Brooklyn cyclist and DJ Solange Raulston, 33, was killed in a collision with a truck this past Sunday while lawfully riding her bike westbound on Nassau Avenue. The truck sideswiped her at the intersection of McGuinness Blvd. She was unresponsive and was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she died. No charges were filed against the driver.
In a cruel twist of fate, the collision coincided with a mock funeral for the bike lane on Bedford Avenue, which was removed by the DOT on December 1. Though the lane was briefly resuscitated by after-hours activists with rollers and spray-paint stencils, the DOT made clear its intention to re-sandblast the 14-block stretch of markings after the weekend's rain. The site of Raulston's collision was two blocks from her home, and less than three miles from the former bike lane.
Detractors of the bike lane have argued that there is no place for bikes on Bedford because it is too busy and congested; because there are too many businesses and schools; because local women may dress "immodestly" and offend some of the more conservative residents of the neighborhood.
While bike lanes are still no substitute for alert, attentive, smart bicycling habits, they are instrumental in calming and slowing down traffic as a whole, as well as conditioning motorists to watch for cyclists. Unappealing as it may be for drivers to lower their speeds and increase their awareness, it is a crucial practice that is even moreso in school zones when children are present, as well as businesses that see a heavy pedestrian traffic. It is also far more preferable to see a scantily clad woman in one's neighborhood than one injured or killed by an automobile.
Perhaps a bike lane could have saved this woman's life; perhaps there was nothing that could have been done. Either way, in light of this tragedy, the DOT needs to continue extending, not hobbling, its bike lane network.
Comments
The statement about scantly clad women is just not credible. One can make arguments for better location of bike lanes, but 'immodest dress'? Who sits on the neighborhood council, Ollie Cromwell? That detail cannot be correct. If it is, though, these dried-up prunes will have to pour themselves an extra large gin-and-tonic to avoid the acknowledgement of indirectly contributing to someone's death.
I am not privy to what goes on behind closed doors at City Hall, but based on prior public complaints by the Hasids stemming from cyclists' "immodesty," many are attributing that reason, among others listed, to the lane's removal. I assure you, I have researched this issue to the extent of my aptitude. Yes, it seems very illogical a reason to remove a bike lane, considering users are "scantily clad" for only a few months out of the year.
The Hasidim are offended by lycra-wearing riders because they are scantily clad? I guess that is what accounts for the dearth of Hasidic ballet dancers, boxers, competitive swimmers, track and field athletes, and football and beach volley ball players.
As a matter of intellectual consistency, do we whose aesthetics are offended by their garb have a commensurate right to deny the Hasidim of city services where we must look upon them, e.g. on W. 47th St. in the Diamond District?
New York City is Jew York City
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