, we'd all wear giant marshmallows on our heads (marshmallows are highly compressible) instead of rigid foam helmets.
Or full-faced motorcycle helmets. But either one would be wildly inconvenient and probably compromise your ability to control the bicycle. So we put all our faith in the updated hairnets.
--Wildcat Rock Machine
I've given the whole "marshmallow on our heads" thing some thought, and while I definitely appreciate the whimsy of it, I am afraid that I am going to not join the crowd with that particular bikeen gear. For one thing, I'm afraid that it would attract bees. Penultimately, I don't think they make marshmallows with MIPS. And, lastly, it would muss my 'do and ain't nobody got time for that.
Interesting that the fine for "no parking street cleaning" violation is higher than "speeding in a school zone"...
RD NoFA,
Yes, and you have to exceed the limit by at least 10mph.
--Wildcat Rock Machine
I'm with Pist Off, but 5000 lbs of Lexus??? With four three-hundred pound occupants, maybe, but this is America and you can be certain that there was only one 300 pound asshole in that piece of crap. It's funny how people who drive 50-ish thousand dollar cars that burn expensive high octane gas at 19 mpg can't afford to feed parking meters, or pay their tickets. All about priorities, I guess. The priority is posturing in a 300+ HP sedan in NYC traffic. In fact, you can forget what I said about the expensive gas, because the owner likely just feeds it regular unleaded, which these days is shockingly less expensive. GS 350s are not about performance anyway, and the car makes you look just as cool when your down a few HP. What this country really, really needs is $7 per gallon gasoline.
Angry Tom
Anti-helment propaganda? Now that's something I'd like to see.
Snob doesn't need me to stand up for him, but still. I get sick of the most boring thing about the helmet debate. The repetition. There's the same argument over and over again. The studies that say they're effective. The numerous studies that say their effectiveness in real world situations are overstated. And then the retrenchment into "it's so easy and it might help; why wouldn't you just do it anyway?" Fine. That's a very exciting argument to see over and over again. (It absolutely isn't) But Snob, (who wears helmets, by the way just not every single time his ass hits a saddle) is trying to move the debate to another place that shouldn't be controversial: the best safety measure for cyclists is for drivers to stop fucking hitting us with their cars. They should, I dunno, look at the fucking road. They should maybe, just maybe, be held accountable when they hit people with their cars or someone should at least look at the possibility that the driver was in error. The should be a noncontroversial statement. But people want to move it back to the same old conversation I've seen a million times. Why is that? Is because you can feel more in control of whether a driver can kill you because she or he was checking to see if some post they made got likes? You can't, regardless of what "side" you're on possibly think this is the first time anyone's heard any of the arguments. Or is it the usual internet thing where you think that everyone will stop holding their silly, different opinion until they've heard your magic Correct opinion? Whatever it is, it's boring and it stops people who ride bikes from unifying under the truly correct idea that drivers need to not hit us with their fucking cars and need to worry about something other than their premiums if they do.
I would love to have a marshmallow helmet. That way I can snack on it if I get hungry during a bike ride!
I'm going to be a little controversial here and admit that I agree that cars should stop hitting/ killing us regardless of whether we're wearing a beer cooler on our heads or not. I think we can all agree that Janine's wacky ideas may not fly with the public at large, but I'm gonna go along with them anyway.
Why do the citizens of New York accept this lack of law enforcement? Do only cyclists notice or care? Stop arguing about helmets! Do something!! Maybe find a way to get 2 (or 10!) cops to hit the streets on bikes, in plain clothes, running video, writing tickets and getting some drivers to engage with reality. Should the drivers be fined on the first offense or given an educational option? Both? Try something, anything. After that, we'll work on why there are so many sad, angry, sociopathic narcissists out there. Is there a way a fly-over resident can help?
Here in athens we're grieving and doing lots of hand holding and hugging and crying, but at least the cops charged this driver with homicide.
http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2016-09-13/athens-bicyclist-killed-two-more-injured-dui-suspect
If you want more details:
https://cyclingintothefuture2015.wordpress.com/2016/09/13/bike-sadness/
totally on side with janinedm and the snob. the focus, unfortunately will never shift to the utter wrongness (if that's a word) of worshipping cars and car culture, which for most of north america is the default position.
also, if i ever get to the opposite coast for a visit, i look forward to the invitation of culture and snacks! ride safe all.
Janinedm - My frustration with the 'helmets are worthless foam hats that won't save you if you get hit by a car, so don't bother' line of argument is that it's specious. Even for New Yorkers, getting hit by a car is a rare kind of accident. Most bike accidents involve only the bike and the rider. Anecdotally speaking, I have wrecked plenty of times because I overcooked a turn or hit a slick patch or hit a pothole or etc., but I have never been hit by a car. And every time my head has hit the deck, I have been glad I was wearing a helmet. I agree that it probably doesn't matter what you're wearing if you get hit by a car and that drivers need to take responsibility for the fact that they are piloting a deadly missile and they they need to stop hitting bicyclists, peds, and, for that matter, other cars. But to focus on cars vs. bikes ignores the vast majority of situations and, by number, the vast majority of bike mishaps where having a helmet is almost certainly beneficial.
My dog asked me to mention:
ENOUGH WITH THE GOD DAMN HELMETS ALREADY!
WEAR ONE, DON'T WEAR ONE. THIS ISN'T ABOUT HELMETS.
He explained that this is about a guy with a long and recent history of reckless driving running over a 12 year old and walking away without even a summons.
Coincidentally, there is a TA ride this evening calling attention to NYC's poor record on prevention of and consequences for this specific bad behavior.
The ride won't solve the problem, but it's a start.
It's kind of weird that a dog has to point this out.
Freddy Murcks, the question is one of priority. If a car hits you, it's far more likely to be deadly, helmet or not. That's a higher-priority problem than protecting people from their own spazzy inability to control the bike.
Let's not be so quick to disparage those of us that are spazzy. I can mostly control my bike.
@ JLRB:
BIKE RACK!!!!! HAHAHAHAH. I'd love one!
THIS >> "the best safety measure for cyclists is for drivers to stop fucking hitting us with their cars."
Thanks Janinedm.
I think a lot of you are missing the point today which is that TIRE LEVERS ARE FOR WOOSIES!!
Well, "every time my head has hit the deck", maybe you're just a shitty accident-prone bike rider? I happen to not be a shitty bike rider. I noodle around, about 10 mph on ole Red Ross. I'm only a foot off the ground. I think I've fallen off maybe twice in 7 years and 2500 miles? If you're accident prone, go with the beer cooler on your head. I'll pass. I'm ALERT and AWARE. Helmets cut off sounds that I use to judge the environment and generally are in my way. FWIW, whatpressureyourunning - around 55psi in my 16" schwalbe green guards.
Freddy, that's all well and good (though, not for nothing, maybe you need to be a little less Maverick and a little more Ice Man). I don't want to be pedantic about how to argue instead of addressing the argument itself, but I'm going to be here. Your 2:38 comment is a vast improvement. While, it still is a digression from the subject at hand which is a 23 year old with a easily found history of speeding hit a kid in the park and no one's doing anything about it, at least it says outright that you're talking about other types of bike mayhem. And as digressions in the Bike Snob comment section go, that's pretty close to on point. But I know you've read this blog long enough to know that the only personal image we get more often than unfortunate crotch sweat is Snob's head in a helmet. So... With that as a context clue, I'm not reading the above post as telling anyone not to wear a helmet. It's outrage that this shit keeps happening. Unpunished. No one's talking about when people just go oopsie and has what I call an "unplanned dismount" because that's a natural part of #bikelyfe. I happen to fully agree with you that helmets protect you from traumatic brain injury in those instances. BUT!!!! Cars plowing into people is rarer, thank god, but it needs to happen never and when it does happen the onus needs to be on the driver. And every time, it's important to say it's outrageous and unacceptable and to wake people from their status quo worshipping fog of just wondering idly, "was he/she wearing a helmet," and then never thinking about the actual collision and what the deal was with the driver and what the deal was with the intersection.
Keep in mind, Leroy's dog is smarter than the average bear...
Hi Freddy Murcks,
Do you have any stat's for your assertion that the vast majority of bike mishaps don't involve cars?
My experience (in London) is the complete opposite and I struggle to believe that folk are so fundamentally incompetent on the other side of the pond that they fall off their bikes willy-nilly.
Ta, BillG
Bill G,
Don't underestimate our incompetence over here.
--Wildcat Rock Machine
@billG, about 1/3 of bike crashes are due to bicyclists getting struck by cars.
http://www.nhtsa.gov/nti/811841
Anon @2:38
That story hit home hard for me. So sad that the young woman died. That was exactly how I got hit on an almost deserted road in upstate NY. Since I did not die, the PoPo issued the snot-nosed driver a ticket for driving on the wrong side of the car and sent him home.
You just pick yourself up and keep moving forward.
Dang... if I was not half buried in work today, I would def join the maillot jaune bike ride this evening...
hmmm...people, people, calm down.
The solution is obvious, put healments on cars. And optionally, do something about the fucking asshole problem in New York.
I wear the helmet, not because of cars, but because I fall all by myself and get boo-boos.
Helmets cut off sounds that I use to judge the environment .
Remember cycling community,individually we are just fragile twigs, but together....
Dear God in heaven! Not more helmet bickering. Can't you sinners argue over something easier, like religion.
Jeez...$125 for blocking a bus zone but only $50 for speeding in a school zone? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
"Speeding in a school zone"
One may rest self assured that the accelerator pedal stuck.
So a bus zone infraction is worth more than 2X $$$$ than a school zone infraction.
"Vision Zero", why not call it by what it really is "Blind as a Fuckin Bat". Yes, bats use sound waves and do a great job of avoiding hitting things than drivers do.
The helmet debate isn't about whether or not it is effective. It is effective, just not in many situations and it doesn't do nearly what most think it does. First we had hairnets, then styrofoam, then we needed a hard shell and now it's MIPS. Yet, rates of concussions and severe brain trauma remain static. Look up recent UBC helmet study
The majority of people on this planet throw a leg over and pedal off without concern for a helmet, yet over here we seem to treat the helmet as this safety catch all for safe cycling.
Cycling is already safe! This is simply a matter of risk assessment. It turns out that being a pedestrian is as dangerous as commuting by bike would that make you wear a helmet for your walk to work or the grocery store?
New human-powered landspeed record was set today on a recumbent bike with full faring:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp6JePiGSJY
Pace vehicles are for pussies.
For the record, I'm not giving the city a fee pass because they could try enforcing the laws we actually have, but a big chunk of the reason our traffic laws are so bad is that for anything major, like a fine over a certain dollar amount we have to get it though the state senate and those apple pickers up North water down traffic safety laws when they can't shoot them down entirely.
Does my hair helmet apply?
Apple pickers?
I put a rubber helmet on my little head before he goes to town, makes me feel safe!
Up the Hudson Valley in Columbia County they grow lots of apples. Curse you Apple Pickers, I shake my fist at you.
As an accomplished crash artist and a professional helmet tester, I sometimes wear a foam hat on the toilet, but I have no delusions of its magic powers of protection out on the road. Freddy, I suffered a concussion last week with my MIPS helmet ON. Fucking thing can't protect you if it isn't secured to your head, so I don't recommend a mid range MIPS, unless you can devise a system as effective as the one you pay for with the Helium.
And on point: I want a smart city, where EVERYONE who speeds, and EVERYONE who runs a red and EVERYONE on the phone behind the wheel is ticketed EVERY time. I want a city with as many separated bike lanes as there are arterial motor-ways. I want a city that designates off-thoroughfare bike routes as car-free.
Yup. Oh, and in this magical kingdom in a galaxy far, far away, government and the police serve and protect the vulnerable, not the mighty.
Oh! That happened two weeks ago now. Time flies, but even time can't cure daft.
In the next episode of The Unseatable Kimmy Schmidt, Janine and Kimmy are in a bar drinking Hard Cider when Mayor D'Blaz walks in an announces that Vision Zero is being re-named Plan Nine from Outer Space. Abe Lincoln walks in with an axe (curated in Brooklyn of course) with his eyes on the apple tree out back. A creature from the Gowanus Canal walks in and starts complaining that people have been throwing apple cores in the canal. Carlos Danger walks in and wants to know if anyone wants to see a picture of the family apples.
Ms. Babble "I sometimes wear a foam hat on the toilet" I sure hope you're not under the delusion that makes you safe on the throne.
Sheldon Silver, better know as Shelly to the cash in brown envelopes crew, recently was sentenced to 12 years picking apples in a penal colony upstate.
Trust me, shit-birds, a goofy foam storm trooper hat ain't gonna save you from a permanent dirt-nap when you decide to put yer pedal-toy between my Roadmadter and a bucket of half-price chicken wings.
Y'know, Snob, even with magical powers or secret connections, how will you find ANY summons or whatever on this guy if he doesn't even get them for running over a minor!!! This angers me beyond measure! Very sad news all around.
Yeah Janine! Down with boring comments and arguments!
Why hasn't anyone started one comparing the ride today with critical mass? Oh, maybe because it's expressing a coherent political statement?
And my skater buds used to say, "if you're not falling, you're not trying." To which I reply: "WHY TRY?"
C'est superbe!
Helmeants are like condoms. If you're not wearing one you better be ready to pull your head back and up at critical m(ass).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12224806
Apple Pickers, Snort! The old city vs suburb vs rural menage-a-trois. Is there some type of general dividing line in New York State where the rest of the state wishes NYC would saw itself off and float out to sea, and NYC wishes the rest of the state would rot in hell? We call it the Alabama State Line, for instance. Just joking, of course.
BamaPhred,
Yes, it's I-287.
--Wildcat Rock Machine.
WCRM I think the dividing line is a little more complex, some parts of Rockland and Westchester counties North of 287 go with NYC, Staten Island and some parts of Suffolk County get excluded. The old saying "Where I stand depends on where I sit." Definitely applicable to this analysis.
Will you please PLEASE write a post about that dumbass $250 "airbag for cyclists" my friends and family keep sharing on facebook: http://www.hovding.com/how_hovding_works
BS and LO,
The line keeps moving a bit north, along with the NYC folks that keep doing so. That said, as an Albany county resident, I'm thinking we should break up NYC and pit the boroughs against each other. It will give all the rest of us an opportunity to take sides. (And I doubt anyone is picking Staten Island if only because none of us know why it's not part of New Jersey.
Cheers! (Wear a helmet. It's a great eye shade much of the time!)
Anonymous 10:45am,
I have, multiple times.
--Wildcat Etc.
I'm a therapist. That guy is just a bullying cock neck. CB6's Board seemed to handle it well.
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