Esta matéria do NY Times poderia ser a continuação de várias conversas e discussões sobre a questão da segurança no trânsito de Nova Iorque e as comparações com São Paulo, como a que tive com o Celso Jatene faz uns dias. Ou pode ser um truco naquele discurso apavorante sobre o nosso trânsito. Poderia também dar corda aos que dizem que segurança para o ciclista só existe nas cidades europeias, como Amsterdã ou Paris, o que só em parte é verdade. Não é hábito dos ciclistas locais aliviar os pedais nos cruzamentos e mesmo os melhores e mais mulherengos ciclistas ou pedestres apavoram quando as altas e gostosas loiras holandesas passam batido a mil raspando sem olhar para o lado ou pedir desculpa. Quando tem semáforo e fiscalização todos param, inclusive elas, mas nos centros históricos com suas ruas estreitas e sem visibilidade nas esquinas, esquece. Fora pedalar na calçada, contramão, na faixa de pedestre... O ato de pedalar libera. Os pedestres que o temam. Acontece o mesmo em todas as partes.
Os conflitos com os carros, de todo tipo, também são parecidos, aqui, ali, lá, em NY, Paris ou Holanda; um pouco mais, um pouco menos. Uns estão um pouco mais evoluídos, outros nem tanto, mas a história do trânsito e transporte mostra que a situação só melhora quando há um acordo social, quando a conversa fica civilizada. Ou seja: respeito aos acordos sociais firmados em leis.
Caution: Danger in the Traffic Lanes
To the Editor:
To the Editor:
No, it is not O.K. to kill cyclists with impunity, but neither is it O.K. to kill pedestrians, which happens a couple of hundred times a year in New York City. The problem is not a cultural predisposition against bicyclists; it is that nobody obeys traffic laws anymore, and that’s at least partly because nobody is enforcing them.
I’m all in favor of the quiet, cleanliness and sustainability of bicycles as alternatives to motor vehicles, but the first and best sustainable transportation is walking, and New York has the largest population of pedestrians in the country. I am one of them.
I walk 15 to 20 miles a week on the streets of Manhattan, and have for 40 years, and I never cross a street anymore without taking my life in my hands.
Every time a light turns red, I can count on two or three cars going through it. Every time my light turns green, I can count on right-turners charging through my crosswalk. And through all these years and all these miles, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I have seen anyone ticketed for this lawbreaking.
I strongly urge the new mayor to put the same kind of resources into regulating New York City traffic that his predecessor put into facilitating it. Enforcing our traffic laws would protect pedestrians, cyclists and drivers alike, would make a tremendous contribution to public civility, and could create a windfall for the depleted city coffers.
DAVID BERMAN
New York, Nov. 10, 2013
To the Editor:
Daniel Duane makes it abundantly clear that bicyclists hit by cars do not have any chance in court, as they do not have any rights on the road.
I grew up in the Netherlands, where everybody rides a bike for years before he gets behind the wheel. Thus, all drivers started out as bicyclists and know how to think like a bicyclist.
At 26, I moved to Connecticut, and my first purchase was a bike. Within a year I had given up biking altogether after several near accidents.
Advocating more bike lanes is fine, but how about this: In the Netherlands, any new road comes with a bike lane.
JACOB IJDO
Iowa City, Nov. 10, 2013
To the Editor:
Cyclists have a right to be on the road, and we have a responsibility to protect them. A socially just solution will require these actions:
■ In all instances cyclists will be deemed to have the right of way when in a bicycle lane (akin to a pedestrian in a crosswalk) and adhering to the law (the corollary is that cyclists will be fined heavily for violating the law when directly observed or documented by camera surveillance).
■ A driver whose car strikes a cyclist will suffer strict penalties and be responsible for medical costs, commensurate with the consequence of inattention.
■ All future bicycle lanes will be placed between the curb and the right side of parked cars.
The violation of traffic laws by cyclists can be very irritating but is no excuse, ever, for a driver to violate their civil right to life and safety.
PHIL CORSELLO
Denver, Nov. 11, 2013
To the Editor:
As a three-times-a-week bicycle rider in Marin County, I make this plea to some cyclists in San Francisco (and elsewhere): Please make yourselves visible after dark.
Driving in the city at night, I have had close shaves with cyclists wearing dark clothes on bikes with no lights or feeble ones.
GARY FRIEDMAN
San Rafael, Calif., Nov. 11, 2013
To the Editor:
Daniel Duane argues that drivers are not being held accountable for traffic accidents involving cyclists, but glosses over the fact that cyclists are not being held accountable for the menace they are to pedestrians.
Moving down the food chain to little old lady pedestrians like me, I have been sideswiped, swarmed, yelled at, chased and directly hit by cyclists speeding down hills, avoiding lights, talking on phones, eating and racing.
While they may be losing to the cars on the road, they are running circles around the walkers in the parks, on the streets and on the sidewalks.
Unless and until cyclists pay attention to the traffic laws, stop at lights, obey speed laws and have respect for pedestrians, they are going to be targets. Maybe that same pedestrian they sideswiped yesterday is driving a cab today.
LOIS LEATHERMAN
New York, Nov. 11, 2013
To the Editor:
Daniel Duane asserts that the law does not adequately punish drivers who accidentally kill cyclists.
As the friend of someone responsible for such a tragedy, I would like to remind Mr. Duane that the absolute and hollowing trauma of ending an innocent life weighs more heavily than any fine or confinement that may follow.
It is never O.K. to kill cyclists, and no one knows this better than those who live every moment with the overwhelming guilt of having done so.
MAZDAK BRADBERRY
Madison, Wis., Nov. 11, 2013
