New York Times Editorial, November 21, 1997
The death of a 68-year-old businessman hit by a bicycle on a Manhattansidewalk three days ago has left New Yorkers wondering what more can bedone to curb the city’s legions of reckless cyclists. Two constituenciesare perfectly positioned to reinvigorate a behavior modification campaignagainst ignorant and daredevil cyclists: police officers and the businessesthat use cyclists for deliveries.
New York City already requires commercial cyclists to carry identificationand requires businesses to keep logs of cyclists’ trips. Andrew Eristoff,the East Side Councilman who tracks this issue closely, and TransportationAlternatives, a group that promotes bicycle riding as an environmentallysound way to get around, suspect that the laws are only half-heartedlyenforced by the police and widely ignored by businesses and cyclists.
In Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn and Queens, police officers needto emulate their colleagues in the 19th Precinct on Manhattan’s Upper EastSide. Officers there issued more than 160 summonses the other day for illegalcycling, many for running red lights, going the wrong way or riding onthe sidewalk. A few were handed out to businesses that did not keep logs.If businesses fail to follow the law and make sure their employees do,Mr. Eristoff’s call for legislation to make business owners jointly liablefor the misdeeds of commercial cyclists will deserve consideration.
True, the greater threat to New Yorkers on foot remains the driversof cars and trucks. Last year only one person was killed by a cyclist,while 256 died from injuries inflicted by motor vehicles.
But the outpouring of sympathy for Arthur Kaye, the elderly residentof Fort Lee, N.J., who was mowed down on the Upper West Side Tuesday nightby a fast-food deliveryman on a bicycle, has unveiled a deeper anger roilingthe emotions of many New Yorkers. Far too many commercial cyclists andsome recreational riders dash in and out of traffic and ride on the sidewalk,treating traffic laws as rules that only pedestrians and motorists needfollow. This fatal collision was not simply a grisly accident. It was anassault on everyday life, an example of a scofflaw culture that turns citysidewalks into a danger zone.
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